Spotlight #1: USC DE Nick Perry

Spotlight #2: USC RB Marc Tyler 

1^st quarter

10:01: Josh Kaddu with a tackle for a loss on a pass in the flat.

9:04: Tyler catches a screen for 7. It’s worth noting he wasn’t on the field until this point. Curtis McNeal got the start for the 2^nd week in a row and it looks like he’ll be the lead back from here on out. That does hurt Tyler’s draft stock as he tries to get drafted.

7:18: Perry blows past his man, slaps the ball out of the quarterback’s hands, recovered by Oregon for a loss. This is as good as a sack, but won’t count as a sack, which would have given him 8.5 on the year.

6:37: Matt Barkley makes a definite NFL caliber throw deep to hit Marquis Lee basically on the fly for a 59 yard touchdown. The throw had to be at least 50+ yards on the fly, tight spiral, accurate, highlight reel throw.

1:56: Tyler with his first carry of the night, right up the middle to convert for a 1^st down on short.

1:10: Barkley with another one of those NFL caliber throws, a frozen rope to Robert Woods for 24. He put it in the perfect spot and threw it over a defender, hitting the receiver on the money.

2^nd quarter

13:04: Perry run at, not much happening, 2-3 yards.

8:56: Tyler with a run for a few through a hole.

6:55: Just a note, Oregon is running a lot of their plays away from Perry, especially on the ground. Also, the run/pass ratio right now is 17 runs to 7 passes. That’s why Perry isn’t having a huge impact.

6:34: Perry gets in on a tackle in space after a run up the middle, but not before Oregon converts 3^rd and 2.

4:37: Tyler gets a 3^rd down conversion on 3^rd and 3, right up the middle against a stacked box for 5 or 6 yards.

3:01: Tyler on 2^nd and goal, multiple guys get penetration into the backfield and bring him down for a loss.

1:42: Perry breaks through a double team, gets pressure.

1:18: Perry in on a tackle for a short gain. After two guys immobilize the ball carrier, Perry finishes him off.

0:23: LaMichael James looks to have reinjured his elbow. An injury red flag is the last thing his draft stock needs.

 

3^rd quarter

14:26: Perry in on a tackle for loss.

12:56: Barkley fumbles the snap, recovers it, but then makes a really ill-advised throw that almost got picked in the red zone. This was his first mistake of the night however. He’s at 15 of 20 for 181 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no picks tonight as USC leads #4 Oregon 21-7 and is threatening for more.

9:55: Barkley with another amazing throw, hitting Marqise Lee, who is having an awesome day, for 41 yards on the fly against double coverage. Lee has 4 catches for 146 yards on the night as a true freshman.

9:27: Marc Tyler on the goal line for a 3 yard touchdown run. He’s been impressive at getting tough yards, but he’s still only being used sparingly, with 5 carries for 13 yards and that touchdown. He’s also caught a 7 yard pass.

6:41: Tyler with a nice run for a few on 1^st down, 6 yards.

5:26: Tyler showing great explosion through the hole, good pad level, good power, and good explosion for 9 yards in between the tackles on 1^st down.

4:16: McNeal looks like he’s hurt. This could be Tyler’s shot.

1:50: Tyler between the tackles again for 7. McNeal is back in the game though.

0:28: Tyler converts 3^rd and 1 with a gain of 3 or 4 in between the tackles, but has it called back by an irrelevant illegal shift penalty on the outside.

4^th quarter

14:28: Perry can’t change directions quickly to keep up with the speedy back.

11:44: Tyler converts 2^nd and 1 with a few yards.

8:32: Barkley throws one high, receiver can’t bring it in, off his hands and picked. The receiver could have caught it and there was defensive holding on the play, but it will go down as an interception.

7:11: David Paulson with an awesome catch against double coverage, almost a touchdown.

3:36: Tyler with a nice run to convert 3^rd and 4 through the middle between the tackles, looks like 6-7 yards.

2:31: Tyler with a key fumble in the red zone in a 38-35 USC game. Tyler didn’t take the handoff properly and the handoff is fumbled. Oregon ball. Bad mistake.

1:50: Perry has been quiet for a bit, but not anymore. A huge, clutch sack for his 2^nd of the night.

1:28: Perry gets pressure, but the quarterback gets it out in time for a good gain on a screen.

0:00: Nick Perry was a rising prospect coming into this game and he showed way. Perry had 4 tackles, a sack, 2 tackles for loss, and a forced fumble that was essentially a 2^nd sack. Even more impressive, he was doing this against Oregon, who had only allowed 7 sacks to Darron Thomas coming in. They don’t have a particularly talented offensive line, but they move so quickly and get rid of the ball so quickly that pass rushers have had a tough time of getting to the quarterback.

Perry was winning his matchup consistently, matched up for almost the entirety of the game against Oregon’s left tackle. That type of thing won’t show up on the stat sheet because Oregon releases the ball so quickly, but it’s worth noting he was consistently winning his matchup with a quick first step, though Oregon doesn’t necessarily have the most talented offensive line. It’s also worth noting that Perry saw his fair share of double times

Oregon also ran a lot, running 47 times to 35 pass and they were consistently running plays away from Perry, though I’m not sure if that was intentional or not. Thomas also rolled out away from Perry quite a bit. Oregon did well on the ground, rushing for 209 total yards on 47 carries. Perry didn’t have a very big impact against the run. He wasn’t necessarily being blown off the line, but he had trouble with Oregon’s speed and explosiveness. This limited his tackle total and his overall impact against the run.

Perry now has 51 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and 2 pass deflections in 11 games for USC. After a disappointing sophomore year, following a freshman year in which he had 9 sacks, Perry has picked things up as a junior and has become one of college football’s best pass rushers. At 6-3 250, he might be solely a 3-4 outside linebacker at the next level, but he has 4.5/4.6 speed, a great first speed, and he has become very productive this season. He also did a great job against Stanford’s Jonathan Martin, a projected top 15 pick at left tackle. Should he declare this year, he could go in the late 1^st round or maybe the early 2^nd round. If he comes back for his senior season and has a good senior year, he could go top 15.

As I said earlier, Oregon ran for 209 yards on 47 carries. Surprisingly, LaMichael James was not the biggest part of that. James didn’t have a bad day, but 78 yards on 20 carries is not a typical performance from him, especially since his longest carry of the night for 9 yards. He really just didn’t get going as USC played with great discipline. James has struggled against disciplined defenses before and if he can’t get space, he typically doesn’t have a very good game at all.

Also hurting James’ stock is that Kenjon Barner had 123 yards on 15 carries tonight. Barner, a 5-11 180 pound junior has had 766 yards and 10 touchdowns on 112 carries this season, which might cause some to wonder if LaMichael James is just the product of Oregon’s system. For me, there are too many concerns about how he will transition to the NFL (size, inability to stay healthy, inability to have good games against disciplined defenses, the product of a weird offense that wouldn’t work in the NFL) for me to have him above the 3^rd/4^th round. He could be a nice change of pace guy, but nothing more.

James’ counterpart at running back was Marc Tyler. Well, I don’t know if he was necessarily James’ counterpart. He didn’t start for the 2^nd straight game. After missing two games with injury, Tyler appears to have lost his starting job to Curtis McNeal, a speedier, smaller back at 5-7 180. After 7 carries last week, Tyler got 12 this week, as opposed to 19 for McNeal.

Tyler still ran well. 11 of his 12 carries were for positive yardage and his one tackle for loss was not really his fault. Oregon just got great penetration with multiple defenders on that play. He ran between the tackles very well, picking up gains of 3, 4, 5, 6, etc yards and converting 3^rd downs as well. He also got a touchdown on a goal line carry. He runs with great explosiveness and power and seems to be able to be productive without getting a bunch of consecutive carries. He doesn’t go in and out of rhythms, which is key since he’s not going to be a lead back at the next level. LaMichael James, on the other hand, is much more inconsistent.He’s got good size (5-11 230) and he doesn’t seem that slow either.

The injury concerns are there with Tyler, but he’s been productive in the past. Last year, he rushed for 913 yards and 9 touchdowns on 171 carries and this year he has 116 carries for 537 yards and 4 touchdowns. He also has 28 catches in the last 2 seasons. His stock is going to be hurt by his injury concerns and his loss of starting job and he could easily go undrafted, but I think he can be one of those backs that goes undrafted and then has an impact as an undrafted free agent. He looks like a capable short yardage back at the next level at least. I’d say he’s worth about a 5^th round pick.

Matt Barkley had a very impressive football game. He was 26 of 34 for 323 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 1 pick. It’s worth noting that that one pick went off his receiver’s hands and it should have been called pass interference on the defense. Barkley made at least a handful of jaw dropping deep throws and threw the ball well consistently overall. He’s really taken off in these last few guys and is putting some distance between himself as guys like Robert Griffin and Landry Jones as the #2 quarterback in this draft class.

He’s a 3 year starter in a pro style system and he’s gotten better every year. He’s completing 67.6% of his passes for an average of 7.7 per attempt and 31 touchdowns to 7 interceptions. He’s been consistent as well. In 11 starts, he has 8 multi touchdown games, 10 games with 0 or 1 interceptions, 9 games of 200+ yards, and 10 games of 60%+ completion percentage.

Now he has a good game in an upset win against Oregon to add to his resume, the same Oregon team that gave Andrew Luck some trouble last week. He doesn’t quite have Luck’s intangibles, pocket presence, speed, athleticism, and he has better weapons to work with an Luck, but if this were a normal year, Barkley would be the #1 pick. He goes #1 8-9 times out of 10, just not this year.