Every week of every college football season there is usually a game or two every week that draws interest from fans. During week one of the Pac-12 season I believe that game of interest is the USC vs Fresno State game in the L.A. Coliseum.
Both teams will be fighting for respect and attention from the college football world. USC is looking to regain that swagger they had during the Leinart/Bush years where they were destroying teams by double digits almost every weekend. Looking at the bigger picture, those great Saturdays at the L.A. Coliseum are long gone. It has been nearly ten years since those great USC teams. After going through the sanctions of the Bush payment scandal, the hiring and firing of Lane Kiffin, and the search to replace Ed Orgeron , the Trojans turn to another coach from the Pete Carroll staff. Enter Steve Sarkisian. He was the offensive coordinator during the Carroll years who helped the Trojans score all those points and turned USC into THE team in the L.A area.
Sarkisian is bringing in a fairly new staff to USC and a slightly different mindset in terms of the offensive system. The Trojans have always been know for a pro-style offense with a heavy emphasis on the running game. Well, the new coach is going no huddle, up tempo type of offense. Sarkisian consulted with Texas A & M coach Kevin Sumlin about ways to incorporate it into the Trojan offense. According to Sarkisian, he wanted to put the up tempo style into play when he was at Washington, but Sark felt he didn't have depth/personnel to run it the way he wanted to at Washington.
The three man running attack of Justin Davis, Buck Allen, and Tre Madden make the USC running attack very versatile and possibly one of the most dynamic in the Pac-12. This is a great thing for the young quarterback they have in Cody Kessler who is entering his second season as a starter. Buck Allen and Tre Madden both accounted for over 700 yards each in rushing last year while alternating between being the number one running back for the program. Kessler, who had a shaky start to the season, but settled in towards the end of year and finished 2013 on a strong note looks to continue that hot play in 2014. Helping Cody Kessler along late in the season last year was his connection with his wideout Nelson Agholor. Agholor had 900 yards receiving and six touchdowns, but lit up the Trojan crowd with electrifying moves and awesome quickness. Kessler and Agholor intend to increase that excitement for fans this season.
However, the first team out of the gate for the USC Trojans is a team that is very dangerous. This is team that is located just to the north of the L.A area. The Bulldogs of Fresno State will be invading the Coliseum and looking to put a nail in USC season opener.
The Bulldogs have been picked to play in the Mountain West Championship game. They are picked to win the West Division of the Mountain West Conference as well. They will be looking to replace the departed NFL quarterback of Derek Carr as well as some other offensive firepower. They will be returning five offensive starters, but the question about who is replacing Carr will be the biggest question of the year for the Bulldogs. Who will be stepping up and leading the Bulldogs down the field.
One of the offensive players that will help the new quarterback will be Josh Harper who had 79 receptions for over 1,000 yards. Harper has had health issues in his first three years, so staying healthy will be critical for the success of the offense this season. Harper is supposedly going to be playing in the slot position as well. That can be dangerous for a guy who has had problems staying healthy because that means he has to go across the middle and take hits from big linebackers and free flowing safeties who are looking to bad things to receivers coming across the middle of the field.
Where the strength will be for the 2014 Fresno State Bulldogs will be with its defense where they will be returning eight starters. With running a four man front, the Bulldogs will be moving the DT Tyeler Davison to defensive end. Davison is widely considered a very underrated defensive lineman. There two defensive tackles will be occupying the middle and demanding double teams, while opposite Davison, will be junior Todd Hunt. Hunt and Davison will be looking to create havoc on the outside every Saturday.
Backing up the front seven will be safeties and these safeties are really good. One of them, Derron Smith is a ball hawking, baiting a quarterback type of All-American that makes defensive coordinators lose sleep at night. Smith had 87 tackles and seven interceptions last year. He will garner a lot of the talk, but the other one Charles Washington who had 71 tackles and 8 of those tackles were for losses.
In the end, I feel that this game will come down to whether or not USC can score against the defense of Fresno State. If Trojans can get that running game going with their three running back system they will win. I think the Trojans will and they will feed off of the USC crowd. Final score: USC 31 Fresno State 14.
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