USC vs. Texas 2017: Five important things to watch for by Michael Castillo

Saturday’s USC vs. Texas game pits a Longhorn team trying to find its identity against a Trojan defense who has struggled to stop the run at times.

Preparing for the USC vs. Texas game has to be incredibly complex for the Trojans’ coaching staff compared to last week.

While Stanford’s offense has been both daunting and dynamic for a long time, you know exactly what you’re getting with David Shaw’s Cardinal. You can’t say the same about this Texas Longhorns offense.

Yes, new head coach Tom Herman is known for his power spread which helped Ohio State win the first ever College Football Playoff in 2014. But the first-year Texas boss had led the Horns to an early mixed bag.

Their 1-1 record features two completely opposite performances and game plans. They laid an egg with a pass-first scheme against a Maryland team they were favored to beat, yet were utterly dominant against San Jose State by sticking to the run.

If anyone can relate to Week 2 proving that Week 1 was an outlier, it’s USC. Is the same true for Texas?

Anyone’s guess at quarterback

Texas has one of the more interesting quarterback situations in college football. Despite pass-first dual-threat Shane Buechele’s relative success as a freshman in 2016, he entered the year having to fight off incoming freshman and scrambling dual-threat quarterback Sam Ehlinger.

Buechele did just that and got the nod in Week 1 against Maryland, before completing 65.4 percent of his career-high 52 pass attempts for a healthy 375 yards in the 51-41 loss.

But a shoulder injury picked up against the Terps has thrown a wrench into the equation. Buechele didn’t throw in the lead-up to the San Jose State game in Week 2, paving the way for Ehlinger’s first career start.

The 56-0 romp of the Spartans was the ideal first step for the true freshman. He proved capable with a 15-of-27 passing performance, while amassing 222 passing yards and a touchdown.

The game plan was worlds different for Texas in the first two games of the season.

Does that mean Ehlinger is the guy for Texas against USC? Maybe and maybe not.

READ MORE: Five Things to Watch For in USC vs. Texas Game

Buechele has progressed for the Longhorns after returning to practice, while head coach Tom Herman told reporters this week he expects him to be available Saturday.

“If he’s 100 percent, he’s going to play,” Herman told Dallas Morning News on Thursday. “I would imagine he would be available in some role. Whether that’s as a starter is too early to tell.”

What does it matter? The game plan was worlds different for Texas in the first two games of the season.

With Buechele at quarterback against Maryland, only 16.7 percent of plays were rushes by running backs and the offensive line’s struggles with protection led to five sacks.

The running game was substituted by extended handoffs, screens and swing passes to the flats, and short crossing routes aimed at getting big-yet-athletic receivers like 6-foot-6, 220-pound Collin Johnson out in space.

In Week 2 with Ehlinger, 72.9 percent of plays resulted in a rush by a running back, as the Longhorns rushed for 406 yards through a porous San Jose State defense.

Herman even deployed several plays out of the wildcat formation to help ramp up the ground attack, which allowed Jerrod Heard to take center stage.

Prepare for Jerrod Heard

Heard, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Longhorn receiver who started 10 games at quarterback in 2015, spelled Ehlinger as a way of adding even more athleticism to the run game.

Given that he posted 556 rushing yards as a freshman himself two years ago, it sounded and was proven to be a good idea in Week 2. So much so that Herman has committed himself to its use, regardless of the health of Buechele.

For a USC defense struggling to contain the edge at times during the season’s first two weeks, knowing a capable wildcat runner is primed to see the field at the Coliseum is concerning.

But while it netted a pair of touchdowns —three if you include running back Chris Warren III’s 41-yard score out of the wildcat— Herman’s use of the Heard package lacked a rhyme or reason, making it difficult for the Trojans to prepare.

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It wasn’t installed on every third-and-short and Heard didn’t enter the game every time the Longhorns had first-and-goal. Weirdly enough, the formation was predominantly used on second down and only twice did Texas deploy the set on back-to-back plays, when Heard took a deep shot down field in the third quarter.

The constant? Heard was the focus.

Despite various fake handoffs and receivers in motion, he kept or threw the ball on all 10 plays the wildcat was run prior to garbage time, as a way to keep a numbers advantage over the defense.

All told, Heard rushed seven times for 33 yards in the wildcat, while being 1-of-2 for negative-five yards as a passer. One run, a loss of two, was negated due to penalty.

The Heard Package vs. SJSU

Down Yard Result 3rd & 3 UT34 Heard rush for 8 yards 3rd & 4 UT41 Heard rush for 1 yard 2nd & 10 SJ41 Heard pass, loss of 5 2nd & 5 SJ09 Heard 9-yard TD run 2nd & 9 SJ49 Heard rush, loss of 2 2nd & 19 UT24 Heard rush for1 yard 2nd & GL SJ03 Heard 3-yard TD run 3rd & 1 SJ49 Heard rush for 2 yards 1st &10 SJ47 Incomplete deep pass 2nd & 4 SJ32 Heard rush for 8 yards

The question for Trojans defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast is how to defend it.

USC has used a 2-4-5 nickel package for the bulk of their 11-game winning streak, as it’s built to stop various spread attacks depending on how the nickelback is deployed. Ajene Harris, who is more corner than safety, started for Troy in the Week 1 game against run-first Western Michigan.

Could Harris or safety Marvell Tell play further up towards the line of scrimmage when Heard is in? Would a spy be a good idea? Might aggressive blitzes steer the Longhorns to target specifically controlled gaps on option runs?

These are all things for Pendergast to consider, especially when tasked with fielding a defense most likely missing two starters from last week, in defensive tackle Marlon Tuipulotu (knee) and outside linebacker Porter Gustin (toe).

Power runners for a power spread

Aside from Heard, USC must be prepared for talisman Chris Warren III at running back, along with his partner in crime, Kyle Porter. They’ve helped the Longhorns become the 10th-ranked team in rushing success rate through two weeks.

Warren is an absolute freak of nature. At 6-foot-4, 250 pounds, he’s a running back built like a powerful middle linebacker, with the ability to run like a safety and hurdle defenders like a scatback.

He’s thrived in Herman’s power spread offense and has started the year impressively after a knee injury cut his sophomore season short in 2016.

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The Longhorns’ leading rusher has gained 197 yards on just 22 carries, while having yet to lose a yard. Warren’s 77.3 percent opportunity rate —the amount of runs gaining at least five yards— is otherworldly.

Porter, on the other hand, is a well-suited compliment, fulfilling the role of the 5-foot-10, 220-pound combo-back. While his 3.9 yards per carry average has yet to burn an imprint into the stat sheet, he’s a change of pace who keeps defenses on their toes.

Together —along with Heard— they should give USC a lot to think about when defending the run.

The Trojans have been susceptible to yards on the ground early on. They were chewed up by Western Michigan at times, and allowed Stanford’s Bryce Love to have his moments last week.

But while surrendering 9.85 yards per carry in the first quarter thus far, the nation’s worst mark, USC’s calling card on defense early in 2017 has been their improvement as games progress.

Case in point, they held Stanford to just 25 rushing yards in the second half of Week 2. And outside of a 48-yard run by WMU’s LeVante Bellamy in the season opener, USC is giving up just 2.89 and 1.93 yards per carry in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.

But you can’t always eliminate those big plays to make the stats look better.

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For a defense as aggressive and proactive as Pendergast’s, those big plays are always going to be a mainstay. The key is to limit the damage.

USC did just that against the Cardinal last week, not letting Love’s 75-yard touchdown run through a gaping hole in the Trojans’ defensive line affect their game plan.

Against Texas, Heard and Warren could get theirs in a similar fashion. But the Trojans cannot let the big plays deter their ability to contain going forward.