A couple of you have asked about the difference Clancy Pendergast made for USC's defense this fall, which is a pretty easy to quantify.

And it seems some of you asked specifically because Oregon is now looking for a defensive coordinator after Nick Aliotti announced his retirement Friday after the Valero Alamo Bowl on Dec. 30.

We sometimes do take requests at the Pac-12 blog.

With seven starters back from the 2012 unit, the improvement was dramatic and across the board, despite the Trojans switching schemes from Monte Kiffin's 4-3 Tampa 2 to Pendergast's 3-4 -- or 5-2, as he calls it.

Here are the numbers:

2012 Pac-12, 2013 Pac-12 Scoring defense 5th (24.3 ppg), 2nd (21.3ppg) Total defense 7th (394.0 ypg), 1st (341.2 ypg) Rushing defense 8th (167.0 ypg), 2nd (126.7 ypg) Passing defense 4th (227.0 ypg), 1st (214.5 ypg) Pass Eff. Def. 6th (123.9), 3rd (114.0) Opponent 1sts, 9th (22.6), 2nd (18.5) Oppoent 3rd percentage 8th (38.0), 2nd (36.8) Red zone def percentage 6th (81.1), 1st (63.4)

Further, the Trojans ranked in the nation's top 32 in every above number. In 2012, they didn't rank that highly in any of the above numbers. In fact, their highest national ranking was 40th in scoring defense.

And those 2013 numbers, by the way, including the absolute white flag performance at Arizona State, a 62-41 defeat, had a lot more to do with effort than scheme, which is why Lane Kiffin was fired the same night.

Pendergast has received plenty of praise for the job he did this year at USC. This makes clear it was justifiable.

Just saying, Ducks.