Picks will dictate USC’s turnover margin

By Marc Hudgens  |   Monday, June 23, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

USC Trojans
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There’s not much you can criticize the USC Trojans for. However, there is one important aspect the team must improve this season.

In CollegeFootballNews.com's 2008 USC preview column that came out May 16, Richard Cirminiello wrote, “The team will be far better if...it gets back to dominating the turnover margin. When the Trojans were winning national championships, few were better at creating an abundance of takeaways. Over the last two years, however, USC has treaded water in turnovers and finished minus-five combined in last season’s losses to Stanford and Oregon.”

What Cirminiello said is correct. Although the Trojans weren’t terrible in the turnover margin category, they were not close to dominating the Pac-10. The team finished 2007 at fourth in the conference with 0.15 (28 total gain minus 26 total loss).

USC was at the top of the conference both in fumbles recovered and forced fumbles, so that’s clearly not the problem. But the other kind of turnover, the interception, was clearly the culprit last season, as the team finished seventh in the conference (66th nationally) with 12 picks for only 101 yards. That’s under one interception a game and a little over 8.0 yards per return. Paltry.

While all eyes will be on the defensive tackle spot, one of which was vacated by All-American and first-round NFL draftee Sedrick Ellis, one must also pay close attention to the secondary this year. Linebacker Ray Maualuga likely will be too busy backing up the tackle spot to worry about getting picks, so it’s all up to USC's defensive backfield. With all four starters from last season (cornerbacks Shareece Wright and Cary Harris and safeties Taylor Mays and Kevin Ellison) returning, the expectation of improvement should be there.

If the secondary can get improve its per-game interception total, the Trojans should be back on top of the turnover margin in no time, thus competing for another national championship.
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About Marc Hudgens

Marc Hudgens has been with RealFootball365 since 2007, covering college football, specifically Clemson and Oregon. He also writes for SouthernPigskin.com covering the ACC. He enjoys the acidic wit of Hunter S. Thompson, is a freelance graphic designer and has written several screenplays. He ...
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