Final USC vs. Arizona Game Analysis

Analysis brought to you by ESPN college football analyst and former CFB/NFL head coach Jim Mora Jr.

Mondays with Mora features ESPN and former CFB and NFL head coach Jim Mora Jr. and SI All Trojans Reporter Claudette Montana Pattison. Check back every Monday during the college football season for weekly breakdowns and analysis on USC football. This weeks Mondays with Mora is a special Tuesday edition.

USC was favored to beat Arizona by a 14 point spread on Saturday. The general expectation for the Trojans was to put up a significant amount of points on the board and beat the Wildcats on the road. However, what we saw on Saturday resembled a lot of what we saw a week prior against Arizona State.

The Trojans struggled to find momentum for a majority of the game. But for a second week in a row, USC came alive late in the 4th quarter, and pulled out a win with just seconds left in the game. 

ESPN analyst Jim Mora Jr. is breaking down some key takeaways from the Arizona vs. USC game, here are his thoughts below. 

Mora's take on USC going 6-0:

"I don't think you can count on every game coming down to the last drive and your offense responding. Eventually the defense is going to rise up and get a stop. But I don't think the games are going to keep coming down to the last drive with USC....every team has things to improve on. When your going into your third game 2-0 knowing that you got two wins [and] you haven't suffered a loss, and you have a lot to improve on. That is much better than being 0-2 or 1-1." 

Mora on how USC can improve:

"My concern continues to be their short yardage offense. They are still struggling on 3rd, 4th and 1. I'm not exactly sure why. I'm not sure if it's schematics or missed assignments, or what it is, but they've got to get that fixed. I'm sure they are going to work very hard on it."

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Mora's take on Kedon Slovis:

"I really like what Kedon Slovis does late in the games. I would like to see him be more accurate as a thrower [earlier] in the games. I think he is continuing to develop. I like him a lot. I don't think he yet compares to the best quarterbacks in college football, but I think he can certainly move in that direction."

Mora's take on USC's defense:

"I thought their defense was more sound, less blitzing. You mentioned they got Grant Gunnell four times. I'm not sure how many times they were able to get to him with just a four man rush without bringing pressure. But it was certainly better than it was against Arizona State the first week. We talked about this last week... the more familiar players become with the scheme[s] and the more the coaches understand how the players operate in [their] schemes, then the better they are going to get."

Mora's take on if USC's will make the CFB Playoff:

"I think if things stay on track and I believe they will, then we will see Oregon and USC both undefeated in the Pac-12 championship game. I think he winner of that game certainly deserves consideration to be in the college football playoff. I think that USC is ranked where they should be ranked and Oregon is ranked where they should be ranked. I don't think that USC at this point based on what they've shown so far should be higher than No.20. And that is just based on all the teams I've seen play which is all of them. Oregon I think is a better football team right now. But if USC goes and beats Oregon in the Pac-12 championship, then they will get consideration because they will be an undefeated Pac-12 team with seven wins. I don't think the committee can ignore that. If Oregon beats USC and is 7-0 I think they are a lock for the college football playoff." 

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