So yesterday I decided to dig into that USC vs Huskies game everyone’s talking about. Grabbed my laptop around breakfast time thinking I’d just glance at some stats, but ended up going full detective mode for like four hours straight.
Getting My Hands on the Raw Numbers
First thing I did was hunt down the official player stats sheet. Took three different tries to find a complete version with all position groups – that box score wasn’t organized very well at all. Started punching all the offensive numbers into a spreadsheet manually because copying always messes up the formatting.
Spotting the Wild Stuff
When I got to rushing yards, almost spit out my coffee seeing USC’s main RB had 26 carries for only 78 yards. That’s barely 3 yards per pop! Meanwhile Huskies’ QB threw 42 dang passes without getting sacked once. Made me flip back to check if USC even had a defensive line out there.
The Real Story in Defense Stats
- USC’s linebacker got credited for 11 tackles but looking closer, only 2 were solo stops
- Huskies DBs broke up 9 passes total but one dude accounted for 5 by himself
- Neither team forced turnovers which explains the basketball score
Connecting Dots Over Lunch
Kept shuffling between tabs showing individual players and team totals. Noticed something funky – adding Huskies’ WR yards didn’t match the QB passing total at first. Took 15 minutes comparing play-by-play before spotting that trick play where a running back threw the ball. Almost missed that little detail buried in notes.
Ended up scribbling my biggest takeaways on a napkin since my notebook was full:
1) Huskies won through pure QB volume
2) USC running game totally busted
3) Both secondaries played softer than melted butter
Honestly? Kinda disappointed in the defensive effort from both squads. Those numbers scream backyard football where nobody wants to tackle properly. Might rewatch the fourth quarter tonight to see if my stats theory holds up when actually watching film.
