USC has played three balanced offenses this year and have struggled against them all. Better yet they have struggled against spread offenses with a dual threat QB and that's what they face this week against UCLA ranked 13th in total offense but 31st in passing offense and 25th in rushing offense behind the likes of RB Johnathan Franklin who is averaging 6.38 ypc and red shirt freshment QB Brett Hundley who has 6 rushing TD's and is ranked 17th in the nation in passing efficiency.
USC will have its hands full against UCLA's pass defense which on paper does not look so good because they have given up a lot of yards in garbage time, but when they are at home they have held opponents to 58% completions 6.2 yards per attempts and only 3 TD and 8 interceptions. Matt Barkley has been turning the ball over quote a bit and that's going to be a key against UCLA a team that can get into the backfield as they have 79 TFL and are ranked 5th with a 9.35% sack %. Their defense is awfully similar to Stanford who USC struggled against and lost as Stanford too gave up a ton of yards this year 102nd in pass yard defense, but were 6th in sack % not allowing Marqis Lee and other receivers down the field.
UCLA's offense has been better than USC on third down and in the red zone and you can't sleep on UCLA's ability to stop teams as they are ranked better than USC allowing just 31% conversions on third down. I think they will have more success at getting to the QB since they are home, but more than anything QB Brett Hundley possesses the skill to neutralize USC's ability to sack the QB where Matt Barkley does not unless he gets rid of the ball right away. This is a huge rivalry game and UCLA wants revenge for the beatings they have received over previous years. Look out for the X factor in UCLA TE Joseph Fauria, he's a big weapon at 6-8 particularly in the red zone where UCLA has scored 71% TD's in conference play to USC's 59%.
