Second-year coach Steve Sarkisian has high hopes for his No. 8 USC Trojans with 14 starters returning to Los Angeles. The Trojans begin their new season favorably at home against a quality mid-major team in the form of the Arkansas State Red Wolves, who are gunning for a better finish than their 7-6 overall slate last year.
Read on for a preview of this matchup. You can also click here for a breakdown of the huge Big Ten-SEC showdown between No. 20 Wisconsin and No. 3 Alabama.
[sc:NCAA240banner ]Having made it to four straight Go Daddy Bowl games, the Red Wolves are coming into the new season with higher aspirations—that is to win the Sun Belt conference for the second time under head coach Blake Anderson.
Anderson, who took over the program in 2014, had a pleasant beginning to his career in Jonesbro. Apart from steering the Red Wolves into another bowl game, Anderson also guided the team into a 7-6 record, thus extending Arkansas’ winning season streak to four years. With those accomplishments now behind Anderson, he’ll now have to find a way to make the Red Wolves even better.
This mission begins with the team’s offense, which introduces nine starters, including senior dual quarterback Fredi Knighten. Knighten finished the 2014 season with 3,277 passing yards and seven touchdowns and rushed for 779 yards and 11 scores.
Knighten’s flexibility is something that suits Anderson’s fast-paced system and can cause trouble for the Trojans’ defense. Arkansas’ backfield also has senior running back Michael Gordon, who compiled 1,100 rushing yards and 13 rushing touchdowns despite missing two games last season. Downfield, Knighten will have several options to choose from with six of the team’s top receivers all coming back. Among them is the tandem of Tres Houston and Dijon Paschal, who combined for 1,327 receiving yards and eight touchdowns last season.
The pressure for Knighten and company to produce against USC is heightened when considering Arkansas State’s defense that was absolutely shredded in the second half of their Red Wolves’ 2014 schedule. During that stretch, their opponents rushed for 28 touchdowns and averaged 283.0 yards per game. That said, transferees Robert Mondie, Waylon Roberson and Jake Swalley are all expected to inject life to Arkansas State’s front seven that badly needs reinforcement.
Cody Kessler has been called a lot of names over the offseason and “underrated” is one of them. From Sports Illustrated to BleacherReport, Kessler has been referred to as a quarterback that’s often undervalued. That should change this coming season with the likes of Marcus Mariota and Brett Hundley leaving the Pac-12. The limelight is now all on Kessler, who’ll begin his campaign, along with the rest of the Trojans, against Arkansas State on September 5.
With the aforementioned weakness in the Red Wolves’ defense, Kesler should have his way against Arkansas State. Last season, Kessler ranked 11th in the nation in passing yards (3,826) and fourth in passing touchdowns (39), while throwing just five picks for a solid 69.7 passing percentage.
Despite Nelson Agholor’s decision to turn pro, Kessler will still have enough weapons down field such as JuJu Smith and Steven Mitchell. Smith is set to become Kessler’s top target following a season in which he played in the shadows of Agholor. Last year, Smith amassed 724 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns on 54 receptions as he was named was named a Freshman All-American.
Mitchell, on the other hand, had 82 receiving yards and a couple of touchdowns on seven catches as a freshman. Expect all those numbers to rise in his sophomore season.
The same situation can be found in the Trojans’ backfield, as tailback Justin Davis looks to capitalize on the departure of top running back Javorius Allen (NFL). Davis rushed for 595 yards and reached the end zone four times in 2014.
USC’s defense, meanwhile, took a couple of big blows with Leonard Williams and Hayes Pullard now plying their trade in the NFL. With those two on board, the Trojans were able to rank 78th in the nation in total defense (407.9 yards allowed per game) and 45th in yards allowed per play (5.30). Nevertheless, there are solid talents remaining on the defensive side with the likes of Su’a Cravens (three interceptions and 17.0 tackles for loss in 2014) and senior nose tackle Antwaun Woods (37 total tackles).
USC is 8-2 SU and 6-4 ATS in its last 10 games as the home team.
