Sizing Up USC

As is weekly tradition, I compared the USC depth chart to Nebraska's looking for size mismatches. Against Nicholls State, the Huskers were bigger across the board. This week, sadly the Huskers are on the short end.

One area of hope for Nebraska is USC's defensive line. Surprisingly, the Trojans defensive line is actually smaller than Nebraska's, particularly with nose tackle Sedrick Ellis out of the game. It means Southern Cal will either need to play a 260 lb. freshman at nose, or slide over their big sophomore defensive tackle.

The Trojans sport three big linebackers, all of whom are at least as heavy as Cody Glenn. So yards after contact will be tougher to come by and Glenn will have more trouble moving the pile than usual. Dane Todd is also smaller than 2/3 of the USC linebacking corps, and has only a 5-lb. edge on the smallest one. Matt Herian doesn't have much of a size advantage on the Trojan ‘backers either, as the strongside linebacker is just as tall and roughly as heavy as Herian.

Husker wideout Maurice Purify is taller than most of the defensive backs he'd face (save the freshman safety who was forced by injury to start for the Trojans). But USC receiver Dwayne Jarrett is not only taller than Purify (and the Husker defensive backs) but is much more fluent in the Trojan offense. He creates the greatest mismatch in the Trojans favor and will likely occupy two defenders most of the day (opening up huge opportunities elsewhere for USC).