Story Created:
Aug 23, 2010 at 10:37 AM PST
Story Updated:
Aug 23, 2010 at 10:53 AM PST
Despite six touchdowns by the offense, USC coach Lane Kiffin reserved most of his praise for the defense following Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage.
Kiffin cited the four interceptions, one of which was returned for a score, as highlights of the 111-play scrimmage.
“I thought the defense did a great job,” Kiffin said. “They planned well for the offense and the players responded. It wasn’t a great job by the offense. The best news was we didn’t have any injuries, so from that standpoint the scrimmage worked. But because we didn’t tackle, I’m not going to read anything into the stats.”
Quarterbacks Matt Barkley and Mitch Mustain each threw a pair of scoring passes, but Mustain was picked off twice and Barkley once (cornerback Shareece Wright returned it 35 yards for a touchdown). Wide receiver Ronald Johnson (38 yards) and tight end Randall Telfer (11 yards) had scoring catches from Barkley, who was 13-of-29 for 173 yards overall. Mustain, who was 14-of-27 for 181 yards, threw his TD passes to De’Von Flournoy (58 yards) and Brice Butler (21 yards), who both made one-handed grabs.
Tailback Marc Tyler, who ran for 84 yards on 12 carries, had an eight-yard TD run. On an earlier drive, he fumbled into the end zone from the one-yard line, but tight end Rhett Ellison recovered the ball for a touchdown.
Cornerback Nickell Robey returned a kickoff 82 yards for a score. Placekicker Joe Houston had a 33-yard field goal.
Wide receiver Markeith Ambles had seven receptions for 69 yards., while Johnson (70 yards) and Telfer (61 yards) each had four catches.
Cornerback Torin Harris had an interception along with five tackles and defensive tackle Hebron Fangupo intercepted a Mustain pass that he tipped at the line of scrimmage. Safety Dion Bailey had 10 tackles and an interception, while four players had four tackles each: defensive end Armond Armstead (two were for losses), defensive tackle Jurrell Casey, linebacker Chris Galippo and cornerback Brian Baucham.
In order to prevent injuries to an already-thin roster, the defensive players were instructed not to complete their tackles of ball carriers.
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