University of Southern California Trojans
2021 Season Summary & Review
2021 Season Review
2021 definitely has to go down as another successful season for the Southern Cal Trojans. We won our third consecutive PAC-10 championship and our fourth since I have been here, and we went to the Rose Bowl to play for the National Championship for the third consecutive season.
Our defense was outstanding all season long. Teams found they couldn't pass or run against us. We recorded five shutouts on the season - including one over our cross city rivals UCLA.
Offensively we saw the emergence of freshman wideout Britt Wells as a gamebreaking playmaker. But we were hampered offensively by injury - losing our starting Fullback and starting quarterback for most of the season. Redshirt sophomore Tony Felkey stepped up and quite capably handled the signal calling duties in the absence of starter Kenny Finch and is in large part responsible for how successful a campaign we had this year.
Tailback Ike Daugherty showed he was capable of being the lead back in a wishbone offense, but we did miss the durability and endurance of the graduated J.B. Wilson who was able to shoulder the load of 40 carries per game. With Daugherty, we just didn't have that capability.
Our ofeensive player of the year though has to go to WR Britt Wells. He was an impact player from his first game as a Trojan and at times during the season when he exhibited his rushing abilities as well as his receiving talents, he reminded me of Tim Brown when Brown played at Notre Dame. With Wells being only a freshman, his future looks very bright.
Defensively our player of the year has to be redshirt senior DE Floyd Jeffers. Floyd recorded 20 sacks on the season and was simply a game-changer on the defensive line. He ended too many drives to count at crucial points in ball games with a key sack or QB pressure. There were many other standout players on defense, but no one player made the impact Jeffers did with his play alone.
While ultimately I am very pleased that we won our third consecutive PAC-10 championship and got to play for the national Championship yet again, I'll also admit to more than a little disappointment that we failed to win a third consecutive national title and that our 36 game consecutive winning streak was finally brought to an end. I realize our incredible run had to end sometime, but it was a disappointing end to an otherwise satisfying season nonetheless.
What the future holds for me, I'm not at all certain at this point. I've been coaching 18 years - 14 at Southern Cal. I haven't informed the school I'll be returning or that I'll be leaving - simply because I haven't decided what I am going to do yet. I just need some time to think about what I want to do now that our run is over.
But whatever I do, the future of Southern Cal football is indeed bright for at least the next four seasons.
And that's what's important.
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2021 USC Player Awards
Code:
2021 University of Southern California
Individual Awards
* OG Desmond Connel (RS Sr.)
- 1st Team All-American
- 1st Team All PAC-10
* DE Floyd Jeffers (Rs Sr.)
- Academic All-American
- 2nd Team All PAC-10
- Academic all PAC-10
* S Lawrence Abdul-Jabbar (Sr.)
- Academic All-American
- Academic All PAC-10
* WR Britt Wells (Fr.)
- Freshman All-American
- PAC-10 Freshman Offensive Player of the Year
- 1st Team All PAC-10
* OT Mario Harper (Fr.)
- Freshman All-American
* OC Gino Lyubashevsky (5th yr Sr.)
- 1st Team All PAC-10
* OT Nate Dillon (RS Sr.)
- 1st Team All PAC-10
* P Xavier Eason (5th yr Sr.)
- 1st Team All PAC-10
* CB Brad Knight (Rs Sr.)
- 1st Team All PAC-10
* TB Ike Daugherty (Rs. Sr.)
- 2nd Team All PAC-10
* DE Wally Knight (5th yr Sr.)
- 2nd Team All PAC-10
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2021 USC Team Summary
Code:
The College Years
The University of Southern California Trojans
2021 Team Summary
Head Coach: Bear Growlz (14th Season)
Offensive Coordinator: Spencer Farley (2nd Season)
Defensive Coordinator: Leland Shepard (1st Season)
Syndicate Coordinator: Arnie Urlacher (3rd Season)
Lead Scout: Lester Stargell (4th Season)
Overall Record: 11-1
BCS Ranking: #2
Coaches Poll: #3
Fans Poll: #3
PAC-10 Record: 8-0
PAC-10 Standing: 1st ***PAC-10 Champions***
Southern California Team Rank
Rushes 609 2
Rushing Yards 2507 2
Yards Per Carry 4.11 18
Pass Attempts 246 114 (T)
Completions 174 60 (T)
Passing Yards 2084 76 (T)
Yards Per Attempt 8.47 21
3rd Down Conversions 44.2 11 (T)
Points Per Game 33.7 13
Turnovers 6 1 (T)
Turnover Margin +19 2
Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 307 1
Rushing Yards 439 2
Yards Per Carry 1.42 2
Pass Attempts 348 91 (T)
Completions 136 3
Passing Yards 1560 2
Yards Per Attempt 4.48 2
3rd Down Conversions 21.3 6
Points Per Game 7.9 2
Turnovers 25 22 (T)
Primary Formation: Wishbone Formation
Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 ---Open Week---
2 38 DART (49) 10
3 59 INDI (123) 0
4 ---Open Week---
5 28 ORST (104) 3
6 42 OREG (86) 0
7 27 at CALI (11) 9
8 35 at AZST (119) 0
9 49 STAN (52) 0
10 45 WASH (55) 7
11 31 at ARIZ (97) 8
12 38 NODM (7) 23
13 10 at UCLA (8) 0
14 ---Open Week---
15 ---Open Week---
16 ---Open Week---
17 ---Open Week---
18 ---Open Week---
19 ---Open Weel---
20 3 vs VIRG (1) 35 ***The Rose Bowl/BCS National Championship Game***
Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int Comp%
13 Felkey QB 161 118 1311 8.14 7 1 73.3%
1 Finch QB 69 46 648 9.39 5 2 66.7%
Team --- 246 174 2084 8.47 12 3 70.7%
Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD Stff YdLst
24 Daugherty RB 298 1363 4.57 20 94 172
25 Snyder RB 159 523 3.28 13 59 116
13 Felkey QB 75 209 2.78 4 23 61
1 Finch QB 37 109 2.94 0 12 27
Team --- 609 2507 4.11 38 196 399
Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
6 Wells WR 74 59 1010 17.1 376 7
45 Washington FB 35 26 202 7.7 99 0
24 Daugherty RB 34 24 187 7.7 79 0
25 Snyder RB 33 23 243 10.5 101 0
82 Hastings TE 21 8 80 10.0 32 0
31 Gardiner FB 16 10 89 8.9 39 1
7 Jacobs WR 12 10 149 14.9 88 3
Team --- 246 174 2084 11.9 888 12
Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack TFL Ints Defn
49 Whalen ILB 53 20 6.5 19 1 10
20 Esparza S 44 17 1.0 14 2 19
91 Knight DE 35 9 13.0 19 0 0
72 Jeffers DE 31 8 20.0 20 0 0
41 Garcia ILB 30 14 1.0 6 1 2
26 Knight CB 30 12 0.0 5 3 11
38 Abdul-Jabbar S 29 15 0.0 4 4 4
90 Kariya OLB 24 7 0.0 3 2 1
35 Jacobs CB 22 8 0.0 2 0 4
37 Barber CB 22 9 0.0 4 1 10
23 Cheng CB 21 5 0.0 3 0 5
44 Carpenter S 15 2 0.0 6 1 1
94 Shepard DT 15 3 1.5 3 0 0
98 McWilliams DT 14 4 1.0 5 0 0
70 Lew DE 13 3 3.5 5 0 0
29 Brennan S 12 0 0.0 1 0 0
Team --- 519 157 49.0 127 15 75
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