CAL should have had Dsean run back kick off returns to get him back in the game and dumped some short passes to him toward the sidelines even screens behind the line of scrimmage.

CAL should have played both Justin Forsett and Lynch to pressure the USC defense and decoy them out of focussing on Lynch the entire time.

CAL should have brought in Ayoob on a trick QB running play, with both Forsett & Lynch remaining in the game.

Cal needed to throw more short sideline passes to Lynch to counter SC’s defense keying on him.

Generally the Cal defensive scheme was very good.
However, in big games and especially w/ a great defense like USC’s, one must get creative. It’s the only way to win.

In the second half Cal had the momentum in the beginning but got out of their game plan by throwing too much which is exactly what USC wanted them to do. To counter they should have dumped short passes to Lynch and Forsett (decoyed) running to the side around the USC defense (not up the middle where they were keying & strong).

I think Longshore panicked in the second half. He wasn’t used to such great defenses like USC. He needed more help from Tedford. He needed to dump passes to Forsett & Lynch and even put Dsean Jackson in the backfield or use him running through the backfield, even on fakes to confuse the defense.

The USC defense worked great.