No. 23 Stanford and Southern California meet Saturday night in a Pac-12 game in Los Angeles, and it could be a showdown of QB2.
Stanford’s K.J. Costello and USC’s JT Daniels left Week 1 wins just before halftime without returning. The status of Costello, who received a forearm to the head on a slide against Northwestern, was uncertain as of Tuesday.
Daniels is out for the season. He sustained ACL and meniscus tears in his right knee when he went down awkwardly on a sack in a 31-23 win against Fresno State.
“The offseason that he had was just tremendous, and it was really so nice to be able to see what he was doing in the first half,” USC coach Clay Helton said. “He will be missed, but we’ll have to move forward. … That being said, we’ll get Kedon Slovis ready in the upcoming week.”
Slovis, a true freshman, completed 6 of 8 passes for 57 yards with one interception on Saturday, operating a new-look, Air Raid-inspired offense. The Trojans hired offensive coordinator Graham Harrell to reignite an offense that tied for 90th nationally in scoring last season. USC’s offensive woes in 2018 included a 17-3 loss at Stanford, in then-freshman Daniels’ second college game.
Slovis faces a similar situation against a Cardinal defense that held Northwestern to just 210 yards of offense in a game that Stanford won 17-7. Stanford will test USC’s offensive line with a talented front seven that generated three sacks and five tackles for loss.
Also expect the Cardinal to make Slovis carry the weight of USC’s offense while aiming to limit running backs Vavae Malepeai and Stephen Carr. The tandem totaled 190 yards and two rushing scores against Fresno State, with Harrell leaning almost as much on the run (36 plays officially) as the pass (42 attempts).
The Trojans can use receiver-heavy sets, featuring Michael Pittman Jr. and Amon-Ra St. Brown. Week 1 also featured the emergence of Tyler Vaughns, whose 150 receiving yards included the highlight of Slovis’ debut, a 41-yard play that set up a Malepeai touchdown run.
“We kept him steady, but he was already ready to come in,” Vaughns said of Slovis. “He jumped up, shook everybody’s hand, and said, ‘Let’s go.’”
Using that diversity in the receiving corps will prove critical for USC, particularly given the question marks about depth for the Stanford secondary. That unit features preseason All-America cornerback Paulson Adebo but lost 2018 starters Frank Buncom IV and Alijah Holder.
“As a defense, we have the mentality that it’s on us,” Adebo told the San Francisco Chronicle. “If the other team doesn’t score any points, we win the game.”
That theory was put to the test after Davis Mills came on for Costello last week. Linebacker Jordan Fox’s fumble recovery touchdown accounted for Stanford’s only points after intermission.
Mills finished 7 of 14 for 81 yards in the air.
The uncertainty at quarterback puts more pressure on the running game — Cameron Scarlett rushed for 97 yards against Northwestern — but there will be void at left tackle. Preseason All-American Walker Little is out, possibly until midseason, because of a leg injury.