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USC released its annual end-of-spring depth chart last week, which we posted mostly without comment at the time. Here, now, is our position-by-position analysis of what Lane Kiffin and Co. released, with an eye on what it means for the 2012 Trojans.

Quarterback

This was exactly as expected, with Matt Barkley entrenched and Cody Kessler and Max Wittek continuing to compete behind him. It is noteworthy that Jesse Scroggins is listed a spot behind the two redshirt freshmen and not tied with them, but it'd be a little unfair for him to be anywhere else. He missed most of the spring with hip issues and is still in academic jeopardy.

Running back

Where would Tre Madden have been if he wasn't out for the 2012 season? That's the question this portion of the chart begs. Curtis McNeal would still be starting, but Madden could very well be vying with D.J. Morgan for that No. 2 spot. Javorious Allen will be the third-string back unless he gets beat out by an incoming freshman.

Fullback

Soma Vainuku is locked in as the starter with no pressing competition, but he had himself a nice conclusion to the spring anyway, giving the coaching staff more confidence in him going into the summer. Jahleel Pinner will be somewhat of an unknown.

Receiver

De'Von Flournoy jumped in front of Victor Blackwell with an impressive spring, and has now put himself into position to challenge George Farmer for third-receiver status in the fall. And if Farmer can't stay healthy (again), then Flournoy's suddenly the favorite to line up with Robert Woods and Marqise Lee.

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Devon Kennard never expected he'd record only two sacks as a co-starting defensive end for the USC Trojans last season, but that's exactly what happened.

In fact, it took the then-junior until the eighth game of the 2011 season to bring down an opposing quarterback -- Stanford's Andrew Luck, actually. He has only four career sacks to his name in 37 games split between defensive end, middle and outside linebacker.

But the senior and Arizona native still says he thinks double-digit sacks are a legitimate possibility for 2012, and that's what he's targeting.

"That's the ultimate goal," Kennard said after the Trojans' Tuesday practice. "You always set it up high, but I'm not concentrating on that. I want to play to the best of my ability and see where it puts me at the end of the year.

"I'm worried about today and getting better."

Kennard has gotten better this spring, at least according to his coach -- defensive coordinator Ed Orgeron. Orgeron spotlighted Kennard as one of the players on the Trojans' defense who's clearly making strides.

It makes sense, too, because this is the first spring since he arrived on campus in 2009 that Kennard has been able to participate, so he's embracing the opportunity. Previously, he has been bothered by varying injuries each year that kept him off the field.

That's also one of the reasons why, Kennard says, he hasn't been able to accumulate as many sacks as he'd like. He has been rusty. The other reason?

He kept switching positions, from DE at first to OLB and then to MLB before moving back to DE. He never got comfortable at one, especially since he only had half the year to practice there.

And that's why Kennard is spending this spring focusing on the little things he needs to perfect as a defensive end.

"All I had was fall camp," Kennard said. "And I felt great in fall camp and everything but the difference was gameday is actually about finishing. We don't finish in practice, so that's something I'm emphasizing. If you go back and watch film, especially early in the year, I was beating a lot of offensive tackles off the edge.

"It's just intricacies -- the quarterback steps up in the pocket and he might try to step out of it. It's being aggressive and finishing the play. That's something I'm focusing on."

For his part, Kiffin says it's "hard to tell" how much Kennard was hurt by the position switches.

"But he's improved," Kiffin said. "A lot like guys do their last year for whatever reason -- guys, their senior year, play better and you can see that improvement and he's the healthiest he's been."

USC already has its starting defensive ends identified in Devon Kennard and Wes Horton, and its top three tackles organized too.

But that's not enough. The Trojans need more linemen capable of logging 10-20 snaps a game to provide breathers for the starters. Who will back those five guys up against the fast-paced offenses of the Pac-12?

"That's the big question," USC defensive line coach Ed Orgeron said last week.

Orgeron has dedicated this spring to cultivating some playable backups for the 2012 season. And as of right now, he says, he has four potential players: redshirt freshman Greg Townsend Jr., junior Morgan Breslin, redshirt junior Kevin Greene and incoming freshman Leonard Williams.

Realistically, those four are competing -- or will be competing, in Williams' case -- for two slots behind Kennard and Horton.

"There's gonna be a third and a fourth end," Orgeron said on Saturday after the Trojans' scrimmage at the Coliseum. "But there is a big difference between the first team and the second team right now.

"Those guys have to rise and I have to do a better job of coaching them to get ready."

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Notes from Saturday's scrimmage at the Coliseum that won't make it into our other coverage off the session:

• Quarterback Matt Barkley did not participate in the scrimmage portion of practice, giving way to backups Cody Kessler and Max Wittek. Wittek started off as the No. 1 signal-caller before the two switched at the half. We'll have more on the race to back up Barkley on Sunday.

• Defensive line coach Ed Orgeron said there are four players battling to be the third and fourth ends behind Devon Kennard and Wes Horton this season, and none of them have stepped up considerably ahead thus far. He also said Greg Townsend Jr. will no longer practice inside at tackle after he spent the first couple weeks of practice learning the new position. We'll have more on this Monday, along with an update on the running back situation with Curtis McNeal and Tre Madden.

• Injury report: Safety Drew McAllister (leg) returned after missing the latter half of Thursday's practice. Aside from that, nothing changed from Thursday's injury situation, although Kiffin did say center Khaled Holmes (calf) and fullback Soma Vainuku (back) could return Tuesday. Receiver George Farmer (hamstring) did mostly special-teams work, marking the eighth straight practice he has now missed because of the hamstring pull. Running back Buck Allen (hamstring) ran on the sideline for most of practice.

• The lone new injury: Receiver Victor Blackwell hurt his hand and his knee during practice and sat out for some of the day. Kiffin said both were "nothing big." Blackwell's absence meant walk-ons had to take on an even bigger role with only one scholarship pass-catcher available in De'Von Flournoy.

• Cornerback Torin Harris (shoulder) continues to miss practice while rehabbing and working out on the sideline. He has been out since the middle of last season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum in the shoulder,"It was positive that he was getting better," Kiffin said. "He should be ready by camp."

• Freshman defensive end DeVante Wilson and redshirt freshman tight end Junior Pomee spent the scrimmage doing rollovers and sit-ups on the sidelines after arriving late to a 9 a.m. morning meeting, Kiffin said.

• Final notes: Receiver Marqise Lee missed the scrimmage to participate in the long jump at the Texas Relays in Austin. He finished 10th. ... An estimated 800 or 900 fans were in attendance at the Coliseum for the open scrimmage, with a couple hundred leaving once it started to rain two-thirds of the way through. ... A number of top recruits were also at the Coliseum, which we'll have more on later.

Defensive tackle George Uko had a good first week of spring practice earlier this month. Then, during the mini-scrimmage that Saturday, USC coaches Lane Kiffin and Ed Orgeron noticed him taking occasional plays off on the defensive unit and decided to take action.

They left him a letter in the locker room telling him he'd been demoted to the second team for the next week of practices -- an obvious shock to Uko. But he came in Tuesday after a nine-day break and got himself promoted right back to the first team, showing the kind of domination that has long made him such an attractive prospect.

Put it this way: If Uko's not one of USC's most known players come the end of the 2012 season, something will have gone wrong. He has that potential. And he has the necessary approach -- the pure honesty and actual reflectiveness -- to fulfill his athletic potential.

"I knew what I was doing," he said Thursday, asked about the temporary demotion and how it came about. "It was on film. It wasn't like (the coaches) shocked me or anything. We have cameras here and they film.

"We watch the film and you know what you do. It's just reality."

Uko said he wasn't upset at the letter -- he was upset at himself.

"I was like, 'OK, I'm not gonna fight it, I'm not gonna argue it," he said. "I'm just gonna come out and work."

Here are the words Kiffin used to describe him on Thursday: "powerful", "quick," and "explosive." Here are the phrases: "He can run long," "He can play the run," and "He can rush the passer."

"He really responded," Kiffin said.

Of course, the Trojans are counting on Uko to lead the interior of the defensive line this season. With J.R. Tavai and Antwaun Woods battling for snaps at nose tackle, it'll be Uko manning the under tackle spot most of the time.

And that should be just fine.

"He’s a perfect 3-technique," Kiffin said. "The sky’s the limit for him."

USC’s out on spring break this week and not practicing, but each weekday through Friday, we’ll bring you one thing we learned from the first three days of practice last week and what it might mean for the future.

Our first item covered Marqise Lee‘s continued progress, our second the new-look Aundrey Walker and third the situation at backup QB.

Fourth is this: All options will be explored in the interior of the defensive line.

It doesn't necessarily reflect the talent levels of the players who created them, but USC's biggest hole this offseason -- by far -- is at nose tackle.

Nick Perry had a natural replacement, as did DaJohn Harris in George Uko. Matt Kalil had a qualified candidate to replace him at left tackle, too, in Kevin Graf.

But Christian Tupou's spot? The natural person to step in would be J.R. Tavai, but it's clear he's not being looked at as an every-down option. Then there's Antwaun Woods, whose playing time seems to largely depend on his physical condition.

So what next? Ed Orgeron and the Trojans are looking every which way for potential options to fill the hole created by Tupou's departure. Defensive end Wes Horton worked out at tackle last season, but Orgeron said last week that was a failed experiment and will no longer be tried.

Now, defensive end Greg Townsend Jr. is getting time at the three-technique, which could presumably push Uko to nose if it works out. Redshirt freshman Christian Heyward is sitting out the spring after undergoing shoulder surgery, but he'll get a long look come fall camp to determine if he can contribute 20 or snaps a game.

One thing is clear: The nose tackle spot is going to be USC's biggest 2012 weakness, unless someone unexpectedly emerges. Tupou wasn't a high-profile contributor, but he rarely made mistakes and he was consistently on the field when healthy.

The Trojans could use a similar player this season, since Uko, Horton and Devon Kennard -- the other starting defensive linemen -- have the ability to produce enough quarterback pressure on their own.

Check back later Friday for the fifth and final thing we learned from the spring.

USC defensive coordinator Ed Orgeron and head coach Lane Kiffin both compared a current USC defensive linemen to former Trojans defensive tackle Mike Patterson on Thursday, but they were different players.

Orgeron said sophomore J.R. Tavai resembled Patterson in his ability to play nose tackle despite his light weight; Kiffin said redshirt freshman Antwaun Woods resembled him because of his precipitous weight loss since arriving on campus last August.

The funny thing: Tavai and Woods are competing against each other this spring for the only truly open starting spot on the USC team. Every other position everywhere else has either a returning starter or a clear-cut leader. Nose guard is totally up for grabs between Tavai and Woods with Christian Tupou graduating and pursuing an NFL career.

They're totally different, too. Tavai is the over-achieving type, a 6-2, 271-pounder who doesn't show a ton of physical potential but proved enough to get on the field as a true freshman last season. Woods has been an underachiever thus far, seriously underwhelming the USC coaches in fall camp last year when he showed up weighing 340 pounds on his 6-1 frame.

More than likely, the two are going to split time at nose tackle in 2012. If both players can't be counted on to play at least 20 or 30 snaps a game this season, USC's defensive line is going to be in trouble. Former defensive end Greg Townsend Jr. has been working at tackle so far this spring and former offensive guard Cody Temple is too, but there are no other healthy defensive tackles on the roster besides George Uko, will start at three-technique.

Patterson, of course, was a stout 6-foot, 290-pound tackle who found success at nose guard at USC after coming in weighing considerably more than that. Orgeron fell in love with Patterson's potential as a high-schooler and convinced then-coach Pete Carroll he could turn into something.

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Get ready to hear this phrase quite a bit this season: It's about the prep, not about the hype.

Lane Kiffin is going to say it a lot. Matt Barkley's going to say it a lot. The other players are going to say it a lot, in one form or another.

Heck, Ed Orgeron's probably going to yell it a lot.

The originator of the phrase, at least as it applies to this season and this team, was Kiffin. The first time he said it, though, was late last September, after the Trojans lost to Arizona State by 21 points in Tempe.

The next week, as USC prepared to play Arizona at home in a classic rebound game, he said it over and over in practice. The Trojans barely won that game, but, as the season went on, it started becoming vernacular with the players.

Why did they collectively embrace it? Maybe because it made sense. Maybe because it acknowledged that -- even though they couldn't play in a bowl game -- there was hype surrounding their performances, and then squashed the importance of that hype in the next thought.

Then, after the season-ending 50-0 shellacking of UCLA sparked expectations for 2012 even further, Kiffin stressed it in his final conference call with reporters. And he emphasized it again in his signing day news conference last month. It's nothing short of the official team mantra now, with expectations teeming for a team most experts are ranking as the pre-preseason No. 2 and players insisting it means just about nothing.

"Of course we are going to get that much more attention just because we are eligible this year," Barkley said after Tuesday's spring-opening practice, taking on the official team spokesman role as he often has. "But I'm not looking at it different than any other year that we've had.

"Yeah, we can play for a bowl game and all that stuff, but our preparation, I don't think that can change just because of that."

Said Kiffin: "We're not going to, all of the sudden, prepare any different or coach our players any different or get ready for our opponents any different. We're gonna do the same thing we always do."

Practice didn't look any different Tuesday. There were a few surprise stars and few key mistakes, as usual. Kiffin and Barkley both said it was a positive first-day experience. But the senior signal-caller also said the Trojans have plenty left to do this spring with their 14 remaining practices.

"I think a lot needs to get done every day and for us maybe more than normal, because we have something to prove," Barkley said. "I think we have to have the same mentality that we did last year of wanting to prove something."

New USC defensive backs coach Marvin Sanders was just getting used to his new job at Florida Atlantic when the Trojans came calling earlier this month, but he found he couldn't resist Lane Kiffin's recruiting efforts. Kiffin had initially looked at the former Nebraska assistant for the DBs vacancy when Willie Mack Garza resigned last September, since Sanders had left the Huskers in February.

After taking the full 2011 season off, Sanders then signed on to be the defensive coordinator at FAU under Carl Pelini in December, but he quickly scrapped those plans and will now coach Nickell Robey, T.J. McDonald and the USC secondary.

Here's an ESPNLosAngeles.com interview with the 44-year-old coach following a Trojan throwing session last week.

Question: So you're probably an expert in getting acclimated to new jobs by now, right?

Answer: I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. It's a little bit of both, I think. You have to understand that's part of the profession. Any time you have an opportunity like USC, whatever it takes to get here is easy.

Q: New receivers coach Tee Martin told me he turned down Lane's offer at first and then eventually changed his mind. What was your thought process like?

A: You get a chance to talk to Lane and you realize why he's the head coach at 'SC at such a young age. He just has so much -- I don't know if talent's the right word -- but there's something about him that you know he's going to be successful. He can really sell USC football.

Q: Had you ever talked to him before?

A: Briefly. And I had a good relationship with his dad, who's a Nebraska guy as well. It was just kind of a good fit for us.

Q: When you take a new job, how much of the decision whether or not to take it depends on the coaches and infrastructure in place and how much depends on the players currently there? Which one's more important?

A: It's a combination of a whole lot of things. It's a combination of being the right fit for your family, No. 1, and the right fit for coaching staffs both ways -- me to them and them to me. And talent plays a factor in it, too. You want to be in a situation where you can win a lot of games and compete at the highest level. At USC, you have that every time you step on the field.

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USC's new receivers coach Tee Martin brings some interesting perspective with him to Los Angeles, having been the quarterback of a national-championship team at Tennessee in 1998 and, since, an assistant coach at New Mexico and Kentucky. His recruiting expertise is well-publicized, but what else can the 33-year-old assistant bring to the Trojans? Here's a wide-reaching with interview, conducted by ESPNLosAngeles.com after a USC conditioning session this week.

Q: How is everything going? You were hired only eight days ago now. Does it feel like things have been moving in warp-speed?

A: It's been going fast, very fast, from being offered the jump to getting out here and working, getting everything taken care of to where I can get on the field and coach and recruit. It has been fast, but I've been blessed to find a place to live and my family will be coming out in a couple weeks.

Q: You've been quoted as saying that you said no to Lane Kiffin's overtures at first. Why?

A: I just didn't know that much about what I was going into and what makes Lane a great recruiter, which is making you comfortable about the situation. That's what happened with me -- I had a lot of questions. I knew about USC, knew about all the traditions and the football side of it, but I didn't know about the organization. Pat Haden was great, the rest of the coaching staff, Layla Kiffin talking to my wife. ... It was big to make my family feel comfortable moving out.

Q: How long did it take you to say no at first?

A: That's just me being loyal to where I was at. I'll be the same way for Coach Kiffin. It's tough. Kentucky did a great job, treated me and my family well. We were doing great things in the community, my son was playing little-league basketball. It's hard to leave. But Coach Kiffin made me believe in where we're headed as a program here at 'SC.

Q: When you're considering a lateral move, how much of the decision is based on whether or not the new school currently has a lot of talent at your particular position?

A: It's a blessing to have talent there, but part of the decision of making a lateral move is: Are you going to a school where you can recruit the talent that you need? I feel like 'SC can and has done that in the past, having a tradition of great receivers and great players. Coming into that situation, even if we didn't have what we are blessed to have right now, I feel like I could've got in here and got those type of guys in trying to take this program to where we want to take it. That was part of it, the tradition of USC. How do you deny that?

Q: You talk about extending the tradition. To me, that means recruiting, and you've picked up praise for your recruiting skills early on in your career. How big of a role did that play in Lane and USC's coming after you and how much do you think they expect from you there?

A: I'll be doing the Southeast. Coach Kiffin wanted me to be in areas where I was comfortable and I had relationships. And that's part of being able to recruit well -- your relationships that you build with high-school coaches in the communities where the kids come from. The Southeast is somewhere where I have a lot of those good relationships. Coach (Ed) Orgeron has had a lot of success bringing kids here from Florida, too.

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USC's Cody Temple was all set to commit to Nevada as a defensive tackle back in November 2010, planning to call the Wolf Pack after school one day at Liberty High in Bakersfield and inform them of his plans.

Then his father picked him up and told him he had a phone call to make. And so he did, and found USC associate head coach John Baxter on the other end of the line. On the other end, in Los Angeles, Baxter soon passed the phone to Lane Kiffin, who offered the 6-2, 280-pounder a scholarship as an offensive lineman.

Temple, raised a USC fan, accepted immediately, signed in February of last year and served quietly on the scout-team interior offensive line throughout the 2011 season while using his redshirt year.

Then, Thursday, Kiffin called Temple into his upstairs office at Heritage Hall. He and Ed Orgeron had talked, Kiffin told Temple, and they decided that they wanted him on the defensive line again. There was less depth there than there was on the O-line, Kiffin said, so it made more sense for the team and the player.

Temple obliged, again immediately, beginning his new adventure in a Thursday conditioning session with his teammates as members of the USC coaching staff observed.

"It doesn't really matter where they put me," Temple said afterward. "Whether I was offense or defense I was gonna make sure I was on the field one way or another."

With Temple as a center/guard, there would have been 15 offensive linemen on the USC roster for five starting spots compared to four defensive tackles for two starting spots. The move makes sense, and he realizes that.

He'll compete with Antwaun Woods and J.R. Tavai for time at nose guard while Christian Heyward backs up George Uko at the three-technique.

"We were looking at nose guard because it looks a little bit light and seeing what I can do to help out," Temple said. "We discussed it -- getting on the field the earliest I could and helping out the guys."

True to his word, USC coach Lane Kiffin has gotten right to work on filling up the three assistant coaching slots created with the departures of Willie Mack Garza, Joe Barry and Ted Gilmore over the last five months.

After saying he hoped to find replacements for all three men by the end of the upcoming week, Kiffin reportedly got Marvin Sanders to replace Garza as the defensive backs coach and Scottie Hazelton to replace Barry as the linebackers coach on Sunday.

Now he has five days left to meet his initial goal by hiring on a receivers coach and giving the new hire ample time to get to know his players before spring practice begins March 6. Let's take a look at who some of the potential candidates are, listed in alphabetical order.

-- Arizona State receivers coach/passing game coordinator DelVaughn Alexander

Alexander might make the most sense of any of the candidates. A former USC receiver and graduate assistant, he's qualified for the post and familiar with the area. Known as an above-average recruiter, he could jump right in and start that part of that job before spring practice even starts.

One potential problem: He just signed on at Arizona State last month under new coach Todd Graham. But that obviously wasn't too much of a deterrent for Kiffin in hiring Sanders, who just latched on at Florida Atlantic in December.

-- Former USC receiver and graduate assistant Keary Colbert

The sentimental choice, a number of current USC players have been campaigning on Twitter for Colbert to get the job.

He, of course, spent the 2010 season as a graduate assistant for the Trojans, coaching the tight ends. He could've kept the same job last year but chose to pursue an NFL comeback -- which he successfully completed, sticking with the Kansas City Chiefs for most of the 2011 season.

Colbert is completely unproven as a recruiter but provides reason to believe he could become a good one.

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Here are five more USC-centric observations from National Signing Day, focusing on what they will mean for the future of the Trojans. Later, we'll have a post on some news and notes Lane Kiffin revealed in his signing day press conference.

1. The star(s)

Most recruiting classes have one or two players who are recognizable names, often top-recruited quarterbacks or skill-position players from the area.

But the two most exciting players -- defensive end Leonard Williams and receiver Nelson Agholor, both from Florida -- in the Trojans' 2012 class don't fit either of those bills.

Williams' decision to choose USC didn't attract a ton of national attention, but it's clear the Trojans were both surprised and delighted at his choice. Kiffin credited defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron for sealing Williams' signature from out-of-state.

The 6-5, 270-pounder spent high school on the East coast of Florida, but he hails from L.A. and attended a camp at USC last summer. That's where USC's interest stemmed from.

Agholor is an interesting combination as an elite athletic prospect and a superb character guy. His high-school highlight film is prodigious; his press-conference performance Wednesday morning when he picked the Trojans earned him some positive attention.

Kiffin said Agholor will primarily play receiver at USC but could occasionally log some time at running back.

2. Depth issues at two spots

We wrote about the offensive line on signing day and how USC wanted to get one more lineman in the fold, but the truth is there were two other positions where the Trojans needed players more desperately than they did on the O-line.

Those spots? Defensive tackle and running back. The Trojans have only four scholarship tackles on the roster, and two of them have never played in a college game. The other two, J.R. Tavai and George Uko, have played but started a combined one game.

At running back, USC has three scholarship players and only two with any experience in Curtis McNeal and D.J. Morgan.

Kiffin didn't shy away from saying Wednesday that the Trojans were worried about their depth in the backfield. But, he emphasized, they chose being worried about depth over taking a prospect of questionable character or talent.

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USC used to be the one school west of the Rockies that could consistently field teams with SEC-caliber talent. Saturday might tell us how far back they've come.

The past two teams to beat Oregon, Auburn and LSU, did so largely by winning the one-on-one battles up front and by stuffing the Ducks' option plays before they got going. Against Auburn in the national-championship game last year, the Ducks ran for just 75 yards. Against LSU in the season opener, they managed just 95 on the ground.

In its nine games since, Oregon has averaged 313 yards rushing and blown out every opponent it has faced.

How much of a lesson is all that heading into Saturday's showdown at Autzen Stadium? USC coach Lane Kiffin thinks you can only take it so far, saying LSU's defense might be the best in college football history.

"You're talking about not just a good defense this year, a great defense of all time," Kiffin said. "Nothing against our defense, but you can't compare anybody to that."

USC's front seven is young and rapidly improving. The Trojans rank eighth nationally against the run, having allowed an average of 100 yards rushing per game. The emphases in practice this week have been conditioning, tackling and penetration.

"We’ve just got to compete and get there, stop the run and everything will work out," said USC defensive end Nick Perry.

And yeah, they watched the film of those two Oregon games against the SEC.

"They had the right game plan: Get some big guys up front, win your one-on-ones and, when they got out in space on you, the first guy made the tackle," defensive coordinator Ed Orgeron said. "I think that’s really critical."

PASSING ATTACK
Matt Barkley didn't mess up at all, save for a couple overthrows. But he didn't do anything worthy of netting the passing game an 'A' grade, despite the dominant win over Washington. Marqise Lee showed up just fine, but where was Robert Woods?

RUSHING ATTACK
Curtis McNeal hasn't had a bad game since September. He certainly didn't have one Saturday, with his beastly 79-yard run in the third quarter and 148-yard day in total. Marc Tyler also had himself a quiet 50 yards in his return from a shoulder injury.

IN THE TRENCHES
Finally, for the first time in Lane Kiffin and Ed Orgeron's tenure at USC, the Trojan defensive line produced consistent pressure on an opposing offense. And look what happened -- USC won going away. The O-line also kept Barkley off the ground except for his Jim Kelly-esque sack.

DEFENSE
There were plenty of positive signs defensively. Even when USC took a big lead the Trojans didn't just crumble like they have on so many other occasions. Washington got some late yards, sure, but it wasn't a complete free-for-all like it has been in the past.

SPECIAL TEAMS
If we could give out pluses, this unit would be the first ever to earn one. John Baxter's players made a difference in Saturday's game, from Lee's second-half-opening kickoff return for a touchdown to Kyle Negrete's key 35-yard run on a fake punt.

COACHING
Kiffin's team was prepared, as it almost always is, but there were a couple late-game decisions that prevent this from being a top grade. For one, why wasn't Barkley out as soon as the Trojans got the ball back with a 30-point lead in the fourth quarter?