Time For Noel Mazzone To Shine Again In The Crosstown Showdown

Sep 25, 2014; Tempe, AZ, USA; UCLA Bruins offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Sun Devil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Noel Mazzone has been here before: he’s been the architect of the offensive gameplans that have led to UCLA scoring 38 and 35 points respectively in the Bruins’ last two meetings with cross-town rival USC. Even more relevant to this year’s meeting with the Trojans is the 41 points that Mazzone’s offense hung on Washington last season when USC defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox was in charge of the Huskies defense.

Looking at that game against Washington from just more than a year ago, Brett Hundley didn’t have the most eye-popping stat line: 13/22 for 159 yards and 2 TDs. But he didn’t need to carry the load, since this was the game when Myles Jack saw his national profile absolutely explode. Jack confirmed his status as an absolute freak of nature, running for 60 yards and 4 TDs against Wilcox’s crew. As a whole, UCLA ran for 222 yards as part of a game in which Mazzone emphasized ball control and preservation of the Bruins’ wire-to-wire lead.

One key play to note from last year’s contest is Devin Lucien‘s 4th quarter touchdown catch-and-run that sealed the victory for UCLA:

This play is notable because it came as a result of Brett Hundley exploiting a Washington cornerback blitz. However, this kind of big play is one UCLA is unlikely to see in this year’s battle against a Justin Wilcox defense. Why? Because USC’s defense simply does not blitz. In fact, the Trojans blitz less (10% of defensive snaps) than any other team in a Power 5 conference.

More from UCLA Bruins

Wilcox’s reticence to bring extra pressure has resulted in the USC defense that is the epitome of the dreaded “bend-but-don’t-break”. In fact, USC ranks 113th among FBS teams in Football Outsiders’s adjusted sack rate. While that has picked up in recent games (16 sacks in USC’s last 5 games after only 8 sacks in the first 5), USC’s pass rush is still weak enough that UCLA’s vastly improved offensive line should presumably be able to provide Hundley with the time and protection he needs to scan the field, find an open receiver, or take off running if the coverage is too tight and open space for a run presents itself.

Furthermore, while USC has mostly refused to bring pressure partially as a way to protect its young and thin secondary, the lack of an added presence in the box has given opponents more room to run against the Trojans’ defense, which ranks 66th in rushing defense according to Football Outsiders’s S&P+ advanced metric.

Thankfully for Noel Mazzone, he’s had recent practice against a defense that primarily only rushes four, drops seven defenders back, and relies on a star linebacker and a behemoth defensive tackle to generate its pressure behind the line of scrimmage. That practice came in UCLA’s most recent game, a 44-30 shellacking of (coincidentally) Washington.

Against this year’s Washington team, Mazzone continued to utilize an important tactical adjustment that he’s employed since the Cal game: releasing the running back into the flat as a receiving option rather than trying to supplement the porous offensive line by leaving the running back in as a pass blocker, which invites extra pressure. Fox Sports’s Coy Wire did an outstanding job breaking down how Mazzone’s change to “scat protection” has made Brett Hundley’s life easier by allowing UCLA to block more effectively by, ironically, blocking with fewer pass protectors.

Utilizing the same game plan that we saw against Washington is likely to pay similar dividends against a USC defense that generates fewer tackles for loss than Washington, but is less prone to catastrophic breakdowns. Look for Mazzone to employ a balanced attack that utilizes tempo to cause gradual mental and physical fatigue to a USC defense that lacks depth.

The big play over the top isn’t likely to be there unless UCLA can generate a really efficient run game that forces the Trojans to cheat up in run support and opens up playaction. But UCLA is very capable of causing USC to metaphorically die by a proverbial thousand cuts, much like it did in last year’s matchup at the Coliseum, rather knocking the Trojans out with haymakers.

UCLA will have to be methodical and patient in the way it structures its drives against USC’s bend-but-don’t-break scheme, but as long as we see the same poised Brett Hundley that we saw against Washington and the line blocks the way it did against Washington, Noel Mazzone will likely be able to pick his poison to use against a passive USC defense. Both Hundley and Paul Perkins look likely to have very nice days in leading a potent UCLA attack.