10 Things I Think About You (From Stanford)

Scott Allen of SB Nation's Stanford blog, Rule of Tree, gives us his perspective on Saturday's depressing 37-35 loss.

1. I could probably write 10 things about Robert Woods alone. Wow. The freshman was very impressive after the catch and made me forget all about Ronald Johnson. One game does not a career make, but that kid sure looks special.
2. I was at least as impressed with Matt Barkley. He made great decisions, threaded the needle on multiple occasions, and even made a few plays with his legs.
3. Allen Bradford did not make many plays with his legs. I'm glad Dillon Baxter is only slowly running his way out of Lane Kiffin's doghouse, because he made the most of his limited action.
   
4. The Trojans committed some stupid penalties. That personal foul call on Stanford's game-winning drive was just brutal.
5. Short of taking a dive at the 1, I don't think USC could've done much differently to take more time off the clock on its final drive. Still, I felt pretty good about Stanford's chances with more than a minute to work with.
   
6. Shareece Wright is fast. He managed to chase down Chris Owusu on that long kickoff return even after being clocked by Andrew Luck earlier in the game.
   
7. Kiffin's clock management at the end of the first half left me scratching my head and smiling at the same time.
8. The USC defense wasn't as soft as I was expecting. They gave up a lot of yards and failed to come up with big stops on third down, but those forced fumbles kept the Trojans in the game.
9. Not that it would've changed the outcome, but I'm surprised Kiffin didn't call a timeout before Nate Whitaker's game-winning field goal attempt.
   
10. The defense obvioulsy has a ways to go, but I think the USC offense is good enough to disrupt the Pac-10 title race with an upset or two later this season.

Thanks to Scott for participating in our joint coverage this week.