Defense emerges as a big-play unit

Last week’s shutout did not count. Not really.

Though the USC defense summoned its most impressive performance of the season last Saturday -- on paper, at least -- the victory came against struggling Stanford.

So this Saturday night the question was: How would the Trojans fare against the Oregon offense, ranked ninth in the country in rushing and 19th in passing?

The answer came in the form of a convincing 35-10 victory over the 21st-ranked Ducks, a win powered by big defensive stops and even bigger turnovers.

“It’s just an attitude we have,” USC cornerback Terrell Thomas. “We’re trying to finish things off and not just get by.”

Defense was supposed to be USC’s strong suit this fall, a veteran squad that would dominate while the young offense matured. But after starting with three comfortable victories, the Trojans found themselves in a series of dogfights, including a loss to Oregon State.

Turnovers and sacks -- or a lack thereof -- were a problem.

So this week Coach Pete Carroll talked about the need to disrupt Oregon’s spread offense, which features Jonathan Stewart at tailback and a very mobile Dennis Dixon at quarterback.

“He just won’t sit back there,” Carroll said of Dixon. “He will take off and go and make something happen.”

Which is exactly what happened on Oregon’s opening possession, Dixon running for five yards here and seven yards there. The Ducks quickly drove to USC’s 13-yard line.

But Carroll had seen something else in the last week or so. He’d seen a defense that, to his thinking, was on the uptick.

“We are cleaning things up, we are playing more consistently,” he said. “Our numbers of missed assignments, missed tackles and lack of effort that we always gauge has been consistently down.”

On fourth and one, backed against the goal line, USC linebackers Oscar Lua and Kaluka Maiava stuffed Dixon for no gain.

A pattern was emerging.

The Trojans gave up chunks of yardage on the ground and often played soft in pass coverage, keeping the ball in front of them. But they also came up with big plays.

On the next series, linebacker Dallas Sartz chased down Dixon for a sack. Minutes later, safety Taylor Mays made a leaping catch of a long pass down the sideline, returning the interception 38 yards to set up a USC touchdown.

When Oregon kicker Paul Martinez missed a field-goal attempt at the end of the first half, the score was 14-0 and the defense was halfway home.

“We had a feeling in the locker room,” USC linebacker Rey Maualuga said. “Everybody was hyped.”

Martinez made good on his next attempt after halftime, closing the gap to 14-3 and ending USC’s streak of seven scoreless quarters. But the defense quickly answered again, Sartz jumping on a fumbled pitch to set up another short touchdown drive and a 21-3 lead.

“They just made some big plays when it counted,” Oregon receiver Jordan Kent said.

When the Ducks finally got into the end zone with a fourth-quarter touchdown, it required a barely missed sack, a tipped pass and not one but two official reviews. And the Trojans already had control of the game.

This was a glimpse of the defensive style that Carroll brought to USC in 2001, a unit that gives up yards but compensates with critical tackles for loss and takeaways.

And on a Saturday night with USC facing a top-notch offense, this time it really counted.

david.wharton@latimes.com