All-Out Blitz: Southern California

Welcome to BadgerBlitz.com's final All-Out Blitz of the 2015 season, where you'll find everything you need to know about Wisconsin's next opponent.

The Badgers will take on USC in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 30 in San Diego, looking for their 10th win in Paul Chryst’s first season at the helm in Madison. Here’s what you need to know about the Trojans before the game kicks off at 9:30 p.m. CST on ESPN.

Head coach: Clay Helton (1st season @ USC), 6-3 (5-1 Pac-12)

USC All-Time Record: 811-330-54 (.701)

2014 Record: 9-4 (6-3 Pac-12)

2015 Record: 8-5 (6-3)

Ranking: 25 (CFP), RV (AP), RV (Coaches Poll)

All-time record against Wisconsin: 6-0

If you compare them to the rest of the Pac-12, USC’s offensive numbers don’t jump off the page at you. They ranked 5th in the conference in points per game (34.9), 8th in rushing offense (176.15 yards per game), 5th in passing offense (273.5 yards per game), and 5th in average yards per play (6.2) this year. It was good enough to help the Trojans edge out Utah for the Pac-12 South title, but the Trojans fell short of competing for a national title like some people expected them to in the pre-season (including yours truly).

In my defense, the Trojans are loaded with talent on the offensive side of the ball- starting at quarterback, where Cody Kessler put together an impressive senior season. A former four-star quarterback, Kessler completed 67.6 percent of his passes for 3,315 yards and threw 28 touchdowns to just 6 interceptions. That’s a good season by any measure, but it still fell short of his numbers from his junior season, where he threw for more than 3,800 yards and 39 touchdowns.

Kessler has plenty of talented receivers to work with, too. His main target is JuJu Smith-Schuster, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound sophomore who caught 85 passes for 1,389 yards and scored 10 touchdowns for the Trojans in his second year as a major contributor. UW defensive coordinator Dave Aranda compared him to Rutgers’ Leonte Carroo, and said that his defensive backs will have to be physical with him if they want to keep him from getting consistent separation.

Defensive back Adoree’ Jackson also caught 24 passes while moonlighting as a wide receiver, and fellow sophomore wide receiver Steven Mitchell Jr. finished second on the team with 35 catches for 308 yards and scored four touchdowns.

On the ground the Trojans will be without senior running back Tre Madden, who had 452 rushing yards and five touchdowns this year, but USC’s ground game leaned more heavily on freshman tailback Ronald Jones II and junior Justin Davis this year. Jones had 940 yards on the ground and eight touchdowns on just 145 touches this year, and Davis rushed for 875 yards and five touchdowns.

If the Trojans do have a weakness on the offensive side of the ball you might look to their offensive line, which allowed 35 sacks this year (2.69 sacks per game). The Trojans will have to play without their No. 1 left tackle Chad Wheeler, after Wheeler was involved in an incident with police near campus and didn’t travel to San Diego. Having to replace a three-year starter might be challenge for some teams, but the Trojans moved first-team All-Pacific 12 right tackle Zach Banner over to the left side to take his place instead. The Badgers will have to see if that new combination allows their defense to get a little more pressure on Kessler and force him to make some throws he might not want to.

The big hurdle the Badgers might have to overcome on Wednesday is playing against a defense that’s working with an almost entirely new coaching staff for their bowl game. Head coach Clay Helton fired defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox after Wilcox’s defense allowed 41 points and 417 yards of offense in the Pac-12 championship game, capping off a season where the Trojans allowed at least 400 yards of offense in seven of their 13 games, including four of their five losses on the season.

Helton tasked linebackers coach Peter Sirmon to run the team’s defense for the Holiday Bowl, and it will be interesting to see if Sirmon can get more out of the Trojans’ talent than Wilcox did. The Trojans had three first-team all-conference picks this year in nose tackle Antwaun Woods, linebacker Su’a Cravens, and defensive back Adoree Jackson, but the Trojans finished sixth in the Pac-12 in allowing 5.74 yards per play (including 6.8 yards per play allowed in their five losses).

The talent is there for USC, but the Badgers will have to press their advantages when they can and keep the Trojans’ stars from impacting the game in their favor. That means the UW offensive line will have to block well up front, where Woods will try and disrupt the Badgers’ running game before they can try and take advantage of the middle of USC’s defense, which is missing two key inside linebackers in Cameron Smith and Lamar Dawson.

And while the Badgers have had their fair share of problems moving the ball this season, if they can get Robert Wheelwright back on the field and use tight end Austin Traylor in the passing game they might be able to create some big chunk plays. The Trojans allowed 69 plays that went for 20 yards or more this year- 50 of them were passes. UW’s offensive line will have to hold up and give Joel Stave time to try and make passes down the field, but if there were ever a game for the Badgers to try and take the top off of a defense, this would be one of them.

Don’t get me wrong, because the Badgers very well could win this game. But to do that they would have to play at their best at a few key positions all at the same time. Their offensive line had a good game against Minnesota, but they’ll need a better one to move the ball on the ground against USC. Joel Stave has had highs and lows, and he doesn’t have much room for error if and when the Badgers take a shot or two down the field. The Badgers haven’t had everyone healthy at the same time all season, but they’ll need to keep their best players on the field to stay with the Trojans throughout the game.

Dave Aranda’s defense has been great this year, but the Trojans might be the most talented team they’ve played this year other than Alabama. They’ll need to keep a high-powered offense in check for UW to win this game, especially if the Badgers still struggle to move the ball.

So while I think the Badgers could win this game, it would take a complete effort from all phases of the game. But we haven’t seen the Badgers put together a complete game yet this season, which makes me think the Trojans are the better bet to leave San Diego with a win.

USC 24, Wisconsin 21

Joel Stave is currently tied with Brooks Bollinger for the most QB wins in program history with 30, so a win over USC would make Stave program’s sole record holder for wins in a career.

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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.