The pass was a little underthrown, and Talanoa Hufanga took advantage.
Midway through the fourth quarter of USC’s 39-36 victory over Washington State on Friday night, Hufanga had dropped into pass coverage on third down and hovered toward the sideline. The freshman safety extended his left arm and batted down a throw by quarterback Gardner Minshew.
It left the Cougars to punt.
The play also captured a dynamic of USC’s defense. The Trojans have been active and broken up 29 passes, the most in the Football Bowl Subdivision. None of them have been intercepted, an odd trend for a team that tips the ball so often.
USC has forced only two turnovers, recovering a pair of fumbles, an unusually low number through its first four games. Only six FBS teams have fewer turnovers gained, and it’s the lowest total for the Trojans at this point in a season since at least 2000.
“That’s nowhere near what we want,” linebacker Porter Gustin said outside the locker room late Friday. “We have to step that part up.”
It leaves a thin margin for error for USC’s offense, which is led by true freshman quarterback JT Daniels, who had thrown three interceptions in losses to Stanford and Texas the previous two weeks. Daniels was not picked off by Washington State, nor did anyone else fumble to prompt a turnover in the high-scoring, back-and-forth battle.
“It’s probably extremely fortunate for us,” USC coach Clay Helton said. “I feel like if we had one turnover in that game, it probably goes the other way.”
Helton said his goal remains for the defense to force three turnovers per game, though it was a total they had not reached over four games.
Gustin reasoned the Trojans needed to pursue a more aggressive approach to change their fortunes.
“Maybe instead of getting in the backfield and just getting a sack, going for the ball, really emphasizing that,” Gustin said. “Getting our hands up. Get tipped balls. I think that’ll come.”
Gustin had the first turnover of the season when he recovered a fumble on his first play in the season opener against UNLV. It was forced by safety Isaiah Pola-Mao, knocking the ball out of the grasp of quarterback Armani Rogers.
“We work on it extremely hard in practice with turnover circuits,” Helton said. “I explain where their leading turnovers come from, whether it’s the quarterback or whether it’s a certain player that carries the ball loose, to be able to target, break out, punch out, knock out. We’re doing a lot of it. I may be talking about it too much. Who knows.”
FEWER CARRIES FOR WARE
Starting running back Aca’Cedric Ware saw 10 carries, 18 carries and 4 carries in his first three games this season.
Ware saw only one carry against Washington State that resulted in a loss of 5 yards.
Helton said Ware has dealt with nagging knee pain in recent weeks and was limited in practices prior to the game, resulting in the diminished workload.
Running backs Stephen Carr and Vavae Malepeai split most of the carries.
“I just didn’t want him to get in a game and not be absolutely 100 percent,” Helton said. “Being him, he was great. ‘Coach, I’m ready if you need me. I’m ready to make a play if needed.’ He always is.”
It was not believed to be punitive for Ware’s comments following the Texas loss about the team’s poor practice effort.
Regarding Ware’s availability for the Trojans’ next game on Saturday at Arizona, Helton said he expected he would be a “full go.”
QUICK HITS
Wide receiver Velus Jones suffered an elbow injury against Washington State and is considered day to day. Helton reported no other significant injuries from Friday night during his weekly teleconference with reporters Sunday evening. … USC opened as a two-point favorite at Arizona, according to the consensus line at VegasInsider.com.