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Trojans’ wannabe-balanced offense hampered by running game

Trojans quarterback Sam Darnold bobbles a high snap before fumbling during the first half on Saturday.
(Carlos Osorio / Associated Press)
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The only mystery, USC’s defensive personnel said after a 49-14 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday that will prompt soul searching, was whether Notre Dame would run outside or inside.

USC knew the Fighting Irish would run (and run and run). Coach Clay Helton promised as much during the week. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly made no secrets about it. Confident in its approach, Notre Dame dared USC to stop it.

Equally as concerning as the USC defense’s inability to, well, stop it, was the fact that the USC offense, eight games into the season, has no similar identity. USC has been a run-first team. Except when it’s been a pass-first team. Except when it’s been neither.

What is USC’s offense supposed to be?

“I’ve always used the word ‘balance’ and the ability to be able to run the ball and throw it and use all our skilled athletes,” Helton said on a call with reporters on Sunday night. “I’d like us to be balanced. Obviously last night we were not balanced.”

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Helton’s offensive philosophy can yield results. When USC’s running game and passing game click at the same time, it is difficult for even the best one-dimensional offenses to match it. Against Stanford, for instance, when USC passed for 316 yards and rushed for 307 yards, Stanford coach David Shaw just shrugged afterward and asked, in effect, what can you do to defend that?

But USC’s offense has often been pulled in too many directions this season. A week ago against Utah, USC introduced a new wrinkle — deploying quarterback Sam Darnold frequently in the running game. It resulted in fumbles. Against Notre Dame, USC stayed shackled to its balanced approach, despite averaging just 2.5 yards per attempt on the ground. It resulted in frustration.

USC’s balanced approach has broken down because it is balanced in play calls only. It has not been balanced in production. USC fares much better when passing than when rushing.

Even though USC calls almost equal passing and rushing plays, USC gets just 36% of its yards on runs, down from 42% a season ago.

It is not unusual to be more efficient in the passing game. But the concerning part for USC is that it is rushing production has trended downward. USC’s passing game hasn’t declined from last season, holding steady at 7.8 yards per attempt. But its rushing average has dipped from almost 5.2 to 4.7 yards per attempt, a small but meaningful decline.

The running game’s struggles have frustrated USC’s coaching staff.

“I thought it was more physical beats than assignment errors,” Helton said.

He noted that USC has used “young O-linemen coming in there that are learning how to play the college game, and they’re gonna get better with each game. We’ve had some shuffling pieces due to some injuries.”

The result of the inconsistent running game is an an offense that has generated some eye-popping games but has demonstrated little steady improvement, although offensive coordinator Tee Martin disputed that notion.

“I don’t think that’s the case,” he said.

Was there as much improvement as he would prefer to see?

“We’re getting better each week at different things,” Martin said. “Every team is different. Every team don’t play the same defense and have the same players every week and everybody knows that. So whether you’re getting better, you’ve still gotta face a different challenge.”

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Darnold hampered

Helton revealed on Saturday that Darnold has been playing with an ankle injury since the game against Washington State in late September. Darnold reinjured the ankle in the third quarter against Notre Dame when it was twisted on a tackle. He was ultimately pulled from the game, which was already out of reach.

Has Darnold’s injury limited his effectiveness? Helton didn’t say, exactly, but Darnold declined to call it a major factor in his play.

“That’s how the game goes,” he said. “It’s a rough sport. But yeah, just kind of got reaggravated, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

Quick hits

Helton said he would have more information on the statuses of cornerback Iman Marshall (knee injury), right tackle Chuma Edoga (ankle injury), right guard Andrew Vorhees (lower back injury) and receiver Michael Pittman Jr. (ankle injury) on Tuesday. Helton said Marshall underwent an MRI on Sunday. ... USC dropped to No. 21 in the Associated Press poll.

zach.helfand@latimes.com

Follow Zach Helfand on Twitter @zhelfand

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