Told everyone USC D will be solid on Jan. 4th and maybe the best D Texas has faced all year. I was laughed at. You saw last week an inspired and well rested USC D dominate an explosive offense who had 3 weeks to prepare for USC. It was personal for USC last week and in the locker room after USC won Carroll told the team "guess we didn't need the refs this year." At halftime Carroll was screaming so loud in the locker room that he lost his voice.
USC accomplished that defensive performance despite still being injury depleted. USC will have a different defense against Texas on Jan. 4th because USC will get their normal starters back at LB at full strength. Carroll also said the team was DRAINED from playing 10 straight, so many road games, and getting everyones best shot. Well he was 100% right based on the teams performance on Sat.
Texas should be very afraid. When Texas studies film they will be very impressed same with USC studying Texas. But the major difference is the team Texas studies on film (all season) will not exactly be the team Texas plays. Think about it.
Last year the USC offense was injured and inexperienced all season and got healthy for bowl game against OU. You remember the results. This year it is flipped around and USC D has been inexperienced and injured all year. You just got a small taste what the USC D is capable of against UCLA. (starters holding UCLA to 6pts, and 3/6 came off turnover) It will be a different USC defense going against Texas. Just like it was a different USC offense going against OU. This is huge disadvantage for Texas. That is if Texas knows how to study and prepare for an opponent. If Texas doesn't know how to do that, then they were at a disadvantage already.