Our chief USC correspondent, John Jones, offered the following critique:

The Trojans badly missed freshman superstar wide receiver, Trent Mosley.  Mosley’s absence, the puzzling year of Tanook Hines and some iffy pass interference calls that went uncalled were all contributors to USC only scoring 27 points.

Oregon ‘s run defense was designed to make King Miller’s life on Saturday difficult as the Ducks once-vaunted defensive line was geared to stopping runs up the gut.  Perhaps, Jayden Maiava and the USC offense should have been geared to more perimeter plays.

Oregon showed the wisdom of paying for backup QB insurance when they plucked 2-year starting Nebraska QB, Dylan Raiola, out of the portal.  Dante Moore was carted off in an ambulance.  after a spearing hit by Desman Stephens in the first half.   Raiola played extremely well with the Ducks’ season literally hanging in the balance.  God bless NIKE! There are two points of view on the Moore incident. Oregon and Lanning were convinced that the hit was “dirty and disgusting.”  USC fans tended to believe that this was a situation where Moore had started to slide only after Stephens had already lauched his body.  Targeting calls can be very difficult to adjudicate.

Jones opines that Lincoln Riley will need to finish at least 8-4 to stay at Troy for a sixth year.  USC has remaining road games at Penn State, Wisconsin, UCLA  and Indiana.  OUCH!   Also, a Halloween tilt in the Coliseum against the big, bad Buckeyes.  The only two “relatively safe” games are home affairs against a disappointing Washington squad and Maryland.  Prized freshmen such as Mosley and tight end Mark Bowman will improve as the season progresses.  The Odyssey’s guess: 8-4.

The stakes on Saturday were enormous for both the Ducks and the Trojans.  Oregon righted the show while the road back to playoff contention will be extremely difficult for USC.