Kedon Slovis is far from the first reason USC lost to Oregon State on Saturday night. The defense didn’t show up. The offensive line continued to lack a running game, which puts a quarterback in a very difficult position. USC receivers dropped several passes. Bigger problems exist on this roster than Kedon Slovis.
Yet, on a night when an injured Jaxson Dart couldn’t play, it was still an important and central question to ask: Could Slovis light a fire under this offense in ways Dart managed to do?
Keep this in mind: Dart threw for nearly 400 yards and helped USC score 45 points with the same lack of a running game Slovis had. Dart inspired his USC teammates in spite of limping around in pain after he took a helmet to his knee. It was later revealed he had suffered a torn meniscus.
Phrased differently: Dart thrived under manifestly imperfect circumstances, the same flawed situation Slovis had to deal with. Dart, however, managed to create fireworks in spite of all the limitations surrounding him.
USC’s offense was aggressive, vertical, and explosive, even without a running game. Yes, that was unsustainable, but Dart did transcend USC’s offensive flaws.
Kedon Slovis, whose future seemed so bright at the end of 2019 and then suffered through health problems in 2020, proclaimed himself supremely fit before this 2021 season. This was supposed to be the best version of Slovis, a player who — with his restored health — would become an elite quarterback and put the Pac-12 at his feet.
It’s true that quarterbacks can’t do everything they want with a below-par offensive line and a lack of both a running game and a reliable No. 2 receiver. Yet, in games which really matter — as this one did for USC — great players carry their team. They can’t be expected to do it all season long without interruption, but they step up in big moments.
Kedon Slovis hasn’t been able to play in ways which inspire a sense of awe, or amazement, or — in the hearts of opponents — fear.
Slovis hasn’t been able to take average components of an average Graham Harrell offense and make them better.
It isn’t entirely his fault. He hasn’t received crucial degrees of help from teammates or coaches, but his inability to transcend and soar marks him as an ordinary quarterback, a player much less formidable than the freshman who claimed this team as his own in 2019.
Graham Harrell was able to find solutions with freshman Jaxson Dart. He still hasn’t been able to find answers with Slovis. USC trailed 42-17 midway through the second half against Oregon State, much as it trailed 42-13 midway through the second half against Stanford.
Kedon Slovis had a chance to watch film and see how Jaxson Dart changed the USC offense this past week. He knew he needed to make a statement this weekend against Oregon State.
No such statement came. It is hard to ignore the extent to which this performance lowers the ceiling for Slovis in his overall development.
2022 NFL draft? At this rate, Slovis might need to stay in school one more year, play at a higher level for a different head coach, and consider a pro debut in 2023.
