Lane Kiffin says his team's mistakes have to stop (James Santelli/NT)

It’s the game that’s been circled on the calendar since the summer, and now the USC Trojans are just five days away from taking on the Oregon Ducks in one of the most hyped games of the season.

“The best team in the country [is] coming in here Saturday,” head coach Lane Kiffin said of the Ducks on Tuesday. “It's good to have the next game be a big game with a nationally ranked opponent like this so you don't keep sitting around and looking backwards.”

"Backwards," of course, refers to Saturday’s stunning 39-36 loss to the Arizona Wildcats, in which USC squandered a 28-13 lead. Three days later, Kiffin made no bones about admitting that the wound still stings.

“I think we'd be naive to say that the game is completely out of sight, out of mind,” he said. “[The players are] going to think about it for a long time.

“We all know we screwed up last week and should've won the game.”

From five turnovers to 117 yards in penalties to innumerable defensive lapses, there was no shortage of reasons why they didn’t – and no lack of sharp language from Kiffin about those mistakes, either.

“Extremely discouraging,” Kiffin said of his team’s miscues. “I'm completely shocked that we're still having these conversations at this point in the year. Sometimes you have them in the first couple of weeks… but to see the same ones repeated over and over is really disappointing and it cost us a game.”

In an attempt to remedy the situation, Kiffin showed his team a video of the various mistakes made during the game, to sobering effect.

“It was pretty quiet, everybody just sitting there just watching all the dumb mistakes we made,” said Robert Woods. “We’re still going to play fast, we just have to keep a mindset to play smart as well.”

Focus on Fumbles

 One area in particular that drew Kiffin’s ire more than others: turnovers.

“We were doing well in the turnover margin until last week,” he lamented. “You look at our two losses, the story is right there in the turnover margin compared to the six wins. You can't turn over the ball, no matter who you play.”

Two of those turnovers came off fumbles from running backs Silas Redd and D.J. Morgan, both of whom have had fumbling issues during their USC careers. It’s enough to aggravate running backs coach and offensive coordinator Kennedy Polamalu, but also something he views as a teachable moment.

"It's a thing that you never want them to forget but they learn from it and move on," Polamalu said. "You still try to teach a lesson and the good thing is they're good young men. You know it's hard when they don't look you in the eye [coming back to the sideline].

"Most turnovers, when you have good backs and good guys who are conscientious, it's not for lack of effort,” he continued. “It's just a little technique and they get you in that little split second and catch you in the right time."

Offensive Adjustments

 One of the key factors behind Arizona’s second-half comeback was a switch from its base 3-3-5 defense to a Cover 2 scheme designed to limit the number of plays given up to Woods and Marqise Lee, who finished the day with a conference-record 345 receiving yards. It was a wrinkle that Kiffin admitted he hadn’t expected from the Wildcats going into the game but the Trojans are well versed in teams tweaking their gameplan to stop them, and something they don’t expect to change against Oregon, either.

“Every time we play a new team, they change up something against us,” Woods said. “They disguise a lot. They're playing a lot of different defenses... but if they continue to do what they do on film, then we should have a good shot."

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