Followers of USC football have seen the Trojans' two games this season, but most have not seen much of the Boston College, who travels into the Coliseum Saturday. To bring more information to the table, we spoke with Austin Tedesco, sports editor at The Heights, Boston College's independent student newspaper. 

1) Andre Williams ran for 204 yards in the Eagles' victory over Wake Forest, but what kind of strategies have teams successfully used in the past to limit his effectiveness? What are his weaknesses that USC might be able to exploit?

Tedosco: When Williams got to BC, he was a bruising, power back that would consistently run people over for extra yards. He had back-to-back 100-yard games at the end of his freshman year, and it looked like he would be a nice complement to Montel Harris for the Eagles. For some reason, Williams spent his sophomore and junior years trying to add an agile, change-of-pace style to his game and it really didn’t work.

He’s back to power running and it’s worked so far. The main way to slow Williams down is to overpower the offensive line and to use gang-tackling as much as possible. Even for the extremely talented USC defenders, it will be difficult to regularly bring him down with one player. The Trojans will need to use multiple guys to bring him down. 

Williams goes as far as his offensive line takes him, for the most part. He’s not going to create big plays out of nothing. He will, however, do a lot with what is given to him. If USC’s front seven can confuse and overtake BC’s front five, Williams will have a bad day.

2) Chase Rettig is now in his fourth year starting for B.C. He's also on his fifth offensive coordinator of his college career. The game plan worked last Saturday, but what does it say that Rettig only attempted 14 passes despite being the unquestioned senior leader of the team? Was it more of the way the game went, or do you think the reduction of the passing game is a trend that might continue against USC? 

Tedosco: I don’t think the 14 pass attempts are any concern for the Eagles. The BC defense was only on the field for six snaps in the fourth quarter against Wake, which is pretty incredible. Steve Addazio said there was no reason to throw the ball in the second half since the Deacon defense couldn’t handle the running between the tackles, and he was right.

The main concern in the passing game is the lack of a secondary receiver behind Alex Amidon (who I will get to in the next question). No wide receiver this year has had more than one reception in a game besides Rettig’s favorite target. BC’s biggest concern offensively is that the running game is taken away and USC finds a way to slow down Amidon. If that happens, there aren’t any proven playmakers for the Eagles to use to put up points.

3) Wide receiver Alex Amidon has 239 receiving yards through two games. He's Rettig's favorite target, so what makes him to difficult to cover? How often has he been double-covered in 2013? 

Tedosco: I’ve written about Amidon quite a bit, and he’s a pretty incredible and unique player. Obviously, a guy like Marqise Lee is more talented and has more pro potential, but Amidon is an interesting playmaker for BC.

His biggest strength is that he consistently runs very fast for all four quarters. He won’t beat you with 100 mile per hour speed on a few runs. He’s going to force you to follow him as he goes 75 miles per hour on every single snap. One thing you’ll notice is that Amidon will get a good amount of quick routes and screen passes in the early stages of the game, and then BC will look to hit him deep later on when the corners will have more trouble staying with him.

Last season his hands were good, but not great. He’s worked on that this year. He also hasn’t shown much of an ability to go up and grab one-on-one balls out of the air, but that’s also an area in which he’s improved this season. With that said, the main frustration that Amidon will cause will come from USC saying, “How the hell did that guy get so open so often?” rather than, “Wow what a catch.”

4) Boston College's defense has held their two opponents to a total of 24 points. Do you expect the unit to stand up to USC, and who are some players to watch for?

Tedosco: The effectiveness of the BC defense is still a total mystery. New defensive coordinator Don Brown runs a very multiple scheme sending blitzers from any direction. Against Villanova and Wake Forest, the strategy worked while not allowing many big plays over the top.

Marqise Lee, if used correctly, could really tear this defense apart. The Eagles need to put pressure on the quarterback to limit his production and they also need Bryce Jones to stay with Lee down the field. That might happen on most plays, but even if BC lets up twice that could lead to two big touchdowns and the game could be over.

Kevin Pierre-Louis and Steele Divitto are the two best players on the defense. They both play linebacker. Pierre-Louis has great speed and does a good job breaking up plays in the backfield. Divitto is a solid and reliable player.

The corners, Jones and Manny Asprilla, have been playing out of their minds lately and the game on Saturday might come down to how well they do. They haven’t been burned in coverage and they’ve also found a way to put pressure on the quarterback as well. They’ll have much better receivers to cover against the Trojans, so we’ll see how much they have progressed from last season when neither player really stood out.

5) The Eagles are 2-0 for the first time since 2010, the last time they made a bowl game. How much have the players bought into new head coach Steve Addazio, and what's the biggest difference in program with him compared to Frank Spaziani?

Tedosco: My best answer is: Completely and everything, pretty much. It’s not all Addazio, though. One of the biggest things that has helped the attitude of this team is the fact that there is a senior leader at pretty much every position who has been through a lot of crap during his career. There’s Rettig at QB, Williams at RB, Amidon at WR, Ian White on the O-line, Kasim Edebali on the D-line, Divitto and Pierre-Louis at LB. I think that having all of these guys means that they were automatically going to buy into the coach’s system no matter what, because they just want to win.

With that said, Addazio has done a good job of winning the players over. He’s called B.C. his dream job and said he wants to finish his career here. Whether or not that is completely true, I think that went over well with the players who were hesitant about him after he left Temple quickly to come to Chestnut Hill. He’s also very outwardly confident and I think the players really appreciate that, compared to Spaziani who, well, wasn’t quite as exuberant.

6) Saturday is Boston College's first regular season game west of the Mississippi since 2005. Have any of the players spoken about the impact travel could have, as well as a slightly later kick-off time?

Tedosco: No one has really talked about it. I wouldn’t expect the players to complain about something like that, though. It’s not really their style. Their mindset is more that they are just going out to USC to win and come back 3-0, but that’s pretty much the mindset of most teams on long road trips.

Chase Rettig, I know, is pretty excited about returning home to Southern California to play. Wake up for BC is at 5:45 on most days, but he texted the team at 5:20 telling them to get ready to go and that this is their week.

7) What's your prediction for Saturday's game? 

Tedosco: I’m going to go with 14-10, USC. I think the Trojans get two scores off big plays given up by the aggressive B.C. defense, and that the Eagles struggle on offense with the USC defense taking away the offensive line’s ability to create holes and Rettig’s ability to find Amidon.

A special thank you to Austin Tedesco of The Heights for helping out.

Reach Senior Sports Editor Jacob Freedman here. Follow him here.