with an emphasis on the word trying. They have the d-line to play it, but their linebackers and safeties aren't able to read and react well enough to play in that defense successfully, and those are two very key things that a team must have to play the Tampa Two. I think that USC is fast enough and athletic enough, but their tackling was horrible all night long. Their middle linebacker was horrible in coverage, and that's going basically open up the middle of the field all day long.
No wonder Monte Kiffen was worried.
I like the Tampa Two in general. It looks like it would never work, but it does because it clogs up the passing lanes and causes the QB to hold onto the ball too long which will either result in a sack or one of the receivers getting their head ripped off. But the problem for a college to run it is you have to have so many players that can do very specific things. You have to have d-linemen that can rush the passer, as they are the primary pass rushers, you have to have a middle linebacker that can drop back into coverage and cover, so speed is a at a premium, and the other linebackers have to be fast and have good instincts to stay in their zones and read and react to the play, you have to have safeties that can cover and can lay someone out, and you have to have corners that are good tacklers. So, you have to have fast players with good football instincts that are excellent tacklers.
Needless to say, it's hard to find that on a college team.
Being multiple is definately the way to go on defense- and I would have some Tampa Two concepts as part of that, but it's just hard to have an entire defensive system like that in college where it is exclusively Tampa Two.