The familiar questions about USC’s defense are back.
And once again, the pressure is building around the Trojans.
Lincoln Riley, critics insist, still hasn’t figured out how to finish the job.
Choose almost any complaint about USC and it has already been raised.
What else could be said after the Trojans narrowly escaped Rutgers on the same field where UMass had overwhelmed the Scarlet Knights just two weeks earlier?
The spotlight turned sharply toward Riley after his team was forced to fight through what was expected to be a final tuneup before the schedule became considerably more demanding.
Much of the scrutiny has focused on a defense that surrendered 460 yards and 35 points. Rutgers scored only seven fewer points against USC than it had produced in its first two games combined.
A third of the way through the regular season, the addition of Gary Patterson has yet to make a significant difference. USC ranks 60th nationally in yards allowed per game at 317.5 and 73rd in scoring defense at 22.8 points per game — numbers compiled against Louisiana, Fresno State, San Jose State and arguably the Big Ten’s weakest team.
So what does Riley make of the criticism that this defense is no better than the units USC had under Alex Grinch and D’Anton Lynn?
“Yeah, I base my opinions on what I see on tape, I base my opinions on what I see in the thousands of hours that we put into this and that’s kind of where my opinions stay, so I really don’t have a response to that,” Riley said Tuesday when asked by the California Post about the widespread criticism.
“Our job is to win, our job is to continue to battle and continue to improve. We need to play a lot better on third down and fourth down than we did the other night, and that’s the biggest thing that we took away from that. So, we made a lot of big plays, but we’ve got to play steadier, and we’ve got to get off the field when we get the opportunities.”
Riley was referring to Rutgers’ success on money downs: The Scarlet Knights converted 6 of 11 third-down opportunities and 3 of 4 fourth downs. That might be excusable against Ohio State, but it is far harder to accept against one of the Power Four’s worst teams.
For USC fans, the larger concern is that Riley’s first College Football Playoff appearance since taking over nearly five years ago still does not appear any closer. The Trojans seemingly remain stuck with the same defining weakness.
The timing is particularly troubling given the opponent waiting next.
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The Oregon Ducks, imposing despite their own recent setback, will challenge both USC’s defense and its composure when they visit the Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
Riley is 0-2 against Oregon, though both defeats came at Autzen Stadium. That leaves even less room for explanation if USC cannot deliver at home this time.
USC’s uneven performance against Rutgers, coupled with Oregon’s loss to Oklahoma State the previous week, has taken some shine off a matchup that was expected to be a major September showdown between the No. 12 Trojans (4-0) and No. 20 Ducks (2-1).
USC was again passed over by ESPN’s “College GameDay,” which last visited the Trojans in 2013. Kirk Herbstreit, Pat McAfee and the rest of the crew will instead be in Knoxville for Tennessee-Texas on Saturday.
Even without the national pregame show, it remains by far the biggest game on the West Coast. USC announced a sellout last week.
“This game should have a lot riding on it and be important,” Riley said. “It’s important to the fan bases, it’s important to college football. … It’s going to be an electric atmosphere.”
How fiery might Oregon coach Dan Lanning get in his pregame speech one year after ripping off several zingers before the Ducks pulled away for a 42-27 triumph?
“They’re living off their history,” Lanning said, going on to get even more personal.
“Matt Leinart, he ain’t walking through there.”
“Why are you wearing black? You’re going to a Trojan funeral.”
Will Riley throw any verbal counterpunches before the biggest home game of his time with the Trojans? (And perhaps more importantly, will the footage be released?)
A loss would be devastating for either team, likely knocking the Ducks out of CFP contention. For USC, a setback would put its CFP hopes on the ropes before the end of September given the gauntlet ahead.
With games on the road against No. 13 Penn State and No. 5 Indiana remaining — not to mention a home game against No. 7 Ohio State — the Trojans need a win of this magnitude to bolster their CFP hopes and quiet the growing unease among their fan base.
Noting that nothing is linear in college football, Riley intimated that there’s no way to predict a team’s success — or failure — from one week to the next.
“Each game’s its own game and you have to understand and you have to learn from it,” Riley said, “but just because something happened in one game for any side — good or bad — has no bearing on what’s going to happen the next week.”