Lincoln Riley defends USC defense ahead of Notre Dame game

After two straight rough weeks on defense allowing 41 points each to Colorado and Arizona, the big question for USC is whether that unit can turn things around in time to make the Trojans a contender.

On FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff pregame show Saturday morning in South Bend, USC head coach Lincoln Riley joined the crew to discuss the upcoming matchup vs. Notre Dame. We all know Caleb Williams will put on a show, but fellow Trojan QB Matt Leinart just wanted to know how Riley is feeling about his defense on the heels of some bad performances.

“Yeah, I mean, the good is we’re fourth in the country in sacks, we’re first in the country tackles for loss for an undefeated football team, and that’s a pretty darn good start,” said Riley of the defense, leading with the positive before admitting the group does need to clean some stuff up against a talented Notre Dame squad tonight.

“There are certainly some things we have to do better. We know we got a big challenge tonight with a very good Notre Dame offense and really good offensive line and skill players.”

For the USC D, it’s all about tackling, per Lincoln Riley.

“The biggest thing for us is: we’ve got to tackle. When we’ve tackled well, we’ve played at a high level, we’ve limited big plays and we’ve proven that we can get into the backfield and create negative plays. So if we can tackle, especially on the perimeter, that’ll be a big key for us.”

After that comment, Urban Meyer chimed in to ask just how does Riley and his staff instill and develop better tackling throughout the roster. The Trojan head coach’s answer:

“Yeah, we’ve been consistent with it, coach, the entire way through. We started in spring ball, tackle every single day, done it throughout fall camp and continue to do it throughout the season.

“There’s the fundamental aspect as you know, which, some deficiencies have shown up. But then there’s also understanding where you’re supposed to be, fitting in the proper gaps, guys making great decisions to make those tackles. And then the effort, the strain, to gain tackles from these really talented skill players we face tonight will be important.”

In Riley’s eyes, the defense simply needs to make sure-handed tackles on guys like Audric Estime and those talented ND receivers.