Lincoln Riley previews the challenge of revamping USC run defense in Big Ten

USC and head coach Lincoln Riley will be facing a different flavor of opponent week to week in the Big Ten. And though Pac-12 offenses were certainly not to be scoffed at, the style of play across the Big Ten will be somewhat of a departure for the Trojans.

So not only does USC need to gird itself to defend powerful, bruising running attacks, it must do it while trying to bring the rushing defense out of the statistical basement. In 2023, the Trojans ranked in the bottom 30 teams in rushing yards allowed in the FBS.

“You coach better and you play better,” Riley said at Big Ten Media Days of the solution. “It’s — there’s great examples of it happening. I mean, look at the guy that we hired as defensive coordinator. He authored a tremendous turnaround. I was a part of a similar turnaround at Oklahoma where we struggled a little bit the first year in a half that I was there. And then made a defensive change similar to this and then all of a sudden defense became a strength of that team.

“And so there’s a ton of examples of how it can happen and the answer is a little bit of everything.”

In the Big Ten in 2024 — with the addition of three other West Coast teams along with USC — the Trojans will be in a league that had six teams with Top 60 rushing offenses in 2023. That number goes to eight teams when considering the Top 75.

Only five teams in the league finished outside of the Top 100 in rushing offense, including a handful of teams that feature high-octane passing attacks or teams that struggled offensively altogether in 2023: Washington and Maryland fit the former category, while Michigan State, Northwestern and Iowa fit the latter.

The basic reality boils down to the fact that the Big Ten features a bevy of teams that, if not exceptional at running the ball, are certainly more capable than not. And they are rushing attacks that will put the onus on a defense to have the physicality and heft to stop them.

One move the Trojans did make in the offseason is changing defensive coordinators. And that, along with the margin improvements that Riley discussed have the head coach hopeful USC can chip away at the things necessary to get the Trojans into a position to defend these offenses.

“When you continue to recruit, continue to bring in high-level people, you get facilities right, it’s like you’ve got a list of things that for being a championship program you know you have to do well to be at this level. And there’s just a list and you just try to keep checking boxes,” Riley said. “And you keep checking those and those things keep taking hold, eventually you’ll be right there where you want to be.”