Matt Leinart spotlights improved defensive effort from USC in breakdown of Nevada win

USC’s defense is going to go under the microscope after every performance they have. However, after their second game, Matt Leinart saw the Trojans trend in the right direction on that side of the football against Nevada.

Following USC’s 66-14 win over the Wolf Pack, Leinart shared his thoughts in a video on Twitter. He already saw it as progress considering they cut the points they allowed in half from what they gave up to San José State in Week 0.

2-0 @uscfb pic.twitter.com/IUEXZyJdQ3

— Matt Leinart (@MattLeinartQB) September 3, 2023

“A much better defensive performance,” said Leinart. “They only gave up 14 points. They made a lot of plays in the backfield, created a lot of pressure.”

After giving up 28 points and 396 total yards to the Spartans, USC held Nevada to half the points and 36 fewer yards. It was a bit of a tradeoff in yardage as they allowed 113 more passing yards but 149 less rushing yards this weekend.

The Trojans also posted 23 more tackles, four more sacks, and three more tackles for loss.

Leinart did say that there’s a ways for that unit to go before being where they need to be. With four games left before their first two ranked matchups in mid-October, though, he sees a runway for them to get there in time for USC to start competing against the best of the best.

“It’s still a work in progress. They have to get better and be more consistent,” said Leinart. “They have a couple games here before the schedule gets a little interesting.”

Lincoln Riley debates need to alter playcalling to help defense

Lincoln Riley is known for his up-tempo offense at USC and sometimes that can affect the defense negatively. If the offense scores too fast, the defense has to go right back out there. O, in a negative fashion, the offense sputters and has a quick three-and-out drive.

Riley said there’s a debate to possibly alter play calling to help the defense but, in the end, scoring and getting stops is never a bad thing.

“At times you do sure,” Riley said. “You can’t really help it when an inside zone play pops. Our defense is never disappointed when we score and we’re never disappointed when they stop somebody. I’ll put it that way.”

Overall, Riley was pleased with the way the defense played in a 66-14 win over Nevada to improve to 2-0 on the season.

“I thought guys stepped up,” Riley said. “Shane Lee stepped up and played well. Raesjon (Davis) stepped up and played well. Tackett (Curtis) was doing some really nice things before the ejection. I thought the guys really stepped up and communicated.

“You saw the run defense was really stout all night. Really, we gave up two fade balls. You don’t discount those; those can’t happen. We have to get better than that, but played pretty clean football.”