Urban Meyer praises D’Anton Lynn hire, growth by USC defense

Urban Meyer came away impressed with how USC improved on defense based on what he saw in its 27-20 win against LSU in Week 1. The Trojans were among the worst defenses in the FBS this past season, prompting them to hire D’Anton Lynn from UCLA as their new defensive coordinator.

The 20 points USC gave up to the Tigers on Sunday was more than two touchdowns less than the 34.4 average it allowed in 2023. It wasn’t a shutdown performance by any means, but it was a significant enough improvement to garner the attention of Meyer.

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“So far the hire of the year has been D’Anton Lynn,” the former coach said on The Triple Option podcast. “That was a different-looking animal on defense to hold them to 20 points. The tackling a year ago was awful. We did actually a couple of shows on it. Lincoln Riley made a change and brought in the guy from cross-town at UCLA and it showed up.”

USC won more often than not on third down this past week and also forced an interception from LSU. It provides hope that the Trojans can at least be an average defense, which would be an improvement compared to the first two seasons under Riley.

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Lynn will hope to continue developing the USC defense over the remainder of this season. The Trojans will face a bit easier of an opponent in Week 2 as Utah State will come to LA Coliseum for an 11 p.m. ET kickoff on Saturday.

Urban Meyer praises Lincoln Riley for play calling on final drive vs. LSU

It wasn’t just the USC defense that Urban Meyer was impressed with during Sunday’s win against LSU. He also had high praise for how quarterback Miller Moss led the Trojans down the field on the final drive.

Moss completed 5-of-6 passes, including a 20-yard completion to Kyron Hudson that got USC within field goal range. Running back Woody Marks scored from 13 yards out on the very next play, but even if he hadn’t, Meyer noted that Moss got his team within scoring range.

“It’s time for the check mate moment,” he said. “The analogy of the game of chess where you take their king and it’s over. The last play. Coaches, teams, players prepare every day during training camp. You’re working on those last 20 seconds, last 45 seconds. I call it the line of demarcation. What is that? The average kicker it’s the 25-yard line, a great kicker it’s the 30-yard line. That equates to a 48-yard field goal if you’ve got a good kicker. USC had the perfect play call (with) 18 seconds left on the LSU 47.

“Lincoln Riley drew up a beautiful play. Caught him in the right defense, two deep safeties. They got two-up on the safety and my man Moss threw a dime and completed a perfect pass. That was game, set match. Check mate. They went on to score after the targeting penalty. But that was the check mate moment. That was a clean game. Those are two good teams. But hats off. One team makes a play and one team doesn’t. That’s why you work so damn hard.”