Lincoln Riley on USC's Defensive Front, Left Tackle Rotation and the Trojans' First Road Trip

The USC front seven is going to have to come to play against Rice on Saturday. The Cardinal have not fielded a potent rushing attack in recent seasons. But the desire to be physical and move the ball on the ground is always there with a David Shaw offense.

The USC defense got punched in the mouth by Rice with two long touchdown drives on Saturday. The first, a 16-play, 74-yard drive, featured three third-down conversions of more than five yards. The second, a 10-play, 75-yard drive aided by a targeting penalty, featured nine rushing attempts. Rice also hit a 55-yard run in the first half on a drive that ended in an interception.

Still, head coach Lincoln Riley found positives to take away from the performance. Rice managed just 52 total offensive yards after halftime. The Owls were playing without their starting quarterback. But the USC defense plugged running lanes and got after the quarterback and running backs in the backfield.

“I liked how we played on the defensive front in the second half,” Riley said. “I would say the defensive line in the second half and the inside linebackers as a whole were really solid. [They] made some explosive plays against a group that gives a lot of different looks.”

Riley praised the play of both Eric Gentry and Shane Lee at those inside linebacker spots. They’ll be part of the group tested by Stanford quarterback Tanner McKee and running back E.J. Smith on Saturday evening.

Stanford beat Colgate 41-10 in its opening game. Smith rushed for 118 yards and two touchdowns on just 11 carries. Though, those numbers are skewed a bit by an 87-yard touchdown run. The Cardinal offensive line did not give up a sack and allowed just one quarterback hurry. This isn’t the Stanford of 10 years ago, but the Cardinal likely feel at least somewhat confident after a 42-28 win at the Coliseum last season. That win completely derailed the Trojans’ season as head coach Clay Helton was dismissed shortly afterward.

It will be interesting to see whether De’jon Benton is available on Saturday. The defensive lineman finished the Rice game with five tackles. Riley was asked after practice about Benton’s availability considering he did not practice.

Riley said he doesn’t expect Benton to be out a while.

“He’s bounced back quick,” RIley said. “Another guy that we’re hopeful can do something for us this week.”

Rotating Left Tackles

Riley is not going to be pinned down to a specific plan at any position moving forward. He said left tackles Courtland Ford and Bobby Haskins would both play in the season-opener and that proved to be true. Ford started, but they rotated drives and ultimately Haskins took 28 snaps compared to 19 for Ford. The drives dictated the number of snaps. Ford’s four drives included three four-play drives. Haskins was part of USC’s longest three drives of the day, of 11, eight and seven snaps.

Asked whether they could see the same kind of rotation moving forward, Riley smiled.

“There’s always a chance,” Riley said. “Always a chance.”

But it still appears too close to call for Riley and offensive line coach Josh Henson. The interception returns for touchdowns and explosive plays on offense didn’t let the first-team offense take all that many snaps against Rice. But Riley went in depth on what he saw from them.

“I thought they both played well,” Riley said. “It wasn’t a ton of snaps. But I thought they both handled it well. We thought it was a winning effort from both of those guys.”

Riley said neither Ford nor Haskins hurt themselves in the competition with their performance. And he doesn’t see any reason to push for naming a long-term starter right now. He’s going to let the players decide it.

“I think you’ve just got to let it play out,” Riley said. “If it works out where somebody separates himself. That’s great. My hope is somebody’s playing unbelievable and the other one still playing really good. And that’s the separation. And right now that’s what it would take. They’re both playing playing pretty good. And we want them to step up and play great.”

Embracing the Road Trip

Riley spoke earlier this week about the mentality a team needs when it goes on the road. He was asked about making the trip to Palo Alto.

“We’re excited about going and playing on the road our first conference game,” Riley said. “As a program, if you want to be championship-level, you’ve got to embrace going and playing on the road.”

USC hasn’t won at Stanford since the 2014 season and have dropped each of their past two games there.

“There conference road games are like gold,” Riley said. “You’ve got to be ready to bring your very best. That’s what it takes on the road. And that’s what it will take this Saturday.”