Lincoln Riley Recaps USC's Defensive Performance Against Stanford

USC’s defense had some good and bad moments against Stanford this past weekend, just like it had some good and bad moments against Rice to open the season. The Trojans recorded four takeaways, five sacks and 12 tackles for loss against the Cardinal. But Stanford also piled up 33 first downs, 441 total yards and a couple of easy touchdowns. Head coach Lincoln Riley appeared on the Trojans’ Live Radio Show Monday night and said consistency is still an issue on that side of the ball.

“The good’s good,” Riley said. “The bad’s got to get better.”

Stanford caught USC off guard when the Cardinal broke out the “slow mesh” RPO offense utilized to great success by Wake Forest. In it, the quarterback rides the handoff mesh point with the running back for as long as possible before either giving it to him or pulling it and throwing to a wide receiver. It puts linebackers and safeties in a very difficult position as they try to read what’s happening without getting out of position to make plays on the back or pass catcher. Riley said they did not see that coming from Stanford.

“Certainly we had no reason to think that was going to happen and Stanford did a good job catching us off guard,” Riley said, “We did have to adjust. I thought on the coverage end, we made some good adjustments. We were very competitive there.”

Stanford quarterback Tanner McKee completed 20-of-35 passes for just 220 yards and one touchdown. The Trojans intercepted him twice. Riley said Stanford completed just one pass on a glance route, where the quarterback will pull the ball from the running back and hit a receiver with a quick throw on an RPO.

USC cornerback Mekhi Blackmon was flagged three times for pass interference and the Stanford offense targeted him with around a dozen pass attempts. Riley liked what he saw from the veteran cornerback.

“I thought Blackmon did a really good job,” Riley said. “I thought his coverage was awesome, to be completely honest.”

Shoring Up The Run Game

Stanford rushed for 221 yards and 4.9 yards per carry against USC. And that includes the tackles for loss and sacks racked up by the Trojans.

“We got a little bit impatient on it at times,” Riley said. “Our bad have been busted assignments. When you bust assignments and you come out of gaps like we did on the touchdown that [E.J.] Smith had that they ended up just kind of walking into the endzone over the right since. You just totally come out of a cap, you’re going to give good teams easy scores.”

Riley said the team did clean up some of the early issues. And then they were comfortable letting Stanford go back to it and having the clock run late in the game. He also pointed to the sacks and turnovers.

“The fumble that Tuli [Tuipulotu] caused was a huge play in the game,” Riley said. “So I would say very much like the rest of our team, our good is really. good. We’ve got to be more consistent.”

Riley said that comes from the players trusting themselves and the coaches.

“I think at times we think a little bit too much,” Riley said. “We’ve got to turn it loose and that’s something that across the board, as a team, we’ve got to get better at. There’s nothing more to it. Run the call, go exactly where we tell you to go and go as hard and fast as you possibly can. There’s nothing else. That’s it. And I think at times we’ve still guilty of overthinking.”

Riley believes more explosive plays will come from “turning it loose.”

“We’re going to be in the backfield more and then if we can simply be in the gap that we’re supposed to be in and you don’t give them those easy ones, they’ve got to work for everything,” Riley said. “And when you do that, that gives you more and more opportunities to make plays as a defensive line.”