Musings from Arledge: That's USC Trojan Defense

It’s been a long time since USC’s defense took care of business like that. No, the Trojans weren’t playing Alabama. But Utah State is an FBS team that played in a bowl game last year. They’re every bit as good as – oh, I don’t know, let’s just pick a team at random – Northern Illinois. Strange, I don’t know why that program popped into my head.

Utah State has an experienced QB who can make plays, an All-American wide receiver, and a solid pair of safeties. They are light-years better than the cream puffs that the SEC tends to schedule for their gimme games. Georgia played Tennessee Tech yesterday, an awful FCS team that was butchered by Furman (45-10), New Mexico (56-10), and Lindenwood (23-0) last year.

So let’s keep this win in context. It was a weak team. But let’s keep it in context. It was a real FBS team. And holding a real FBS team to no points, 190 yards, and 3.8 yards per play is no joke. Doing that requires more than talent. It requires a quality scheme, discipline, and 60 minutes of focus. USC hasn’t played defense with discipline and consistent focus for some years.

Last year USC gave up 396 yards and 28 points to San Jose State. It gave up 360 yards to Nevada. I’m not going back any further, because it’s no fun to remember our Grinchian past. Or the time the defense spent in Orlando before that. Or any of the other versions of Helton’s “Aw Shucks we’re so close to being able to tackle people” defensive abominations.

For years, we’ve been begging for USC to play pretty good defense. Just be okay, please. We all figured that a pretty good defense might be enough when paired with a Lincoln Riley offense. Well, don’t look now, but for two straight weeks, all of the USC players that were too small, too slow, and not talented enough to play even halfway decent defense have played like an elite defense. That’s what coaching does. That’s what D’Anton Lynn, Eric Henderson, Matt Entz, Doug Belk, and Shaun Nua can do for a program.

And things are going to get better on that side of the ball. Some of the most talented guys on the roster are still babies. By the end of the season, Braylan Shelby, Kameryn Fountain, Elijah Newby, and Desman Stephens II will be dramatically better than they are now. Bear Alexander, Anthony Lucas, and Devan Thompkins are just starting to scratch the surface of their capabilities. If you’re Jahkeem Stewart, you can—maybe for the first time since Pete Carroll roamed the sidelines—look at USC’s program and reasonably conclude that it’s a place that will develop you, turn your into a first-round pick, and give you a chance to play in a lot of very big games.

So a shutout. That feels good, doesn’t it? The first since UCLA in 2011. And to think that this year’s team didn’t even have an Ellen DeGeneres impersonator on the opposing sidelines to help make it happen. They had to do it all on their own. Good work, fellas. That’s Trojan football. And by the way, do you remember just a couple of years ago when teams would go light in the box, play the secondary really deep, and take away the deep ball? Do you remember how USC would struggle offensively? That’s what Utah State did—wisely, I might add—and it resulted in a very workmanlike 548 yards and 48 points. Want to play the safeties deep? Cool. The Trojans will rush for over 170 yards in the first quarter. And they’ll limit the stupid penalties and drive-killing mistakes.

That wasn’t a great performance by the offense. They left some points on the board with some drops, a fumble, and a couple of missed assignments upfront. But a workmanlike bludgeoning of an opponent is a welcome sight. USC needs to be able to run the ball for 7.2 yards per carry against teams that are scared of the talented receiving corps. They’re going to see a bunch of teams like that.

This is a good football team. I’m not sure we know how good yet. But it may be a better team than most of us expected. That doesn’t mean they’ll win all their games. Even the best teams have a tough time doing that. Every week of the college football season has major upsets, because young guys don’t play with passion and discipline every week. Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois yesterday as a four-touchdown favorite. (I know you all know that. I just enjoyed writing it.) Alabama struggled with South Florida. Oklahoma once again looked crappy on offense. (They have some real beatdowns ahead of them, so get your gloating face ready, Trojans. I know mine is.) And somehow Boise State managed to lose to one of the worst-coached teams in the country. So you just don’t know what will happen on a weekly basis.

But can I say something a little reckless right now? USC is better than any of the teams left on their schedule. Michigan is horrible offensively. The offensive line isn’t very good, and the quarterback would be holding a clipboard if he joined Mater Dei’s roster this week. Stack the box and make Davis Warren consistently beat USC’s secondary. No way can he do it. He’s lousy, and his weapons are average. USC only loses to Michigan if they make foolish mistake after foolish mistake. It could happen, but I don’t expect it.

Notre Dame is equally inept offensively. That offensive line is not very good. They have a couple of good backs, but there’s no Barry Sanders or Eric Dickerson back there. They are good college backs playing behind a questionable offensive line on a team with no outside threats and a quarterback that isn’t all that great from the pocket. Again, that’s a win unless USC just gives it away.

Penn State is dangerous. But they’re no juggernaut, and they won’t have the benefit of 100,000 white-clad, Joe Paterno cult members creating a deafening roar of moral justifications and transparent excuses like they do at their place. That’s not an easy game, but Penn State is beatable.

In fact, can I say something else reckless? The Big 10 isn’t very good. Ohio State is probably really good. Oregon is really talented but is coached by guys whose primary skill set is sending lots of texts that high school kids can relate to and an ability to carry heavy bags of cash to recruits’ homes. And other than that, the conference looks pretty mediocre. You watch the Big 10 and you start to realize why all of its teams finish near the top of the national defensive rankings. If you get to play against Iowa, Wisconsin, Rutgers, Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Minnesota, et al., it’s not that hard to put up defensive numbers. For the most part, it’s a conference with average skill-position talent and mediocre schemes. Remember who USC would consistently got to the Rose Bowl in the old days and beat the piss out of a mediocre Big 10 team that wasn’t athletic enough to keep up? Yeah, I remember too. Umm, look around. I’m not sure things have changed much.

Now I’m not saying the conference is easy. It still beats what you find in the Big 12 and the ACC. I’m just saying that all of the handwringing about what a murderers’ row USC’s schedule would be looks a little silly now that we’re seeing things unfold. USC plays a tough schedule. They don’t play the Little League lineup that Notre Dame and Miami are playing. But every game on the schedule is winnable for this Trojans squad. And the playoffs are a very realistic goal.

Now the Trojans have a bye week to rest up and game plan some way to slow down the steamroller that is Davis Warren. Michigan will be hurt and angry. They’ll play with passion. But if USC’s offensive line can hold their own enough to let Miller Moss distribute the ball to his playmakers, the Trojans will be in very good shape. So sit back, enjoy the weekend, watch some NFL games, go to a Notre Dame message board—Don’t post! Just read and enjoy—and maybe give thanks for the new defensive staff. It’s nice to see USC play defense like USC again. Two down. Eleven to go before the Big Show.