USC Finds its Edge in Pulling Away from Arizona State

Whether it was a hangover from last week’s thrilling win in Corvallis, the effects of yet another late start time or playing an opponent in Arizona State that didn’t inspire them, the USC Trojans did not put their best foot forward in the first half during Saturday night’s 42-25 win against the Sun Devils. But as has been the case through five games this season, when the Trojans needed something to come up with a win, they found it.

USC could not stop Arizona State in the first half on Saturday night. The Sun Devils had three offensive possessions and likely the only reason they didn’t come away with three touchdowns was a completely unnecessary holding penalty as quarterback Emory Jones was scrambling down to the USC 4-yard line.

Heading into the locker room at halftime, the Trojans held a slim, 21-17 lead and the Sun Devils were doing whatever they wanted to on offense.

Arizona State had 218 total yards, including 101 rushing yards. And the Sun Devils were averaging 8.1 yards per play and 6.3 yards per rush. But the Trojans found an answer during halftime. Turns out, it was pretty easy.

“Second half, we played USC defense,” middle linebacker Eric Gentry said after the game.

Head coach Lincoln Riley said the coaches challenged the entire team at halftime. The offense had scored three touchdowns in four possessions, but finished the half on an uninspired eight-play drive that ended in a punt.

“We didn’t play overall in the first half the way we need to,” Riley said. “The attacking, relentless style that we want to play — really, both sides…It just wasn’t quite us, wasn’t quite the edge that we’re used to playing with and that we expect to play with.”

Coming out of the halftime locker room, the USC defense played its best football of the season. The Trojans held the Sun Devils to just 14 total yards in the third quarter and -13 rushing yards in the second half. Arizona State only mustered one extended drive with the help of a fortunate bounce on a near-interception and two ludicrous pass interference penalties.

The USC defense got after it up front. The Trojans finished the first half with one tackle for loss and did not register a sack. In the second half, USC tallied five sacks and a sixth tackle for loss. Linebacker Eric Gentry led the way for the Trojans with six tackles. He was a major reason that switch got flipped.

Gentry was part of the first defensive stop for the Trojans, combining on a sack with fellow linebacker Shane Lee and then sharing a third-down stop with cornerback Mekhi Blackmon. The sophomore linebacker said this week he’d treat this game against his former team just like any other. But it was clear from the moment he stepped on the field ahead of pregame warmups that it wouldn’t be. Gentry spent a considerable amount of time on the Arizona State sideline talking to former Sun Devil coaches and teammates. After the game, he said it “felt weird” playing against his old team.

That lasted for one half.

“Me being a MIKE linebacker, I didn’t really set the energy,” Gentry said. “Me playing timid, feeling weird playing against my old team. But second half, I felt way better, felt way more confident. Just played it regular, how I usually play.”

Halftime Message from Alex Grinch

USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said the biggest message from him at halftime was the defense simply didn’t need to keep making the same mistakes.

“Our point to them was, that’s actually a pretty good place to be at halftime,” Grinch said. “Because it means you’re in full control of what takes place past that.”

The Trojans once again couldn’t fill the correct gaps early on in this game. Arizona State running back Xazavian Valladay punished them in the first half. Grinch also said the Trojans did a “poor” job of containing Jones as a scrambler.

“We don’t design the defense that doesn’t have someone there,” Grinch said of manning specific gaps. “So we’ve got to do a better job of either teaching it or not recommending that certain things get executed that way. So, we’ve got to coach better.”

Dye Preaches Energy

Running back Travis Dye said he spoke to the team at halftime. He was a little alarmed at that aforementioned lack of energy in the first half.

“The energy level was not where we need to be,” Dye said. “That type of energy level will get us beat by better opponents coming up soon. We really got to get this straightened up fast.”

Dye said it’s not easy to bounce back quickly after an emotional win like the one at Oregon State. But there isn’t an excuse for not coming to play and showing up ready every week.

“It’s almost like this feeling like, okay, we got over this hump, we made it,” Dye said. “When that’s just not the case at all. You can’t have any type of time when you think that you’ve made it. Until the season’s over, you cannot think like that. You just have to keep pushing, have to keep moving forward.