USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley has been heavily criticized after an inexcusable loss to the Minnesota Gophers. While the criticism is fair and warranted, it is fair to say that Riley has made strides in improving his defense from what it was.
They have struggled at times against the run, and have not been able to impose their will in the trenches, but if everyone is honest, they are night and day better than last year. And schematically, DC D’Anton Lynn has done a tremendous job in setting the defense up in better positions.
Now there are still plenty of improvements to be made, but at least we can say that the defense is keeping the Trojans in games and giving them an opportunity to win.
However, the history and nostalgia of Lincoln Riley’s defenses are still at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Now he is catching strays from College Football Analyst Joel Klatt.
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Klatt was a guest on The Next Round Show to discuss Alabama, Kalen DeBoer, and Alabama’s defense through the start of the season.
After a fantastic explanation of the Bama scheme and why it is so susceptible, he then had this little nugget:
“This Alabama team is just another version of the Lincoln Riley OU teams. Incredible explosive offense, and they’re gonna be in shootouts the rest of the way.
Alabama, right now, is just a Big 12 team from 2017…Alabama is gonna have to score 45 PPG in conference to win the rest of their games.”
You can watch the full clip below.
Can This Still Be Said About Lincoln Riley Teams And The USC Trojans?
I don’t think anything that Klatt said is egregious, or even a shot at Riley necessarily. It is really just a fact. Lincoln Riley’s Oklahoma teams, and even his first two USC teams, were offensive juggernauts that struggled to stop anyone on defense.
USC fans know this all too well. But it demonstrates that even Klatt can see the improvement in USC’s defense cause he compared Alabama to Riley’s Oklahoma teams, not SC teams.
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I know the team is 3-2, and just lost a bad game against Minnesota, but the changes have to be encouraging.
As stated earlier, the defense is not elite. There are still issues and they give up too many big plays on the ground. But no longer does SC need to score 45 PPG to win. In fact, SC is only giving up 18.4 points per game. A massive improvement from the 34.4 points per game they gave up in ’23.
Now they just need to get the offense on track, but that is a whole other conversation.
USC will host the 4th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions at the LA Coliseum this Saturday. Penn State is averaging 34.4 points per game, so it will be another huge test for this revamped defense. The Nittany Lions also have the 4th-ranked total defense. Will the offense be able to get on track?