Las Vegas – A lot happened during this time USCIt’s thrilling, Last minute 27-20 win over LSU on Sunday night. That’s a lot to cover in one story, so let’s get down to some final thoughts The Trojans’ Victory.
1. You can’t overstate how impressive D’Anton Lynn’s debut as USC’s defensive coordinator was.
There will be some challenges ahead but from a skill and talent perspective, the Trojans won’t face a better offense than the Tigers, who have a strong quarterback, a strong group of receivers and a really good offensive line.
But USC’s defense held its own in many ways. It’s hard to change the mindset of a defense that has struggled for years. That doesn’t happen often, especially during the offseason when there aren’t games to build confidence and prove concepts.
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But Lin is on track to do it twice in as many years. He did it in 2012. UCLA The tenacity and physicality the Trojans played with last season has not been seen from that team in quite some time.
This was evident from the first drive of the game and continued throughout the game. LSU Rushed for 117 yards on 26 carries. 4.5 yards per carry was a good total for the Tigers, but other than a slight spurt in the third quarter, it never looked like USC couldn’t handle the run.
Lincoln Riley’s USC Trojans opened the season with an impressive win over LSU in Las Vegas on Sunday. (Kirby Lee/USA Today)
The defense was not pushed away from the ball, as had happened many times in previous years. Defensive players rushed to the point of contact with force.
Lin applied pressure at the right time Garrett Nussmeyer to force an incompletion on fourth-and-goal on the game’s opening possession. More adjustments were made.
Tigers Wide Receiver Kieren Lacey He caught seven passes for 94 yards and a touchdown in the first half and looked like he was headed for a great day. Lacy didn’t catch a single pass in the second half. After rushing for 68 yards in the third quarter, LSU rushed for just 3 yards in the fourth quarter.
The players played with better fundamentals. They were in the right positions. There weren’t a lot of assignment busts. And that’s something we haven’t seen from the coaching staff I’ll be able to get past this USC defense at some point.
2. Lynn clearly respected the speed of LSU’s wideouts and wanted to limit the explosive play. USC’s defensive backs gave the Tigers’ wideouts a lot of cushion, especially in the first half, and that led to a lot of completions for Nussmeier.
This allowed the Trojans to keep everything in front of them and limit the explosives. It is a much more powerful weapon. NFL-style approach, keep everything up front and let the offensive players move up the field and see if that might work for playing eight to 10 times per game, four or five times.
LSU moved the ball, but USC made key stops early (a goal-line stop) and later (preventing the Tigers from scoring a field goal in the final minutes when they could have taken the lead).
3. Of course, the key component to keeping everything in front of you is having defenders who can come downhill and make the right tackle. It’s hard to discuss USC’s tackling effort on defense without highlighting the safety. Kamari Ramsey,
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I’ve written before about changing the mindset of the defense. Bringing in some solid transfers helps speed up the process, and Ramsey coming in from UCLA along with Lynn has been a big help.
Ramsey flew downhill all night and made impressive tackles throughout the game. It’s tough to make one-on-one tackles in space, especially for college defenders. But Ramsey is strong and aggressive while also chasing without being reckless. It was impressive to see Ramsey make a game-high nine tackles.
Kamari Ramsey reads the ball very well and closes it down. The USC defense hasn’t seen tackles like that in a long time pic.twitter.com/CBxQnZv7pF
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) September 2, 2024
Jaylin Smith Started at cornerback and also impressed with his tackling. He has been at USC and has seen or participated in some bad tackling over the years. But over the last three years he has matured and taken a step forward in the mental and physical side of the game, and he stood out for his tackling effort and also delivered some big hits.
Mason Cobb The defense struggled last year, but against LSU they played better and more solidly and made key stops.
4. I was interested to see what the defensive line rotation is going to be. Here’s what it looks like for the Trojans’ defensive ends and defensive linemen, according to TruMedia.
Anthony Lucas Leading the way with 46 of the 64 defensive snaps in the game. From there: Nate Clifton (36), Jameel Muhammad (32), gavin meyer (32), Bear Alexander (28), Braylon Shelby (26), kobe pepe (20), Solomon Tuliaupupu (16), Devan Thompkins III (16) and Sam Greene (three).
A few things are clear. Alexander, USC’s most talented defensive lineman, did not start. Meyer, who transferred from Wyoming, started. The coaching staff is challenging Alexander for more development and consistency. He still played well and was also playing in key moments, but finished with just one tackle. We’ll see what his role is throughout the season, but Meyer and Clifton performed well.
It is still surprising to see Pepe play major snaps in a very important game, as he has played very little in his previous four years with the program. He should be given credit for taking the necessary steps.
Thompkins was a high school basketball player who only played football for two years in high school. He was a major project and barely played his first two years, but Riley was patient with his development, and USC threw him under the fire to get some meaningful playing time in the game.
5. Miller Moss spread the ball around. Moss passed for 378 yards on Sunday and hit 10 receivers. This is after passing for 372 yards in the Holiday Bowl.
What’s impressive is that the Trojans didn’t have a 100-yard receiver in any game. Moss distributes things evenly and rarely makes the wrong decision. He consistently hits his check-downs and takes what LSU gives him. He adopts a “you can’t go bankrupt making a profit” mentality.
Moss probably involved the tight ends more than any other USC quarterback since Sam Darnold. Lake McRee made a career-best five receptions for 56 yards, and Cade Aldridge Caught a pass.
Tight ends caught just 17 passes in Riley’s first season and 29 last season. They should surpass that mark this year.
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6. During the offseason, I felt USC needed more from their tight ends in terms of run blocking. They contributed to some of the problems in the running game late last season, most notably in the Holiday Bowl.
Plays like this are a good step forward.
USC TE Lake McCree😳 pic.twitter.com/dU4R0xvOzh
— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) September 2, 2024
7. USC’s final drive will make people forget some of the red-zone issues, but the Trojans’ offense did make some impact in the red zone.
USC made five trips to the red zone. It scored TDs on the first and last trips, but scored just six points on the middle three. There were a variety of mistakes: sacks, penalties, drops and missed field goals.
So this is an area that needs to be cleaned up.
8. After the game, I came away thinking that USC’s offensive line was its biggest concern. LSU gave the line some problems, and there are probably at least three teams left on the schedule with better defensive fronts: Michigan, Penn State And Our Lady,
Penn State and Notre Dame will come to the Coliseum, and there are a few more games down the line until then, but they’re going to be challenging.
The toughest challenge will come in a couple of weeks at Michigan, which has perhaps the best defensive front in the country. Riley will have to scheme creatively and Moss will have to throw the ball quickly like he did Sunday.
9. The best thing for USC in this game was how they handled LSU’s big punch in the third quarter. The defense gave up a touchdown and the Tigers took their first lead of the game, 17-13. The offense was having trouble getting going.
It was a dangerous moment for the Trojans. In years past, this was the time when things could have fallen apart.
But on several occasions the defense held firm and allowed the offense to win the game. It was the kind of complementary football and resilience the team did not display last season and is an encouraging sign for this season.
( top photo Woody Marks (4), Kyron Hudson (10) and mason murphy (76): Candice Ward/Getty Images)