Riley Hits the Jackpot with New Defense in Vegas Showdown Against LSU

by Kyle Golik

At first glance, if you look at the box score, you might see that LSU gained 421 yards of total offense against Southern California’s new-look defense. You might think that's only an 11-yard improvement from the disaster of a year ago, but you'd be missing important context on how good they actually looked .

Following the game, Southern California head coach Lincoln Riley was satisfied with his team’s result:

“We battled all game long. We didn’t give up too many explosives. We had the one coverage bust there at the end, but then we had to get some big stops there. The ones that I really point to — we had the initial goal line stop and then after the 4th-and-8 that we didn’t convert offensively, that was a key moment right there. They had a chance to go up two scores. We get the stop there and then even after the explosive on the last drive, we find a way. We stop them, we hold them to a field goal. You can bring in really good coaches, which we did. You can run whatever scheme that you want to run. But at the end of the day, these guys have to trust and believe in it. We brought in some outstanding players like Kamari that have just really helped us grab hold of this defense early on. And then we’ve got a lot of guys that were in the locker room before that are incredibly hungry to go play USC defense. There’s a vibe and a confidence about that group right now and we’re only going to get better. Really proud of the effort tonight. I’m not surprised, but it was cool to see in that moment in that arena, us believe in it as much as we did.”

As Riley alluded to in his review of his defense’s improvements , our first impressions came on the first series of the game when the Trojan defense successfully had a goal line stand. What made it impressive was that LSU held the ball for nearly eight minutes, yet the Trojans' defense kept everything in front of them, thwarting LSU’s attempts to score an opening touchdown..

Throughout the game, the Trojan defense bent but didn’t break. It was successful at containing the LSU ground game. Outside of John Emery Jr .'s 39-yard run in the third quarter, the Tigers were only able to muster three yards per carry against the Trojan defense. In comparison, last season, Southern California would surrender nearly five yards per carry.

Riley was glowing in the review of his run defense:

“We did a good job. It’s a really good offensive line, no question. Several guys on that offensive line are going to play ball for a little while. They had every right to be confident, but so did we. We just chose not to say it in the media. We were very confident in our ability to do it. It was a physical battle. There were a lot of big shots down on that field from both sides. We did a great job, I thought, condensing their run game — squeezing them to where there wasn’t a bunch of huge, open gaps. They got out a couple of times on us but we made it tough on them. I thought we played physical at the point of attack. Guys were pretty gap sound. We were able to squeeze down some of those running lanes and make open-field tackles. Against a good running team like that, that’s what it’s all about.”

While there were many positives for the Trojan defense, Riley's unit did not register a sack or a quarterback hurry against LSU. One could argue that the LSU offensive line might be the best they face all year.

Still, the way Southern California defenders are responding to defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn is setting the tone for the season. Trojan defensive end Braylan Shelby had this to say about Lynn : “Oh, he’s amazing. I’d say his coaching style is kind of laid back, but it’s because he has trust in us. … He comes around and encourages us 24/7. I mean, he takes control of the defense and he’s one of the greatest coaches out there.”

“I don’t even think it was statistically that we won,” Trojan linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold said. “I think it was the way we responded to the entire game. . .  I think the one thing we focused on was we played as one, and I think we did an excellent job. “I learned that we’re a team that doesn’t react; we respond.”

This is an attitude and culture that speaks to improvement for Southern California. If this is how they perform the rest of the 2024 campaign, Riley truly hit three 7’s in Vegas.