No. 9 USC’s ongoing defensive woes nearly derail season in win over Cal which scores 21 points in the 4th quarter…
Ryan Kartje (LA Times) — As contenders fell and chaos reigned among the ruling class of college football, Tuli Tuipulotu stood amid the wreckage Saturday night with his arms raised in triumph. In that moment, it seemed perhaps USC, led by its star pass rusher, might have found some measure of progress on the defensive end.
The nadir of the Trojans’ past two games still loomed large over the unit. More than 1,100 yards were allowed in that span. Nearly 40 tackles were missed. A previously unblemished record and clear path to the College Football Playoff semifinals was lost in the process, raising further doubt about the trajectory of a Trojan defense struggling to stop anyone with so much as a pulse.
On a Saturday when half of the nation’s top six teams — No. 1 Tennessee, No. 4 Clemson and No. 6 Alabama — were all stopped dead in their tracks, USC nearly found itself among the fallen contenders. What began as an impressive bounce-back performance for the much-maligned unit nearly devolved into a nightmare before USC escaped with an 41-35 victory over California.
“We didn’t play our best,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said. “Really on any of the sides.”
Alex Grinch, USC’s defensive coordinator, went one step further.
“You want to vomit some of the issues we have 10 weeks into the season,” Grinch said of his defense.
As Tuipulotu threw down quarterback Jack Plummer for his second sack, the Trojans seemed to have found a cure for what ailed them. USC shut down Cal’s rushing attack, allowing a season-low 63 yards, and kept banged-up Cal quarterback Jack Plummer under duress, with Tuipulotu contributing two of three sacks.
Tuli Tuipulotu (49) celebrates with Nick Figueroa (99) and Stanley Ta’ufo’ou (47) after sacking CAL QB Jack Plummer during the first half. (Gina Ferazzi / LAT)
But as time ticked down, Plummer kept finding holes in the Trojans secondary as he racked up 406 yards and three touchdowns through the air. Unable to put Cal away, USC grew increasingly impatient, Riley said. Breakdowns followed.
“That second half was really frustrating for us,” safety Calen Bullock (7) said. “We know we’re giving up too many yards right now defensively. Before the game, we said we were going to go out and dominate.”
Instead, the Trojans nearly allowed 500-plus yards for the third consecutive week, this time capping the total at a mere 469.
Cal’s firepower was enough to keep USC on its toes late. A surprise onside kick and subsequent touchdown drive left the Bears down just seven points with nine minutes remaining, reminding of how quickly this USC defense can lose its grip.
“You get excited in the third quarter because you’re happy, then obviously you’re fighting for your life by the tail end of the game,” Grinch said.
If not for Caleb Williams, who once again carried USC with a 360-yard, four-touchdown performance, the Trojans might have let this one slip away. Alas, they would hang on, with the help of Travis Dye’s 15 carries for 98 yards and a TD. “We are a hair away,” said Dye.
Cal came out swinging from the start against USC’s reeling defense. Freshman running back Jaydn Ott ripped off a 22-yard gain to open the game, and Cal marched down the field in just five plays, the last of which saw Ott slip through multiple tackles on his way to the end zone.
But the Bears struggled mightily to move the ball from there until the third quarter. After the Trojans were trampled for 76 yards on that initial drive, they clamped down, holding Cal to just 88 over their next six. Ott, meanwhile, finished the first half with one fewer rushing yard than he’d gained on Cal’s opening drive, slowed by a suddenly stingy USC front seven.
The renewed effort on defense early was critical, considering USC’s electric offense didn’t always have its usual spark.
Williams still largely had his way with Cal’s defense, despite once again being without his top two receiving targets. He still found Tahj Washington (16; 112 yards and a touchdown) and Michael Jackson III (115 yards and two touchdowns) in big moments and still conjured big plays through the air, completing 10 passes of 15 yards or more, including a 59-yard screen that Jackson took to the house.
There was little, though, that he could do about USC’s defense, which stands at a crossroads with just three games left in the regular season. Whether it has enough time to right the ship still remains to be seen.
But on a night when most of the top 10 was in flux, Riley reminded that USC was still able to leave Saturday with its eighth victory of the season. A rise in the College Football Playoff rankings should soon follow – even if little Saturday suggested that USC deserves to climb.
“My experience with these things,” Riley said, “is you get to the end and no one remembers how. You either found a way to win them or didn’t. The reality is this team is 8-1 with everything in front of us.”
“There’s a handful of key plays in the game that we simply have got to make more of. If you’re winning, you’re doing more good than bad, right? We just got to continue to do more good. And we gotta continue to eliminate some of the bad football that has held us back from playing our best.”
latimes.com
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I don’t follow Baseball recruiting at all. But since USC hired a new coach the school has been publicizing transfers and signed recruits. And today I see where a # of Southern Ca kids have signed letters of intent. Anyone have any idea if these kids are any good? Is the program improving? Thoughts?
I don’t follow baseball recruiting either. But I’m really pulling for Andy Stankiewicz who took over a brutalized USC baseball program. LAT — “Stankiewicz is a Pepperdine alum who played six minor league and seven MLB seasons before working as an MLB scout and minor league manager. “Stankiewicz, 57, has a 341-239-2 career coaching record and will help the Trojans retool their roster for their final run in the Pac-12 before joining the Big Ten during the 2024-25 academic year. “He is returning to the area where he started his baseball career at St. Paul High in Santa Fe Springs.… Read more »
Lincoln Riley needs to ask tough questions about keeping Donte Williams on staff Matt Zemek (Yahoo Sports) — “This is getting very interesting for USC football, and not in a good way. Donte Williams coaches USC’s defensive backs and is also the defensive passing game coordinator for the Trojans under DC Alex Grinch and HC Lincoln Riley. “One of the big jobs of a head coach is to surround himself with the right assistants. Riley and Grinch need to improve this defense in time for UCLA — that’s the main focus here — but they also need to plan ahead… Read more »
Who cares about Donte … get rid of anyone and anything from the Gomer years
His types are a dime a dozen. Get rid of him and use the money for a special teams coach.
Donte was viewed as the second coming when USC stole him from ORE. With USC’s DBs flailing about, Donte seems like the appropriate fall guy.
I don’t know if Donte really deserves all the blame, but LR has to do something to improve USC outside of relying solely on a talent upgrade. If Donte can’t make that happen on the first signing day, all the more reason for him to be given a shot at a different school.
I have a bit of a contrary view relative the DB’s. Admittedly their performance hasn’t been good, especially, the last 3 games.I think the bugger problem lies with the LB,s; not the DB,s. I think they are severely hurt by the lack of speed & inconsistent play of the LB’s. Their inability to cover and tackle bleeds over to the DB,s and puts them out of position too often. When the LB,s play better then the DB,s will to. AND!! , if the entire defense would cut down on missed tackles the pressure on the DB’s would lessen as well.
As I said, I don’t know how much blame Donte Williams deserves. Certainly not all. My point is, I don’t care of he stays with USC, whereas I used to feel that USC really needed him because of his big recruiter rep (maybe we should blame Donte for Korey Foreman, as Donte was reportedly very involved with Korey’s recruitment). “His types are a dime a dozen,” says USC1988. I now agree. If Donte stays, fine. If Donte goes, fine. I just hope LR does something with USC’s defensive coaches, because I believe USC can do better in that dept, especially… Read more »
ESPN should do a 30 for 30 on Foreman. —The Falling of a Star—-(sarcasm font)
Poor guy. He was always way overrated (from what I have seen at least) and got the benefit of Covid big-time to hide his deficiencies. Now he has to live up to some ridiculous and cruel #1 standard, while making headlines as a potential bust (wish I were being sarcastic, but not so). While publishing SuperPrep, I became very familiar with how evaluation can go so wrong. Recruiting is like a massive jigsaw of players, with the pieces moving around every day. Players constantly change, and so do their futures. Look at how many 1st round draft choices bomb out… Read more »
i like the way you think.
Not giving up yet on Foreman … just one solid season is all it takes. Who cares about the past.
HEY ………My Colts just made NFL History >>>>> Field Yates (NFL ESPN Insider)
@FieldYates
As best as I can tell, Jeff Saturday becomes the first person in NFL history to be named a head coach without any coaching experience at either the NFL or college level. But can Jeff Saturday be a better head coach than a guy named Helton ?
I believe that we will get the defense fixed, but not this year. Getting Gentry back will be huge. Playing Lee with Nomura has been really bad. They are both good at stopping the interior run, and terrible in pass coverage. How many times can a QB scramble and complete a pass to the sticks on us? Well…..apparently every time.
My first post (in quite a while …thank you Clay Helton ) about USC and Bowls . I know some media are throwing names of different bowls out there …..To me I boil it down to this >>> Get the Ninth Win and we are probably talking Holiday Bowl (MEH) or Alamo bowl ( Last year it was #14 OK vs #15 Oregon in that Bowl).In the other 3 often mentioned bowls connected to USC (Pac-12 Champ game …..Cotton Bowl ….Rose Bowl) I feel we will need a MINUMUM of 10 wins to be a participant in any of those… Read more »
Alex Grinch doesn’t need to watch film on this one. At least not OURS. Maybe Georgia’s! And then only to inspire him to hit the recruiting trail. We have some great players on D, but we need to put the package together the way we did on the offensive side of things.
Amen to that. This coming recruiting class needs to be heavily defensive.
Correct me if I’m wrong. Have USC fans ever felt this bad about USC’s defense? I don’t think so. I think this 2022 USC team takes the cake. So strange, as this very unique Trojan outfit is ranked #7 and 8, has LR coaching, and Caleb Williams is driving defenses crazy while Travis Dye always impresses, and various Trojan WRs are dominant. Who would have ever thought that this USC team would be so unbalanced, so utterly bad on one side of the ball, and so dangerous on the other? And yet our hopes remain, delicately hanging on the return… Read more »
You reminded me of 2005 season. It seemed as the season wore on the defense got more and more beaten down. By the time Vince Young took the field in the 4th quarter of the Rose Bowl NCG the Trojan defense was gassed. Is this year’s defense worse than last year? I don’t think so. Look at the last 4 games last year.
I am convincing myself that Gentry and Goforth (and Lee with 2 good hands) will be huge. It will be all hands on deck November 19th, anybodies game.
I’m picking this year, while it’s still fresh in my mind. I literally had no expectations last season, and you couldn’t pay me to look at any of USC’s mostly deadbeat 2021 games again, ever.
Another thing that seems to be unique to the 2022 Trojans — our defense actually gets worse every game, especially in the second half.
As said by WeAreSC’s Chris Arledge, “After last night, we are officially witnessing defensive Chernobyl.”
I think Arledge nailed it. And, yes, our D has gotten progressively worse as the season has progressed. The only silver lining is Grinch is handling it the correct way; he is not blaming the kids. He is taking the blame and clearly stating that his coaching is the source of the problem. Hopefully, he will be able to correct it. We will learn a lot against CO. If CO scores at least 35 points and passes for over 400 yards and has about 500 yards in O, then we are in real trouble going into UCLA. Our O will… Read more »
I figure CU will put up 17-20 max. Maybe we’ll finally get the blowout I have foolishly been predicting ever since the UTAH fiasco, but any win sits fine with me nowadays. I figure the Utes are gonna get drilled in Eugene on Nov. 19. What a day in CFB that will be.
This USC team has been an improved sight to behold, and the games against both UCLA and ND figure to be stupendous, high-scoring contests. Just Win Baby!
The thing about the Vince Young game is that the refs seemed to focus on what Young was doing and not noticing the other 11 players on the team. If you are being held on every play, it’s hard to get to the quarterback. By the end of that game some of the interior linemen had permanent grip marks in their jerseys.
Final quarter vs Texas in RB … just knew the O had to score in final possession but knew that wasn’t going to happen w/ #5 on the sidelines begging SucKiffer to put him in.
2000 … Hackett’s D was awful
Monte Kiffin years … Chip could had scored 100 in the Coli that one game
Gomer years especially the last year … they quit regularly
If you watched the game USC had control of the game until they lost
the onside kick. The special teams were the difference in the loss
If USC catches the ball they score another TD to pad the lead.
The defense was bad yes, but good enough to win.
Congrats on writing the first and only defense of the USC defense I have read or heard since last night’s escape from the dreaded (I actually mean dreadful) Bears. And using the word “good” in any sentence describing the Trojan D deserves an award for both creativity and faith, I would say. ✌
At this point, Allen, I hope it is a barnburner because the only alternative is a easy win by the Bruins.😡
ORE crushed UCLA. That gives me hope. I’m sticking to my barnburner routine as far as UCLA goes. I don’t believe another beatdown, or easy win, is in the cards. It’s funny how nine games into 2022 haven’t changed what a lot of us predicted before the season started. Yet the team doesn’t at all look like what I expected. I had no idea what Caleb could really do, and I thought USC’s D would at least be respectable, and not just open to massive gashing by every opponent. The heat is definitely on Grinch and this USC D. It’ll… Read more »
Yeah, that use of the word “vomit” was just a little bit too clinical to read before a meal.😫
This team’s defense reminds me a little of PC’s 05 team that lost in the Rose Bowl to Texas. That Trojan defense had similar problems though not as severe as this year’s team. And it comes back to me that 05 offense was unstoppable like this one. But defense wins championships.
05 O was saved by Reggie playing on fire and Matt’s audibles, it struggled more than we want to remember (see 1st half vs ASU Texas and throughout vs ND) … give those guys to LR ( or Chow ) and they beat VY and Texas by 30.
Last years defense was the worst I can remember. This years at least showed to be opportunistic and capable of making the adjustments necessary to come up big the first 5 games of the season. That’s what is really disappointing. The discipline to avoid the big penalties, and come up with a huge turnover margin is not there right now. Are they just not able to sustain the energy and focus it took to play over their heads? I think the defensive coaching is much better this year. We just don’t have the depth and enough difference makers on defense… Read more »
Allen, I do not feel that way. My view is that this D has played awful in the last two games. It is as bad as the 2021 D which was the worst in school history. Prior to the last two games, Alex Grinch was up for assistant coach of the year. I think the performances against AZ and Cal (in particular) ended that possibility. Take away the last two games, this D is fine. If they could perform like they did against WSU and ASU in the second half, we would fine. But, instead, AZ (a decent but not… Read more »
Sounds like a recipe for Trojan beauty. How corny is that? But this “must-watch” thing about USC football is so true. What a curious team. While there may have been a few other worse defenses in USC’s long history, we’ve never seen one this questionable (at best) paired up with a team that can score at will if humming. Strange brew, and as you say, “must watch!” Clay Helton was so boring compared to now. USC football is so filled with mystery at this stage. LR doesn’t say diddly about injuries, which is fine with me. He’s not afraid to… Read more »
True, and this time last year I had given up on the season and was only interested in who would be the next coach. Now we’re actually talking about the possibility of making the play-offs. I have to remind myself to not lose perspective. What a difference a year makes!
This year’s team is like a store bought pie. Great tasting filling in a cardboard crust. I cannot remember when I have seen progressively worse tackling or an open gate line like this. This year it seems as if the design of the defense is to get off the field so the offense can come out and score, the fastest way is to get outa the other team’s way and let them score . I thought taking the ball on the opening kickoff was a bravado statement type move. Now I know it’s so the defensive effort won’t get the… Read more »
Expect Chip to go for 2 after every score … those extra 6 to 8 pts could be the difference
POST GAME QUOTES: Opening Statement: ““Win number eight. Reminded the guys in the locker room, 11 months ago we came out to a practice and watched a game with our future team and a lot’s changed since then. I think first and foremost for our team, whether this is years down the road and we had a great season and won the national championship before, or you’re in year one coming off 4-8 the previous year; first thing we’re going to do is we’re going to appreciate winning. Winning is hard. For us, our program, our players, finding ways to… Read more »
LR sure keeps a tight lid on injury info. No word on the injuries to Addison, Mario Williams, Gentry or Goforth? They should stay out another week if not 100%. If they can squeak by Zoni and Beserckly, they should be able to squeak by the Buffs.
Guess :
Gentry is done until bowl
Addison will get some reps and maybe a ball or two vs CU just for timing purposes getting him ready for UCLA and ND, who he can do serious damage to
Maybe same for Williams
Second Half Blues
USC allowed just 36 second-half points in the first six games of 2022. The Trojans have given up 22, 24 and 28 (74) in the second half of their past three games.
That is why I am thinking this team is exhausted. Not sure why though.
No I think you are correct in that the player energy level, on defense, in the 2nd half and especially the 4th quarter is spent. The depth situation is the reason. This is why LR needs to put a ball control game plan in to run the clock down keeping our offense on the field and give our defense more time to recuperate on the sideline. I don’t see any other way to this immediate need. And again, LR has to load up on recruiting the defensive side to fix this long range.
Nothing stubborn about CAL’s offense. The USC defense was overmatched, again, as Cal QB Plummer just stood back in the pocket and picked the Trojan D backfield apart in the 2nd half. Playing to the level of the opponent? Maybe if that was so, the final game score might have looked better. Our D is still a mess. LR needs to stop flying down the field on offense and create a ball-control game plan to keep the D off the field and the bruin & irish offenses on the sidelines. This is the only way we have a chance in… Read more »
Plummer picked the backfield apart because there was no pass rush. No sacks or even TFLs in the 4th. SC’s D is weak up front without Gentry and Goforth, Shane Lee still has a bad hand.
He keeps pulling away from the run when it is working.
AP Poll — USC is #8 (#7 in Coaches Poll)
This team will go 9-3 this season and no Pac-12 Championship Game nor any possibility of the playoffs. UCLA is rolling right now and is peaking in Nov. Notre Dame pretty much shut out Clemson, so Riley and coaches have a tall task at hand and that is how do they convince the defense to play smart and focused with tons of energy for 60 minutes, and not just in the 1st Q? And what happened to the firepower of the offense? They should’ve put 60 on that Cal defense last night. Same with Zona. Hey Coach Riley! Stop allowing… Read more »
You are closer than you think … LR rarely uses his wonderful and basically unstoppable mis-direction packages like vs Utah and a little bit during those last two beautiful drives last night. If he choose to, CW could run for 200 yds a game (until hobbled or injured).
One of the reasons he was so annoyed last night, up 34-14 with minute to go in 3rd, and ends up being a one possession game. He had to break out more of his playbook and tendencies.
Like vs Utah, you will see different plays vs UCLA.
USC moves up to #7 in the Coaches Poll
We DO NOT belong to be that high !!!!!!!!!!
But here we are … long way from the Gomer joke
The D has to get healthy if they want to get past UCLA, ND and the Ducks. That would be 3 wins against top25 teams and I’m counting on the Ducks to beat the Utes. USC playing any of the top 4 would be ugly. But hey, the committee like the Trojans, nice.
I think we should hire more towel wavers—-that was helton’s problem—no towel wavers
Love those towel waivers! Just joking. Woo hoo!
I finally dragged the whole family out to see a game again at the Coliseum and expected a romp. I told my son, after watching USC go scoreless on their first drive and Cal walking into the end zone “Our defense is the worst since Monte Kiffin.” After we scored, but muffed the extra point, my son asked “didn’t we change coaches?” During the entire second quarter, my daughter stood in line for fresh chocolate chip cookies. She was easily distracted by all of the gadgets and gizmos left in the stadium by the NFL. You cannot hear the refs… Read more »
Perk up Rialto, with Gentry and Gorforth back and Lee with a good hand the D will be a lot better. Definitely a lack of depth after those 3. The DBs were getting picked apart with no pass rush in the 4th. I didn’t think SC could cover 21 points but I didn’t think it would be near this close. I finally got a win in the contest after couple losses. Love you son’s comment, “didn’t we change coaches?”, 😂priceless.
Always Compete. I think that was Pete’s motto, basically.
That’s one thing that is very different from Helton’s USC teams — they didn’t always compete, which is why they lost so many games. LR’s teams always compete, but we just don’t have the horses on defense. Throw in a few injuries, and USC’s D is downright laughable. But the Trojans always compete nowadays, and that’s a big change IMO.
Goal was to improve the tackling and early they did … the 4th quarters have been awful. That being said, the two onside kick messes have been 4 TD swings in both games.
and just think … this Gomer like team would be 9-0 if not for a shit call or 3 vs Utah
Had Gomer stayed maybe we are 9-0
If ever there was a loss of an important defensive player for USC, it has been Eric Gentry. He’s apparently so important that he must have some real magic to him that enhances his unlikely 6-6, 200-pound frame for the middle. Yet I have no idea if his return will radically improve USC’s D or not. That’s a lot to put on one single guy. And I have no idea if throwing a healthy Ralen Goforth back into action is gonna somehow make USC’s DBs look better. This team’s just gonna have to scrap and fight with everything it has… Read more »
The Fourth quarter collapse last night exposed a lack of depth which leads to fatigue and mistakes. The 3 fourth quarter drives for Cal there were 22 passes and 6 runs. SC’s DBs had a total for the game of 29 of the 46 tackles, 63%. We had 8 TFL with 3 sacks last night but none in the 4th with Cal throwing almost every down = no pass rush. We do need Gentry and Goforth back and Shane Lee’s hand to heal or we will see our last regular season win on Friday.
Totally agree. And, I doubt the team that played Cal and AZ is capable of beating either UCLA or ND. But then, I never underestimate Caleb. He is that good. I think we win next Friday (I would never take the points against this team, both for emotional and logical reasons – having a spectacular O and a spectacularly bad D (quoting Volunteer) makes for interesting games. I earlier compared Gentry to Hufanga. I think he is that important. Used to be that making a team’s O single dimension was an advantage. Not for this D.
Can beat ND, not sure that small short inexperienced qb can make the throws these 6 year qbs the past 3 weeks have made. The ND game will be more of a head game, can SC rebound from what will probably be a loss vs the gutties (Chip will toy with this D). Will take a split, for sure.
These articles keep calling our opponents pesky, stubborn, determined…. The reality is our defense overall really sucks and does not seem to have the ability to dominate even the worst of opponents. Beginning of the season we tended to make adjustments and shut down the opposing team after the half. Now they score mostly after the half. ovrrall I am happy with how we have improved over last year and I will always celebrate the firing of hugs. But I don’t see this team winning more than 9 games this year. we can only hope for an avalanche of defensive… Read more »
The UCLA & ND game will tell who this team really is.
Other than the OOC teams, SC had to play all four quarters every game, Hard!!! Barely getting by Cal and Arizona, we might be ranked ninth, I don’t believe we are that good…but we are lucky.
I agree. See my post, above.
I got to see my Trojans in person last night at the coliseum for the first time since 2013. Homecoming game with friends and family was memorable beyond a doubt. What I see in this Trojan team 2022 is an offense minus its two top receivers, is a group that can score points on pretty much anyone. The offense will have to keep us in the remaining games. Our defense minus Goforth and Gentry are weaker, and we have little depth although I saw rotation of players on different series of downs and possessions, but we are a team that… Read more »
Daniel, Glad you enjoyed your time at the game and with your friends. And, I totally agree that we do not want his team in the CFP. It would be embarassing to play a team like GA, which would score at will. I would love to see us in a good Bowl game, perhaps the Cotton Bowl in my present home town area, but while the SC O is one of the top 4 in the nation, the SC D simply does not have the talent to compete at that level. Of the SC D two deep, I doubt any… Read more »
One thing for sure … LR has brought back the excitement. No worries about the playoffs. Not beating UCLA, ND and Oregon consecutively. Be lucky to split with the gutties and ND.