The USC Trojans landed on the wrong side of the coin this past weekend. Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams and his Trojans lost to rival Notre Dame in South Bend to the tune of 48-20. Southern Cal had messed around a few times this season, but their defense couldn’t stop the Fighting Irish one bit on Saturday.
That continued a frustrating trend for the Trojans. Their defense under Alex Grinch and Lincoln Riley hasn’t been up to par. A brutal statistic emerged following the loss that put everything in perspective for USC fans. Not in the best way, either.
InsideUSC posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Last season, USC’s defense intercepted 19 passes. So far this season, the new-and-improved defense has intercepted 4 passes.”
You can feel the sarcasm dripping off this tweet. ‘New-and-improved’ is doing a lot of work here, and you can see why USC fans have been so frustrated.
The Trojans have a powerful offense, but it’s moot if the defense forces them to do entirely too much. For as great as Williams has been, he has been asked to do entirely too much. It’s put them in a bind at times, and that was never more evident than Saturday night in South Bend.
It will not get easier for USC either. Over the next few weeks the team will play the heavyweights of the Pac-12. Matchups with Utah, Washington, Oregon, and UCLA all still await them.
The college football world had plenty to say.
https://twitter.com/Calieurosm23646/status/1713724182306161085
Things haven’t been as great as many pundits and USC fans thought they would be once Riley joined the Trojans. It appears it won’t get any better anytime soon, either.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022