Add The California Post on Google Three lockdown quarters followed by something far less satisfactory did not equate to a happy Gary Patterson.
“I know he’s pissed right now about the fourth quarter,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said of his new defensive coordinator in the immediate aftermath of their season opener against San Jose State.
How were Riley and Patterson feeling three days later, after having a chance to fully digest the game footage?
“Not really anything different,” Riley said Tuesday, “than what we said after the game.”
Through three quarters, the Trojans had given up just a field goal. They shut down the run game. They made a fourth-down stop inside their 10-yard line. They allowed the Spartans to mount only two sustained drives.
What happened next was almost the opposite of what preceded it.
A host of reserves failed to provide much resistance over the final 15 minutes of USC’s 42-26 victory, allowing 23 points. Riley said his team piled up more defensive “busts” in the final quarter than it did the rest of the game combined.
Human nature was undoubtedly a factor after the Trojans raced to a 35-3 lead.
“When you start scoring a bunch of points and start letting up a little bit,” defensive tackle Jide Abasiri said, “that’s when things can go south, and so I think that’s where we let our foot off the gas and that’s just something we’ve got to get better with next week.”
On the one hand, it was mostly backups who got burned. On the other, Riley said those players must improve because they will need to contribute in more meaningful situations later in the season.
“We need those guys to all go in there and play well,” Riley said, “not just seven or eight of them, which was basically what the case was in the fourth quarter the other day.”
Riley will seek signs of improvement Friday evening at the Coliseum when the Trojans (1-0) face Fresno State (0-0), confident in his assertion that a big leap in performance usually comes between the season’s first and second games.
Something the Trojans could use more of from starters and reserves alike is disruption.
Backup defensive end Jadyn Ramos made the team’s only sack, and there were no interceptions or forced fumbles. Freshman edge rusher Luke Wafle nearly notched another sack when he chased San Jose State quarterback Luke Weaver into the end zone, forcing him to throw the ball away.
Pro Football Focus awarded Wafle the highest grade among edge rushers who played in the handful of games during Week 0, a promising start for the five-star prospect. Riley praised Wafle for being advanced in his ability to defend the run and put pressure on a quarterback.
“The thing I liked the most about him on Saturday is he didn’t hesitate — I mean, he went in there and he played aggressive, he was around the ball, he was around the quarterback,” Riley said. “He made some plays for us obviously and he was really close to making a bunch of others, and I think that’s just scratching the surface of how good this guy can be.”
There were other things to like as well. Abasiri made the defensive play of the game when he stuffed San Jose State’s Isaiah Carlson for a 2-yard loss on fourth-and-1 at USC’s 7-yard line.
Riley said it was the kind of stop that top teams routinely make.
“If you don’t allow touchdowns in the red zone,” Riley said, “you’ve got a chance to be great.”
Things were shaping up that way for the defense … until they weren’t. San Jose State scored touchdowns both times it reached the red zone in the fourth quarter, leaving Patterson and the rest of the coaching staff less than pleased. Patterson was not made available for interviews after the game, leaving his boss to speak on his behalf.
“The way our starters played,” Riley said, “that deserved to be a single-digit-score game.”
If nothing else, a short turnaround this week will give the defense a chance to quickly redeem itself — and put its coaches in a better mood.
