Some weeks this space is largely reserved for critiques and criticisms. But when praise is earned, praise is delivered in the weekly First-and-10.
And in its 33-17 win on the road at Utah on Saturday night, USC did enough encouraging things to boost optimism for its outlook moving forward.
We delve into the good, the bad and the unleashing of freshman kicker Parker Lewis:
1. Defense delivers decisively
Well, that was different.
For the first time since 2012, USC left Rice-Eccles Stadium with a win, and the Trojans did so on the back of a dominant defensive effort. They easily had their best performance of the year on that side of the ball, clearing the bar set over their first two games by a mile. From start to finish, this was a complete performance from the unit, thoroughly stifling the Utah passing and rushing attacks. The defense only gave up 10 points on the night -- and none in the second half. The Utes managed a pedestrian 335 yards.
Of course, this wasn’t the same offense that took Utah to the Pac-12 title game last season. The Utes lost their two biggest stars in QB Tyler Huntley and RB Zack Moss, and their new-look offense was taking the field for the first time against USC after having their first two games cancelled due to COVID. Nonetheless, they returned nearly the entirety of their offensive line, a majority of their skill players and two talented quarterbacks to pick from in Jake Bentley and Cameron Rising. USC’s defense certainly benefited from Utah’s roster turnover and lack of prior games, but what they accomplished Saturday showed significant strides all the same.
Todd Orlando deserves his props for the Trojans' performance; they cleaned up a lot of the mistakes we saw the last few weeks in penalties, poor tackling, and missed assignments. His players were playing hard; something that feels like it should be a given but hasn’t been for the USC defense for quite some time. Orlando’s play-calling also deserved recognition; his pressure packages were well executed and timely, and the decision to let the secondary play lots of man coverage worked out nicely. The Trojans ended up collecting a stunning 5 turnovers on the night, along with forcing two turnovers on downs in the fourth quarter. Altogether, this goes down as easily one of USC’s best defensive performances in recent memory.
2. Front line proving to be backbone of USC defense
The Trojans defensive line was the biggest bright spot on the unit through two weeks, and with its best outing yet against Utah, it’s safe to say this is one of this team’s greatest strengths. They were stout against the run, and the pass rush was phenomenal; Utah’s quarterbacks hardly had a clean pocket to throw from all night, suffering 3 sacks.
While the Trojans had performed well up front in their first two contests, it seemed as though the addition of senior defensive tackle Brandon Pili back into the mix kicked things up another notch. Pili’s raw strength and ability to collapse the pocket from the interior offered an excellent complement to the already impressive play of his teammates, stunting the Ute’s offense from ever getting going. Marlon Tuipulotu was awesome once again, with a monster sack/fumble early in the game that led to USC’s first touchdown. He’s legitimately playing at an all-conference level, and his draft stock has to be shooting straight up with his performance thus far. Drake Jackson is a dominant force off the edge week in and week out, and Nick Figueroa continues to impress with his consistently strong play. Throw in spurts of good rushes from Hunter Echols and flashes from freshman Tuli Tuipulotu, who wrangled Bentley for his first career sack, and this is a dangerous group.
Last year, the defensive line was one of USC’s greatest weaknesses -- now it might be the best position group on that side of the ball.
3. Linebackers show life
The biggest step forward from any part of the team Saturday without a doubt came from the linebacking corps. That group had easily been USC’s most glaring liability through the opening two weeks of the season, missing tackles, botching lane assignments and generally showing poor awareness. I’ll be the first to admit, I didn’t see much hope for them to improve significantly anytime soon. So imagine my surprise when the group came out and pretty much eviscerated the always-dependable Utah running game.
Ralen Goforth looked like a completely changed player. He was all over the field with none of the hesitancy that had caused him to miss tackles and end up out of position in previous weeks. The confidence he seemed to play with against Utah resulted in a team-high 12 tackles and 2 pass breakups. Alongside him, Kana'i Mauga had a sturdy performance as well, notching a sack and 11 tackles, 1.5 of which were for a loss. Coming off of a hamstring injury, Mauga had been playing poorly in previous weeks, but yesterday he once again looked like the dynamic linebacker we saw in flashes previously. The duo’s leap forward bodes incredibly well for the defense. They, along with Palaie Gaoteote who missed the game due to injury, had been its weakest link to open the year. If they can just be solid going forward it completely changes my outlook on that side of the ball.
