The numbers tell the story in their own way.
USC's defense held Utah to just 10 points on Saturday night (the Utes scored 7 on defense themselves), allowed none in the second half, forced 5 turnovers, added 2 fourth-down stops and notched 3 sacks and a whopping 37 pressures, per PFF, which is well more than the Trojans had in any game since Week 3 of the 2017 season (38). Yeah.
But what did defensive coordinator Todd Orlando see specifically as the biggest area of improvement for his unit?
"Just the physicality part. I thought we played really free and loose, and that’s what we were looking for. At the end of the day, I thought we hesitated a bit in earlier games. This one, we didn’t hesitate at all. We just ran and we hit. It was fun to watch," he said Wednesday morning.
A lot of the concern for the defense in the previous two games stemmed from the linebacker play, and in turn that was one of the major areas of improvement at Utah as Ralen Goforth and Kana'i Mauga combined for 23 tackles in the game.
"My issue, and I got specific in terms of positional group, but there was hesitation. We’re not going to be that way. We’re not going to hesitate. We’re going to be the guys who are the aggressor," Orlando said. "I just thought that game on Saturday night, that’s what we want. We want to see guys go out there and throw the first punch, run to the football, hit someone as hard as they can. I thought it was good to see those guys cut it loose and not worry about being exact and being perfect and not hesitating. So we just have to build upon it."
After racking up a team-high 7 missed tackles, per PFF, through the first two games, Goforth had none Saturday night. Mauga had 3 missed tackles, meanwhile, and Orlando acknowledged there is still room to grow.
That is the next challenge to the unit as the Trojans look to use the Utah game as a foundational turning point for the defense.
"We’re still missing some tackles in space. Continue to work on that. There’s too many people ricocheting off of us. We have to be stronger in tackles in the open field. That’s a big point of emphasis," Orlando said. "Obviously you’re going to get teams that try to put you in space. That’s this league. There were better angles, which was good to see, not a lot of people cutting the ball back on us like there were the previous two weeks. But just finishing tackles, being stronger, running though contact, instead of ricocheting off of people."
Linebacker depth concerns
Head coach Clay Helton revealed some potential depth concerns for the linebacker unit when he talked to reporters on Tuesday and said that Palaie Gaoteote, who did not play against Utah, remained in concussion protocol, and that Goforth did not practice Monday due to a foot sprain.
USC is already very thin at linebacker with Jordan Iosefa, Solomon Tuliaupupu and Eli'jah Winston out for the season, and Tayler Katoa working back from Achilles tendinitis.
On Monday, USC went with Mauga and redshirt sophomore Raymond Scott as the first-team linebackers. Scott played big snaps against Arizona, but he played only 2 defensive snaps against Utah and is a guy who was working at safety until moving back to linebacker in the preseason.
Behind those two, redshirt freshman Tuasivi Nomura is the only other known scholarship linebacker available. Preferred walk-on Danny Lockhart could potentially be an option, but Orlando didn't provide any clarity when asked about the second-team LB situation Wednesday.
"Right now, it’s to be seen. We’re shuffling guys. Ray Scott will be the other guy obviously. Ray played last week as a starter on our specialty group on third down. We just didn’t run it a lot. I trust Ray. Ray is working his tail off. Excited about Ray," Orlando said.
More to the point, Orlando dismissed that depth issues will be any excuse for his unit.
"To me, it’s just getting guys reps in practice. This is USC, so if you’re here in this program, you can play. It’s our job to make sure that they’re right when they’re on the football field, and to do things according to their skill set too. So we’ll be smart about it," he said.
Praise for So'oto
The defensive line has definitely been the bright spot on that side of the ball for USC so far, and Helton praised new DL coach Vic So'oto earlier this week. On Wednesday, it was Orlando's turn ...
"He’s a really good teacher, technician. He’s got great presence to him. There’s a ton of things. He’s a really loyal soldier, too. Those are the things you get out of him. We obviously haven’t worked with him, but we’d done enough research on him and had an opportunity when we brought him here to go out on the field and work with him a little bit, too, get an overall sense. We knew we had our guy the second we got out of that," Orlando said.
Indeed, So'oto looks to have been an impactful hire after coaching previously at Virginia.
