It's been four days since USC's listless 45-27 loss at home to Oregon State, four days since the Trojans gave up 535 yards (322 rushing) to the Beavers and allowed a stretch of five straight touchdown drives.
And defensive coordinator Todd Orlando was still working through the pain of that performance as he met with reporters after practice Wednesday.
"You watch the film -- I've beat myself up about 450 times going through it -- but there's things that we can do," he said. "We're going to see the same type of stuff vs. Colorado. It's a little bit sensitive in terms of the adjustments and all that stuff because of Colorado and we actually play Utah afterward, so they're going to do the same thing. We know we're going to see it, so we've been working at it to get it ironed out."
RELATED: Watch full video interviews with USC's defensive coaches and players Wednesday
Orlando wouldn't specify exactly how many times he had rewatched that film, realistically, but he certainly sounded like a coach who has spent every bit of this week searching for answers wherever they could be found.
"I'm not telling you anything you probably wouldn't do if you had a lot of pride about you. So those things nag at you," he said. "And like I said beforehand, really anxious to just get out there and play again. That's not representative of this unit and we've got to get it fixed."
USC (2-2) allowed 11 rushes of at least 10 yards from six different players, including four by quarterback Chance Nolan and three by wide receivers. Tailback B.J. Baylor had a 40-yard run and also had a 44-yard gain negated by a holding penalty.
Granted, Oregon State (3-1) is a good rushing team, but that was still 66 more rushing yards overall than the Beavers gained against the likes of Hawaii in its previous season-best effort.
What was especially deflating is that USC had come into the game giving up an average of 102.7 rushing yards per game, and the only opponent over the first three weeks to top 100 yards on the ground (Stanford) did so mostly on one 87-yard run while averaging 1.8 yards per carry the rest of the night.
Oregon State averaged 6.3 yards across the entirety of 51 carries.
"I think there's a couple things. Just overall execution is the one thing and that goes back to me. We've got to be smart in terms of the amount that we're giving guys to make sure that we don't get critical mistakes," Orlando said. "We run a pressure and we have two guys on the same side, we lose contain -- it was a fourth-down play. And later on we cut a guy loose that's in the backfield that we're pointing to but just doesn't process. That's not on kids -- that's on me as a coach. ...
"Like I said before, a lot of internal stuff that we're doing now -- not what happened, it's why did it happen and how can we fix it and have answers. That's it -- take ownership and have answers."
Orlando said in particular Oregon State's fly sweeps -- how they set them up and how they leveraged them once they were successful -- was a leading cause of the struggle, and it's something he expects to see more of vs. Colorado this week.
"You talk to the kids and these guys are great, and you take ownership like I have with them and will with everybody else, but you want to find out some of the why's," he said. "There was some Day 1 install stuff that we bust, we cut some guys loose. Those are the things we have to work on along with the run game, we all understand that. We came out and had a really good Tuesday practice, came out again today to work on some third-down and some tight red zone, we'll tighten it up a little bit more. These kids are eager, I think we all are eager to get back on the field on Saturday."
Veteran safety Isaiah Pola-Mao shared a similar perspective.
"It was a lot of little details that we could have just done better as a unit. Just simple things as communication," he said. "On that wheel that Tyjon Lindsey caught, it was just a miscommunication between our safeties. And that's something that can be fixed. That's all we got to do is come out here and just overcommunicate."
Colorado hasn't been any sort of steamroller on the ground this season. The Buffaloes (1-3) rank just 79th nationally in rushing at 154 yards per game, but yes, that is their indenity as they rank a lowly 128th out of 130 FBS teams nationally in total offense at 239 yards per game, thanks to a mostly non-existent passing attack.
Jarek Broussard has rushed for just 188 yards and 2 touchdowns on 4.3 yards per carry through four games after averaging 162.6 yards per game last year while being named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year.
Alex Fontenot has rushed for 148 and redshirt freshman quarterback Brendon Lewis has 132
"They pride themselves on running the ball, and they run the ball a lot. We’re excited and excited get the taste out of our mouth from last week," USC defensive line coach Vic So'oto said.
How the defense responds Saturday in Boulder, Colo., will reveal a lot about where the rest of this season goes from here.
"It's not the end of our season. That was what, Week 4? So we're on to the next one, it's already behind us, we're moving on," Pola-Mao said. "We're going to remember that for sure because as a defense they put up, what, 531 yards, so we're definitely gonna remember that and just put a chip on our shoulder."
And hopefully some shoulders on the Buffaloes ball-carriers.
Notes ...
Korey Foreman, the five-star freshman defensive end, played just 7 defensive snaps Saturday night vs. Oregon State, marking the second time in four games that he's played that number or fewer.
In what seems like a weekly question to So'oto, he was asked if Foreman's usage might increase.
"That’s up to him. The players that play have earned it in practice. He’s got one more practice to earn more playing time and build confidence in us," So'oto said.
While interim head coach Donte Williams noted earlier this week that Foreman has been slowed by a variety of injuries from his knee to his wrist and that he's just now getting close to 100 percent, So'oto attributed part of Foreman's quiet start also to his youth and that "he's still learning how to play football."
As for what So'oto wants to see from his prized recruit over the rest of the season?
"Better," he said with a pause before continuing. "Plain and simply. He’s got a lot of really good rushes where he’s just at the quarterback and the ball gets out. It’s teaching him the little intricacies of the position to get him there before the ball gets out, little things like that. Then being a vet of the game, you see guys that have gone through the program that are in the building, loving film, watching film. All the young guys and being first year in college, all the great stuff that comes with USC off the field, it’s learning to balance all of that stuff. Just maturing and becoming a lover of the game."
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Meanwhile, veteran outside linebacker Drake Jackson does seem to be truly battling some physical limitations, including a groin. Orlando said that's the reason why Jackson didn't play much in the second half Saturday night.
"It's just for whatever reason through the course of games he's got some nagging injuries and he's been chipped up a little bit. So we're being mindful -- that's the one thing I always want to do because I know these guys will go out and do anything we ask them to do. That's almost being protective of them," Orlando said. "I know when he's hurt and I know when he's banged up -- there's a big difference. And I'm going to step in and make sure that he's protected when I know that he's vulnerable because he's doing things that his body can't do at that moment.
