Donte Williams discusses defensive improvements

USC interim head coach Donte Williams has overseen a drastic turnaround on the Trojans defense.

After letting up 45 points to Oregon State, the Trojans turned it around, handling Colorado on Saturday, while only allowing 14 points. Williams credited the defensive coaching staff, headed by defensive coordinator Todd Orlando for adjusting the gameplan.

“Credit to the defensive coaching staff, for one simplifying the game plan,” Williams said on Trojan Live. “You simplify the game plan, you get a lot of guys that are athletic to play fast. The most important is the guys up front. Right now, I can’t believe we had five sacks in a game, quite a few tfls, we had a forced fumble and a fumble recovery just by guys that’s up front. And if we can do that every game, we’re going to be very very hard to beat.”

Against the Buffaloes, star pass rusher Drake Jackson had the most impactful game of his junior season so far, notching two sacks, four tackles, a fumble recovery and a pass deflected. Defensive end Jacob Lichtenstein notched two sacks of his own and the Trojans defense earned three turnovers.

USC’s season isn’t lost, despite Clay Helton’s firing following the Week 2 loss to Stanford. Since taking over as interim head coach, Donte Williams has led USC to a 2-1 record with wins over Washington State and Colorado, and a loss to Oregon State. With games against the likes of Notre Dame, Arizona State and BYU still ahead, the Trojans defense will need to come up big one again.

“Everybody talks about winning on third down, but winning on first down creates teams to get out of character a little bit to where you can get tackles behind the line of scrimmage,” he said. “I think we did a really good job the past game winning on first down. On third down they were one for ten, and the one that they converted, they went for it on fourth and we stopped them.

“Those are really really big plays. Long as you win third down, you win the turnover battle, you’re going to win football games.”

Though it comes with an interim tag, Donte Williams is in his dream job, having been named the head coach of USC after Clay Helton’s firing in Week 2. Williams is a Los Angeles County native and played his high school football at Culver City.