Lincoln Riley makes definitive statement when asked about LSU's confidence in running the ball

LSU left tackle Will Campbell made headlines last week when he declared that the Tigers are “going to run the ball” this season.

“That’s not something we’re hiding,” he said. “I’m telling everyone right now we’re going to run the ball, so you can make what you want with that.”

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Except, when No. 13 LSU faced No. 23 USC Sunday night in Allegiant Stadium, the Tigers rushed for only 117 yards, averaging 4.5 yards per carry, in a 27-20 loss to the Trojans. LSU had just four runs of 10-plus yards in Las Vegas. One of those went for 15 or more yards, according to Pro Football Focus.

Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley was asked postgame about LSU’s publicized confidence in its ability to run the football coming into the season opener, and about the job his defensive line and linebackers did to neutralize that Tigers rushing attack.

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“We did a good job,” Riley said. “That’s a really good offensive line. I mean, no question. There’s several guys on that O-Line that are going to play ball for a little while. And so they had every right to be confident, but so did we. We just chose not to say it in the media. We were very confident in our ability to do it.”

Riley’s defenses have been a talking point over the years, first at Oklahoma and now at USC. Last year, the Trojans ranked 13th-to-last in the country with 34.4 points per game allowed. They also were 119th in the FBS with 186.46 rushing yards allowed per game. A lot was made of USC’s transition to the Big Ten — more specifically, people questioned if the Trojans could match the physicality of the conference.

USC made a statement Sunday about where it stands in that department, in part thanks to new defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, who piloted a UCLA unit that was second nationally in run defense last year.

“It was a physical battle,” Riley said. “There was a lot of big shots down on that field from both sides. We did a great job, I thought, condensing their run game, squeezing them to where there wasn’t just a bunch of huge, open gaps. They got out a couple times on us, but we made it tough on em.

“I thought we played physical at the point of attack, guys were pretty gap sound. We were able to squeeze down some of those running lanes and make open-field tackles — against a good running team like that, that’s what it’s all about.”

USC missed only eight tackles, per PFF. The Trojans mostly kept plays in front of them. The defensive line impressed, and so did the Trojans linebackers. Eric Gentry, Mason Cobb and Easton Mascarenas-Arnold combined for 20 total tackles. Gentry had two tackles for loss. Cobb had an interception.

Most importantly, USC allowed just 20 points against a top-15 opponent from the SEC and left Vegas with a win in hand.