Lincoln Riley discusses need for 'elite-level defense' at USC

It doesn’t take much of an analyst to see where things have gone wrong for Lincoln Riley’s USC program in his two years with the Trojans.

Stats don’t tell the whole story, but finishing No. 121 in scoring defense, No. 119 in total defense, No. 119 in rushing defense and No. 103 in passing defense in 2023 sure tells a lot of it.

Riley has talked a lot about the defensive side of the ball since his arrival, but the results have been poor. After cratering to finish the 2022 season, the USC defense got worse in 2023. That led to some tough decisions from Riley in dismissing defensive coordinator Alex Grinch during the season and then good friends Roy Manning and Brian Odom this offseason. All three of those coaches came over with Riley from Oklahoma to USC. It’s also led to more questions this offseason about what Riley and the Trojans plan to do about the defense.

Riley was on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee show on Monday and was asked that question point-black by McAfee.

“Coach, are we fixing the defense or what,” McAfee said. “The only story about your teams are, well on the defensive side though, on the defensive side though, on the defensive side though. Do you think that’s fair that they say that about your teams, and how do we think we go about fixing that?”

Riley gave a smile during the question and didn’t shy away from answering is.

“Yeah, I do think it’s fair,” Riley said. “At the end of the day, the two schools that I’ve been a head coach at, you’re defined by championships. I love coaching at places like that. And the reality is, there’s not going to be much in between when you’re at those schools. Championships are the expectations and you’ve got to play great on all sides, but certainly, you’ve got to play elite-level defense to get it done. We haven’t done that in the first two years here. I don’t hide from that.”

Considering Riley brought back the same defensive staff in 2023 that allowed at least 45 points in three of the final four games of the 2022 season, there were some accusations that offseason of just giving lip-service to playing good defense. It’s tough to make those same claims this offseason after Riley loaded up his coaching staff on that side of the ball.

Defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn came over after a year as the DC at UCLA. Secondary coach Doug Belk is now at USC after serving as the defensive coordinator and associate head coach at Houston. Linebacker coach Matt Entz arrives after five years as the head coach at North Dakota State. And Eric Henderson steps in as the defensive line coach having worked the previous five years as the defensive line coach for the Los Angeles Rams.

Riley continued his response to McAfee, bringing up the new coaching additions.

“But I also don’t hide from the fact that the defensive staff that we just brought in here I think is second to none anywhere,” Riley said. “We started with a bunch of names on the board that we thought were some of the best coaches and best developers in football. And for some of these guys to leave some of the situations that they did to come coach for us here at USC, I think speaks a lot to the trajectory that they see this program on and what it can become. So I think this staff is phenomenal and I can’t wait to get started with this group.”

That new-look defense will get tested out of the gate in 2024 as USC opens its season with a neutral-site game against the LSU Tigers at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The Trojans will also play at both of the national championship game participants — Michigan and Washington — and will host Nebraska, Notre Dame, Penn State and Wisconsin in USC’s first season in the Big Ten.