USC's Win Against Cal Comes With a Disappointing Finish on Defense

For the second week in a row, USC was able to recover an onside kick and convert one first down to finish off a game that should have been put away in the third quarter. USC walked away with a 41-35 win over Cal. But the Trojans entered the fourth quarter Saturday night against the California Golden Bears with a commanding 34-14 lead. But Cal scored 21 points in the fourth quarter, the most any opponent has scored in any quarter against USC this season, to give themselves a shot at an onside kick recovery and a potential comeback win in regulation.

The inability of USC’s defense to finish off a game is officially a trend. Three weeks ago, Utah scored five touchdowns on its final six possessions to turn a 14-point USC lead into a one-point Utah victory. Last week, Arizona scored touchdowns on three of its final four drives. And on Saturday night, Cal found the endzone on four of its final five possessions.

“Really disappointing,” USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said of the way the defense closed the game. “It’s a 60-minute game. That’s not new, right? We sign up for that when we decide to coach. We talk about it. It’s one thing to talk about it. You’ve got to go do it. You get excited in the third quarter because you’re happy. And then all of a sudden you’re fighting for your life at the tail end of the game. And so obviously we haven’t gotten that message across.”

Cal generated 469 yards of offense and quarterback Jack Plummer threw for 406 yards and three touchdowns. It’s the first time this season he’s thrown for more than 280 yards in a game. Only Arizona has allowed more total yards to Cal this season.

USC did win the game. And the Trojans’ locker room reflected that. Head coach Lincoln Riley said after the game that no matter how they come–whether it’s here in Year 1 or in a season following a National Championship–they’re going to celebrate all wins. The Trojans are 8-1 this season, following a 4-8 record in 2021. It wasn’t lost on Riley that this win came against Cal, the same program USC played the week he was hired as head coach last year.

“A lot’s changed since then,” Riley said of the 11 months since USC’s 24-14 loss to Cal in Berkeley.

“The first thing we’re going to do is we’re going to appreciate winning,” Riley said. “Winning’s hard. For us–our program, our players–finding ways to do that is still paramount. So I’m extremely proud of the win. Had to finish it in a way that we didn’t want. But that’s just part of it.”

Defense Has to Contribute More

Grinch said the defense isn’t pulling its weight right now, and it needs to have a much bigger role in USC’s wins. He also said that trying to fix these issues after a win is a lot different than after a loss.

“We can be both,” Grinch said. “We can be excited by a win and pissed off how we played, we can do both. And we’re going to be.”

USC went to a few backups during the game. Cornerback Jacobe Covington replaced Ceyair Wright for a long stretch. And Latrell McCutchin got significant time at nickel in relief of Jaylin Smith. The Trojans’ defensive front regularly rotated as usual.

Grinch said they don’t have the ability to make changes like that at every position, but they won’t hesitate to make changes at spots they feel warrant that.

“We’re looking for guys who are going to take the field and take ownership in their role and compete,” Grinch said, “We’re trying to find playmakers out there. Guys that are going to win when they’re not always the unblocked guy…Guy’s going to strain to go punch the ball out. We talk about takeaways. We’re not getting enough of them. And then same thing with guys in coverages. Are you going to commit to your craft, commit to technique? Or are you just hoping that they throw incompletions? From a competitive standpoint, we’re going to try to drive that as best we can.”

A Rough Three-Game Stretch

Since doing a very good job against Washington State, including a second-half shutout, things have spiraled out of control for this USC defense.

Last season, USC set school records for defensive futility. Included in that 2021 season was a three-game run when USC allowed 128 points and 1,501 total yards to Arizona, UCLA and BYU. This three-game stretch against Utah, Arizona and Cal is right there. The Trojans allowed 115 points and 1,574 yards in those three games. And 74 of those points have come in the second halves of those games.

Looking for Playmakers

The USC defense did author a few key plays tonight. Calen Bullock pulled down an acrobatic interception on a deep ball over the middle. Tuli Tuipulotu recorded two sacks. And the Trojans shut down a short fourth-down attempt. It was just enough on Saturday night. But it’s not difficult to glance ahead on the calendar a few weeks and see that it won’t be down the road.

Grinch brought all of his post-game points back to coaching, putting the onus on the USC coaches to find the right players and make the right calls. But there was a sprinkling of responsibility on the players as well.

“Whether it’s zone or man, we’ve got to make sure when the ball’s in the air, the options can’t be they make a play or they make a play,” Grinch said. “There’s got to be some semblance of playmaking going on on the defensive side of the ball. When we do, we have success. It’s not going to happen if our only hope is that it’s an errant throw or something like that.

Grinch said they’ll need to “search high and low” to figure out the right combination of calls and coverages to find more success on that side of the ball.

“That’s coaching,” Grinch said. “We obviously have to do a better job. We’ve done a good job in the second half in the past. We didn’t even come close tonight.”