Consistency and aggressiveness. USC will surely reach their desired destination if they continue to exhibit these two traits, both on the field and off. The Trojans’ offense has been dominant, and they continue to prove that their defense is not far behind. In his Thursday media availability, head coach Lincoln Riley assured reporters that his team leaders have spearheaded this charge heading into their road matchup with Arizona State, and they will continue to step on the gas.
“This is one of those groups that the leaders have got to continue to push,” Riley said. “When we do, they respond. Our guys have seen when they’ve been really aggressive, present and not passive, that our guys have really responded well to the leadership.”
Two important pieces to that leadership are set to return in Tempe. Coach Riley confirmed that senior linebacker Mason Cobb, as well as redshirt senior defensive lineman Tyrone Taleni, are both expected to be available on Saturday. The bye week gave them time to get healthy.
For Cobb’s return specifically, Riley said that the staff is looking to give opportunities at linebacker to multiple guys, to try to establish some continuity.
“Gonna be great to get [Mason] back,” Riley said. “In the meantime, guys like Raesjon [Davis], Eric [Gentry], Tackett [Curtis] and Shane [Lee], all of those guys have taken advantage of time on the practice field and have done some really good things in games. I would imagine we’ll play a few different guys there. I would expect to see some of all of those guys.”
The common theme from Riley was that the bye week helped the team recharge, get healthy, and didn’t come with any repercussions as the team returned to practice after the weekend.
“We didn’t seem to come back on Monday with any kind of bye-week rust or any kind of bye-week hangover. We came back with intent, and we were really sharp. We’ve had three really good days. I think they’re serious about [the game],” Riley said. “They know that for us to be the team we want to be, these road games are important.”
For ASU, it is currently plagued heavily by injuries, especially on the quarterback front. They could be rolling out fourth-string quarterback Jacob Conover, as the top three on its depth chart are all nursing injuries.
The defense trying to stop Conover, as previously mentioned, has grown leaps and bounds since last season. Riley touched on three key contributors.
“[I’ve] been really pleased with Solomon Byrd. He got hurt, missed all of spring. It’s interesting to see where he was gonna be coming back, and he’s been awesome. I think Jamil [Muhammad] has been productive,” Riley said. “We think Anthony [Lucas] had his best game against Stanford, did some really really good things. You can tell that Anthony is still young, but he’s making fast progress.”
With the developments on the defensive side, the sky is the limit for this Trojan team. With those expectations, there also needs to be an intensity that is brought about each and every week, no matter the opponent.
“I don’t want any preconceived notions about this week,” Riley said. “When you’re at a place like USC, you can watch how people play on film, and a lot of the times you go and play them and it’s a totally different deal.”