With USC football struggling to close out games late in the fourth quarter, defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn offered his thoughts into what his players need to do to close out games, especially after the Trojan defense failed to stop Maryland from driving down the field to score the game-winning touchdown and send the Trojans home with a 29-28 defeat.
“Just need to be more consistent, we need to make big-time plays in big-time moments,” Lynn said after practice on Tuesday. “We’ve done them in games, just not in the moments that we need to. But, that game, there’s two sudden changes where we just have to keep them out of the end zone. We’ve done that plenty of times this year, but when the game’s on the line, we have to be able to get that done.”
While many aspects of Saturday’s game were inconsistent, redshirt senior defensive end Jamil Muhammad talked about what left him most frustrated.
“Just not being able to come out with a win,” Muhammad said. “It was different forces within the game defensively, all sides of the ball where we could obviously finish better, but we could point out where we individually do things better, myself included. So ultimately, it sucks to not come out with a w.”
Redshirt senior safety Bryson Shaw echoed Muhammad’s frustrations, but spoke about what he wants to see himself and his teammates improve on this weekend.
“Bouncing back, that’s all we care about, bouncing back,” Shaw said. “Putting your full 60 [minutes] in, playing loose, hungry and we’re just looking forward to getting back on that field.”
Sophomore defensive end Braylan Shelby was asked about what the defense needs to do better in order to close out tight games and avoid a repeat of the last three losses.
“Just execution, really,” Shelby said. “That’s the name of the game, is execution at the end of the day. And that’s just something that we need to go out there and just get better at and just finish. That’s really just a big thing for us is going out there and making sure we finish out games and really just close them out and get the w at the end of the day.”
As the Trojans have continued to struggle on defense over the past couple of weeks, it is clear that younger players like Shelby will need to step up and answer the call, especially after junior defensive end Anthony Lucas required a season-ending surgery following an injury against Penn State.
Shelby, however, appears ready for the challenge left by Lucas’ void. He also gave the junior a lot of credit for preparing him for a moment like this.
“It’s next man up mentality, but I miss my dawg for sure,” Shelby said. “He teaches us so much, I learned from him a lot. I call him one of my mentors; him and Jamil. I miss him, but he wants me to step up, he wants me to play that role and just be there.”
With injuries continuing to pile up among the Trojans’ defense, it will become ever more critical that the younger players step up in order to stop Rutgers’ senior running back Kyle Monangai. The New Jersey native is currently averaging 5.5 yards per carry and has rushed for 10 touchdowns so far this season. In addition, Monangai has proven himself very capable of breaking tackles, thus allowing him to rack up yards and score touchdowns.
Because of the threat that Monangai poses, Lynn stressed the importance of USC finding a way to bring him down.
“It’s going to be big as far as wrapping up, as far as game tackling, as far as angles and pursuit,” Lynn said. “It’s going to take all 11 guys every single play, ‘cause he’s a tough guy to get down.”
The Trojans will try to play a complete game when Rutgers visits the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Friday at 8 p.m.