The Trojans’ home opener matchup at the Coliseum is just one more sleep away.
The USC football team practiced on Wednesday ahead of its Week 1 matchup against Missouri State, and while the practice wasn’t open to the media, defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn and a select group of defensive players were available to provide some insight into what game prep has looked like as the team gears up for a fight against the Bears.
According to one player, the Bears’ “eye-candy” is what makes them a tricky and misleading team to prepare for.
“They have a lot of eye-candy, a lot of play-action, throwback screens, boundary screens, really good run game and a really timely quarterback who can make a lot of intermediate throws inside the hashes,” NC State transfer safety Bishop Fitzgerald said.
In his two-year career with the Wolfpack, the now-redshirt senior recorded 97 tackles including 7.5 for loss of 10 yards, 16 PBUs, five interceptions, two quarterback hurries and one forced fumble.
Fitzgerald, who is learning an all new scheme under Coach Lynn, told the media that his previous defense was more of a cover three and man-based team compared to the cover four defense he’s been adapting to since arriving in Los Angeles in January.
Lynn told reporters that he’s noticed a switch in the mentality of his squad from the start of fall camp till now, signaling that the Trojans are ready to stop facing their own and instead give their opponents the work.
“They’ve done a lot of good stuff in practice but doing it in practice is one thing, doing it on gameday is completely different,” Lynn said. “Now we’re solely focused on the opponent. Majority of the time we’re talking about the personnel, what concepts we have to defend, what runs we have to defend, less about us and more about them.”
Appropriately given the nickname “The Robot” by Fitzgerald and others on the defense, Lynn is entering his second season as the defensive coordinator for the Trojans. His tenure has been characterized by massive defensive turnarounds, most notably finishing last season No. 21 in the nation and No. 2 in the Big Ten Conference in third-down conversion percentage defense (33.5 percent) compared to 43.6 percent in 2023.
This season, Lynn hopes to build off the momentum and anticipates Saturday will answer one key question: can his defensive front affect Bears’ senior quarterback Jacob Clark by rushing only four players?
He believes the answer is yes, but needs to see it happen in the game.
“Yes we want sacks, but we also want to collapse the pocket,” Lynn said. “We also want good rush lanes, we want to speed up the quarterback’s clock. We want to make him come off a read. There are different ways to affect him, and we want to affect him as much as we can with four if possible.”
To accomplish this, USC’s defense must trust its system and play as a cohesive unit to generate the game-shifting plays that win games.
“Staying disciplined in coverage is going to be a big emphasis for us this weekend,” Fitzgerald said.
The Trojans 2025 transfer class was ranked as one of the lowest in the Big Ten, with On3 ranking them No. 16 out of 18 teams in the conference.
With the addition of two new coaches and a mix of veteran players and young talent, the Trojans look to build on the solid foundation that Coach Lynn has established going into 2025.
“Personally, I’m most looking forward to coming out with a win and having fun with my guys,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s gonna be my first game in the Coliseum and it’s a blessing. We’ve worked so hard this offseason and I just want to show us who we are.”