During last week’s bye, USC head coach Lincoln Riley said that his football team needed to have “a really good bye week in the secondary” following the Trojans’ 34-32 loss to No. 17 Illinois on Sept. 27.
When he met with the media on Tuesday, Riley appeared confident in the strides his defensive backs have taken in the past week.
“We attacked everything head-on, things that we had to improve at: leveraging the ball on the perimeter, being aggressive in coverage… making sure we’re doing a really good job with our communication,” Riley said. “We worked hard on it. The guys have improved. They’ve been very intentional about their work.”
Those improvements will be crucial for a defense that has allowed more than 300 passing yards twice already this season — in a 33-17 win at Purdue and the Trojans’ sole loss in Champaign. Moving forward, the secondary should be bolstered by the return of redshirt junior safety Kamari Ramsey, who missed the Illinois matchup due to illness.
Despite their high-powered Big Ten-leading offense, the Trojans could use some fine-tuning on that side of the ball as well. Junior running back Waymond Jordan recorded a fumble in both the loss to Illinois and USC’s win over Georgia Southern earlier this season. He was vocal about making adjustments after practice Tuesday.
“Both of those fumbles came off of me just [being] lackadaisical, like not finishing at the cross before contact,” Jordan said. “That was just all on me.”
Jordan seemed particularly excited to get back to the gridiron, noting that “watching everybody else play… you get real jittery over the bye week.”
The jitters didn’t show too much for the Trojans, who appeared generally level-headed facing Saturday’s showdown against No. 15 Michigan at home. Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Justin Tauanuu noted that “the confidence is pretty high right now,” but he also underscored the team’s emphasis on fundamentals. For Tauanuu and the offensive line, the focus has been on small (but crucial) details like winning the play on the first two steps.
For Riley, it’s all about eliminating outside noise and focusing on getting the job done.
“We don’t buy into much of the pressure stuff,” he said. “It’s understanding an opportunity like a game like this provides, where you’re two of the more iconic brands in college football history to get a chance to do battle. You get a chance to do it here in the Coliseum… These are special games. These are games that you remember.”
Redshirt junior quarterback Jayden Maiava is certainly buying in on Riley’s low stress mentality. Though he leads the Big Ten in passing yards and is ranked as the top quarterback among Power Four teams, Maiava often rejects the praise, preferring to highlight the contributions of his team and support system.
“We’ve got the guys to do whatever we want to do out there,” he said. “And we’ve got the best coach in the country to do it.”
The Trojans have a few more days to prepare for their matchup against the Wolverines, as both 4-1 squads set to face off Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at the Coliseum.