Troublesome USC Offensive Line Demands Urgent Attention And Repair
The perfect season bubble has burst as your USC Trojans were humbled on their trip to South Bend as the Fighting Irish took a 48-20 win, dropping 'SC to a 6-1 record on the year.
While Notre Dame racked up almost 50 points, it was the Trojan offense that lost them the game. On the very first drive, quarterback Caleb Williams overthrew tight end Lake McRee and the game went downhill from there. Two of Notre Dame's scoring drives started in the USC red zone due to interceptions and another score game from a fumble returned for a touchdown.
The offensive line looked suspect and allowed six sacks, although Williams didn't do himself any favors and held onto the ball for too long on several occasions. Justin Dedich, who moved to center after Brett Neilon's departure, has had trouble committing penalties and has frequently snapped the ball too high.
False starts and sacks are drive-killers and, as we saw Saturday, can't happen against ranked opponents. USC head coach Lincoln Riley addressed the offensive line struggles after the game.
"I think the biggest thing that we did was we put ourselves in so many situations where we were backed up in long-yardage situations," Riley said. "It becomes almost like third-and-long ball and they're pinning their ears back. Do we need to protect better? Yes. But there's a lot of things that go into that. The big thing is you can't continually put yourself in just bad situations against a good defense."
(Via USC Athletics)
There will be no shortage of tough defensive lines waiting to have their turn with USC's offensive line. Utah, who the Trojans take on this week, has the fifth-highest sack percentage in college football while Oregon and UCLA rank in the top 25.
No. 18 USC will next take on No. 14 Utah at 5 p.m. PDT on Saturday.
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