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USC Trojans' defense still a work in progress

Alex Grinch said after the ASU game that there was either great pressure or no pressure on the quarterback

Five games into the 2022 season, USC's defense is still finding its footing.

After allowing Arizona State to score on its first three drives of the game, the Trojans looked like a completely different defense in the second half, forcing two straight punts and then recovering a fumble coming out of halftime.

Here's a closer look at how Alex Grinch's unit performed against the Sun Devils, with analysis and a grade for each of USC's defensive position groups:

Secondary: B

Overall, the Trojans’ pass defense was decent, allowing 243 yards on 23 of 32 attempts. The biggest lapse came on Arizona State’s first drive, when running back Xazavian Valladay got past linebacker Shane Lee on a wheel route for a 29-yard touchdown. A back is going to beat a linebacker in the open field almost every time.

However, the root of the mishap was a miscommunication in coverage between cornerback Ceyair Wright and safety Max Williams on the left side of the field. Wright went inside with the wideout running a post and Williams came down to pick up the tight end, leaving the top of the field wide open.

“I was disappointed in our zone tonight, you know we’ve talked about tips and stuff like that. We’re not talking about it tonight because we didn’t get ‘em,” Grinch said.

That touchdown was a breakdown in coverage, but USC also did not create opportunities for turnovers the way it has throughout the season, though there was one drive in the second half in which the Trojans certainly should have pulled in an interception.

USC came down with just one interception Saturday, courtesy of Calen Bullock to close out the fourth quarter, bringing the team’s takeaway average down to *only* three per game.

The secondary did a nice job of tackling, however, and Bullock and Mekhi Blackmon were notably around the ball all night as usual. Blackmon had an impressive pass breakup on third-and-long to force a three-and-out from the Sun Devils in the third quarter. Jaylin Smith played a fine game as well, recording three solo tackles in his limited role.

Highly touted freshman Domani Jackson saw some more of the field as well, mostly as a nickel. He played okay, but should have had one of those missed interceptions. The young defensive back has room for improvement, but he should develop into a strong piece for the Trojans in time. It just might not be this year that Jackson is playing in high-leverage situations.

Linebacker: B

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This position group was a lot of Eric Gentry and Shane Lee on Saturday, largely due to a high number of 4-2-5 looks in Grinch’s system.

Gentry had a slow start and didn’t look super comfortable in the first half facing off against his old team, which he admitted in the postgame press conference. However, he picked it back up after the break and looked like his usual self, making some big time plays to shut down multiple Arizona State drives.

Outside of getting burned on that one wheel route, Lee had an average performance. It was maybe a quieter night for him, but he did record five total tackles and half a sack.

Ralen Goforth also had half a sack to wrap up a second half Arizona State drive. Goforth played hard and physical as always, although he didn’t stuff the stat sheet in this one.

No linebacker made more than six tackles (Gentry), and the front seven as a whole did struggle to stop the run in the first half.

D-line: C+

Grinch said after the game that there was either great pressure or no pressure on the quarterback. Also a part of the problem for the line was that when there was pressure, Arizona State quarterback Emory Jones was often able to slip away and minimize losses or even convert first downs.

The line really struggled to contain Jones for much of the game, but they were able to get their hands on him a bit more in the second half, sacking him five times.

Tuli Tuipulotu played well, as usual, and had one sack. Tyrone Taleni had one and a half sacks from the interior, and Solomon Tuliaupupu also had one of his own, which was encouraging to see from him.

Overall, the pass rush was okay, but the weaknesses were more prevalent in the run game. That’s pretty much been the story all year, and it’s going to have to improve with the tough games on USC’s upcoming schedule.