USC Trojans Football: Senior Defender Talks Struggles To Contain Utes
After another loss at the hands of the Utah Utes, the USC Trojans are looking for answers. Their defense struggled once again, and it has been in a downtrend for weeks.
Utah quarterback Bryson Burnes looked great all night against the Trojans defense, and he made them pay when the game mattered most. He exposed a key weakness in the USC scheme, which has been defending mobile quarterbacks.
Burnes rushed for 57 yards on the night, but none bigger than his final one that sunk the Trojans. USC had no answer for the Utah offense, and it cost them.
Senior defensive lineman Solomon Byrd gave some thoughts into what happened against the Utes, and why the defense has struggled this season.
"If one guy is not in his gap then another guy that is in his gap has to make that play, if that makes sense, or it leaks to the backside. So, it's just a group of guys trusting it every single play. I think the other day, we played like 70-something plays, so is everybody going to do their job 70-something times? Well, that'll be a perfect game. It wasn't perfect. It'll never be perfect. Not to say that we're going to have big runs on us every game – I'm not saying that – but that's just kind of the nature of the beast.”
The Trojans have struggled to contain pretty much any offense over the last few weeks, as the struggles on the defensive side of the ball have returned. It plagued them all of last year, and it is rearing its ugly head once again.
"How much can you make up for it with your effort? How much can you make up for it with blocking structure? How much can you make up for it with somebody flying around on the backside? You might get 50 plays with everybody doing their job correctly, but what about those other 20?"
They did all they could against Utah, but it wasn’t enough. Their inability to make the big defensive stop when it mattered the most cost them a chance to keep their dreams of winning a title alive.
Now all the Trojans can do is try to salvage their season. While a championship is out of the question, they can still win the Pac-12 if they are able to win out.
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