If you think defense is the big key for USC football in 2024, you’re wrong

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 03: Offensive coordinator Josh Henson talks to his players during the game against the Rice Owls at United Airlines Field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on September 03, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Will the USC defense play a hugely important role in guiding the Trojans to a successful 2024 college football season? Of course it will. Can USC make the College Football Playoff if the defense doesn’t significantly improve from 2023? No way. No chance. Yet, weirdly but genuinely, if there is one position group which ultimately holds the key to the Trojans’ success in 2024, it’s not any position group on defense. It sounds crazy, even unhinged, on many levels … but it’s true. It’s all part of the complicated conversation surrounding USC football with the LSU season opener now one month away on Sept. 1 in Las Vegas.

The biggest key for USC football? It’s not the defense … but that means we have to explain why before revealing the answer below:

DEFENSIVE RATING

When USC had a high-octane offense under Caleb Williams, the defense was horrible. The larger reality of having a Lincoln Riley offense is that the defense doesn’t have to be spectacular, just decent. A top-40-ranked defense should give USC a solid season at the very least, maybe even a great one. The defense does not have to stand on its head.

SECONDARY SHOULD BE FINE

When you realize that a bad coach, Donte Williams, is out, and that a good coach, Doug Belk, is in, the USC secondary should be a lot better this year, just as a natural product of coaching changes. If you hated the USC secondary last year, that unit should already be set on a different and much better course. It will be really hard for the secondary to not make big improvements. It really isn’t that much of a cause for…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/think-defense-big-key-usc-214743119.html

Author : Trojans Wire

Publish date : 2024-08-01 21:47:43

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