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USC football fans may be losing patience with Gary Patterson and a defense that has been abysmal in recent weeks.
Patterson’s boss? Not so much.
Coach Lincoln Riley gave his veteran defensive coordinator what amounted to a vote of confidence Thursday when asked about his team’s continued struggles on that side of the ball.
“Trust me, nobody takes it more personal than him or takes more responsibility than he does,” Riley said of Patterson, the former longtime TCU coach who will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame later this year.
“I mean, he’s done this for a long time. He’s done it at a high level, and there’s nobody more committed to getting it fixed, and I would also say my confidence level in us being able to elevate and play defensively comes from our players, and it comes from the fact that we have a Hall of Fame coach, and you don’t get to the Hall of Fame without dealing with some adversity in your career – like, that don’t happen.
“So there’s very few that have been through as much as he has, and we’re gonna lean on that, lean on our players, our staff, and count on everybody to be better.”
Defense has been the one issue that won’t go away under Riley. After pivoting from defensive coordinator Alex Grinch to D’Anton Lynn and seeing some improvement before Lynn left for Penn State, the defense has regressed in its first season under Patterson.
The Trojans have given up an average of 35.7 points over their last three games – and that was against Louisiana, Rutgers and Oregon. Their pass rush isn’t generating sacks, linebacker Desman Stephens II just got suspended for an ugly celebration of a big hit and the secondary struggles in coverage.
What does Patterson have to say about all this? It’s hard to know given that he has not been made available to speak with reporters since before the season.
Riley said he understood why Patterson would come under scrutiny given the expectations versus the results.
“You know, listen, that’s the nature of what we do,” said Riley, who is also feeling heat for not having reached the College Football Playoff since his arrival at USC before the 2022 season. “I mean, you know, head coaches, coordinators, quarterbacks – I mean, that’s the first thing that people are gonna point to, and I understand that, that’s part of it.”
So what’s been the big problem? According to Riley, it’s been a lot of little things that have added up.
“It’s not like, well, this one position group’s been terrible or this one player hasn’t been good enough, and that’s just killed us,” Riley said. “We’ve had some breakdowns at all levels where really, we don’t necessarily need any level of defense to make this massive jump. Like, we just need each level to play a little bit better, and each level to play a little bit better together.
“Like, you know, your coverage gets better, you know, the more you hit the quarterback, you know? Your pass rush gets better when your coverage is better. When you do capitalize and get stops, you can’t have back-breaking penalties that give them a fresh set of downs. Like, those are the things that we have to do better at all levels.”
Riley was alluding to the roughing-the-passer penalty on defensive tackle Jide Abasiri, which the coach described as one the referees “missed” earlier in the week.
But the Trojans have no one but themselves to blame for most of their problems.
They have not consistently pressured quarterbacks, logging only two sacks over the last three games – none against Oregon. While safety Prophet Brown made what might have been a game-saving 99-yard interception return for a touchdown against Rutgers, he and fellow safety Christian Pierce were part of a group that was routinely beaten by the Ducks.
“We think we’ve got to play a little bit more in sync in the secondary,” Riley said, “and certainly some of that communication falls upon those guys, and we’ve just got a high standard because they’re both really good players.”
When it comes to the defensive coordinator, evidence is mounting that the Trojans might be in for more disappointment. Patterson has a little more than half a season to change that verdict.
