LOS ANGELES — The USC defense went back to basics during the bye week that followed their road loss to Illinois.
“It was good to get a lot of guys reps in different spots and, really, just take it back to day one,” defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn told reporters. “Like, day one install stuff. Basic technique, fundamentals, tackling, getting off blocks, man coverage, leverage, just small things like that.”
The Trojans had their worst defensive performance of the season against the Illini and gave up season-highs in both passing and rushing yards.
The challenges will only continue this weekend when USC (4-1 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) hosts No. 15 Michigan (4-1, 2-0) at the Coliseum. The Wolverines have the 13th-best rushing offense in the nation at 237.8 yards per game and running back Justice Haynes is the No. 4 running back in the country with 654 total yards.
Lynn isn’t looking over the passing offense, either, which is led by freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood and his 200.6 yards per game.
“It reminds you of an NFL team,” Lynn said. “It’s a complete offense. They can beat you in the air, they can beat you with their interior run game. They could beat you on the edge. You kind of have to defend everything, but it starts up front.”
USC has the ability to use different looks up front on defense, varying the number of linebackers and defensive linemen deployed. Versatility could serve the Trojans well, and so will the recent emphasis on fundamentals.
“Striking, handwork, gap integrity,” defensive end Braylan Shelby told reporters. “All the little, smaller details that you can kind of bear weight with as you keep scheming against other teams. Things that you might lose track of. We kind of just brought it back to day one, slowed everything down.”
Shelby leads the team in sacks with 3½ for a loss of 15 yards and has an additional five tackles for loss and two quarterback hurries, but he only recorded two total tackles against Illinois.
Head coach Lincoln Riley told reporters on Tuesday that finding ways to impact opposing running backs and quarterbacks was on the agenda for the bye week, as well.
“There’s a laundry list of things that you lay out for every group when you get to one of these bye weeks,” Riley said. “We want to be able to close that space in the run game. We want to be able to affect the passer, whether that’s sacks or that’s hits or impacting the pocket. And we want to be able to rotate guys and do it consistently.”
In addition to fundamentals and starting fast, the defensive front is falling back on Lynn’s three pillars: Communication, effort and shocking attack.
“Those are the main things,” Shelby said. “It’ll get you through the down, playing good football, and you get a good result after all of those. If everybody’s on the same page, no matter what play we run, we’re gonna eat straight.”
The coaching staff is also keeping the team energized, showing them video clips and choosing a song of the week.
“Music, definitely,” cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson said. “The song of the week right now – I ain’t gonna say what it is – but Coach definitely got us riled up with that, so I’ll say that. Whatever he did, it worked.”
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