Is USC Back? Trojans dazzle at Explosion Day opening over Rice - NBC Los Angeles

Maybe it was the scorching heat, or Labor Day weekend, or maybe it was the opponent, but no matter what, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was half empty from the team’s opener on Saturday.

The game heralded the dawn of a new era of American football.

Gone are the days of the Trojans dominating the sidelines. Now leading one of the most decorated programs in college football is Lincoln Riley, an outsider who has nothing to do with the school or its former coaches.

When Riley was announced as the new coach of the Trojans program in November, many of the program’s participants were shocked. Riley was successful as the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners and most assumed the Texan would never leave the South.

But Riley was intrigued by the opportunity to return the Trojans to glory, and admitted he was looking for a fresh start for himself and his family.

Riley works right away. He brought in over twenty players from the transfer portal, and over 40 new players in total. According to a few players left from the Clay Helton era before him, Riley completely changed the show’s culture in just a few months.

“I feel the biggest difference is the coach,” said Andrew Voorhees, a senior offensive officer. ESPN before the opening match. “The paradigm shift he brought into our culture in our show really stood out to me.”

Riley himself spends most of his time attacking. He has notably brought his starting team Caleb Williams, receiver Mario Williams, and cornerback Latrell McCutchen from Oklahoma to Los Angeles.

Then he brought in 2021 Fred Pletnikov award-winning Jordan Addison from Pete to complete the Trojans crime revamp. It didn’t take long for this offense to show what it could do on a Saturday.

The Trojans won the opening coin throw, and unlike the old USC teams that would have put off, this team defied conventional wisdom and was elected to receive it. In other words, “We want the ball now and we’ll score.”

It only took a few minutes for Williams and Addison to do this. The Trojans walked 75 yards down the field in just seven plays in their opening run and scored their first touchdown of the Riley era when Williams found Addison in the end zone with a five-yard score.

The USC offense was expected to provide plenty of fireworks, especially against an inferior opponent at Rice. Most of the experts’ questions came about the defensive side of the ball.

Last season, the Trojans’ defense yielded 37 points per game. Defense and strife were the two biggest reasons for this, with the team scoring 1-7 in the last eight games of the season.

Riley brought his defensive coordinator from Oklahoma, Alex Grinch, with him from Norman. The Grinch knows he has a lot of work to do and that the margin of error in defense is thin.

This was indicative of Rice’s ensuing campaign after the University of Southern California inaugural result.

The opposing teams know the way to stop a high octane attack is to take them off the field. This means sticking with long, slow motions, scoring and controlling possession time.

The Owls did so on the spot when they matched the Trojans, and walked the field for their own 75 yards, but they did so in more than twice the amount of time (8:09) and in more than twice the amount of play with the sixteenth.

After that, all were Trojans. Entering the USC game was favored by 33.5 points, so that would have likely been inevitable, but an early injury to quarterback Rice Wiley Greene played a role, as did passes and escapes from Owls receivers leading to three games by the Trojans’ defense, A school hook and a 12-scoring buck.

The onslaught sparked off Rice, connecting on roads of all kinds, and running the ball well with their backs and Williams’ double-threat potential in full width. But what stood out more than anything else in the attack was the discipline, focus and fun that the new-looking Trojans saw.

USC players only made three penalties before backups went into the game in a blast and only made three more penalties. The team had no turnover. Players were smiling and interacting with the students in the stands, and the Trojans’ 66 points total was the largest since Pete Carroll was head coach in 2008.

“We have a lot of confidence,” said Williams after the win, who now has the third-best odds of winning the Heisman Cup after the first week. Maximum effort, second effort, to make it look like this.”

It’s too early to announce the return of the USC Football team. Especially when compared to the golden age of Carol, Matt Lennart, Reggie Busch, and others; An era that ended with multiple NCAA titles and appearances in championship matches.

Questions about defense will continue to be questioned as the season continues and injuries pile up. What will happen when Trojans are really tested by an equal or better team? How will they respond when their backs are against the wall, or they are trailing by a score late in the last quarter with less than two minutes remaining and need a game-winning drive to secure a win?

Answers to those questions will surely come, but one thing is for sure: On a scorching Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles, USC took the first step on that journey to fame. Lynn Kevin, Steve Sarkissian, and Clay Hilton’s dark days are now in rear view, and Riley’s new comeback is here.

Fans may not have filled the stadium for the first game, but Riley believes that if all goes as planned, the Colosseum will be sold out and rocked on Saturday nights again.

“We understand in this city, we have to prove who we are as a team,” said Riley, smiling after the win. “We will do everything we can as a team to keep working so people can’t stand the idea of ​​not coming to a USC football game.”