MINNEAPOLIS — The football fluttered into his arms in the fourth quarter against Wisconsin, after ping-ponging off Nate Clifton’s hand and Jacobe Covington’s head, and senior Mason Cobb careened 55 yards into the end zone with his first career pick-six – and a healthy dose of bragging rights.
It was the USC linebacker’s second interception of the season, after a game-ending pick in Week 1 against LSU. And he has let the roster know, as he smiled Wednesday. Particularly, members of the defensive line.
I got two interceptions before you’ve gotten a sack.
“Talking smack like that,” Cobb grinned.
It’s all good-natured, of course. The positive vibrations are rampant around USC’s defense, after a month of defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn and a scheme that’s inspired third-down-stops and smiles and breakouts galore.
But a slight truth, and the one caveat to such a start, lingers beneath Cobb’s ribbing.
Through four games, USC has racked up five sacks, tied for 106th in the nation. Just 1.5 of those have come from the Trojans’ defensive linemen, with linebacker Eric Gentry responsible for two on designed blitzes off the edge. And USC’s 40 quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, rank last of any program in the Big Ten.
“Certainly, continuing to improve in our base four-man rushes – getting home more, hitting the quarterback more, moving him off his spots, getting sacks – is something that we’ve got to continue to improve on,” Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley said on a Zoom with media Thursday. “It’s been a big emphasis point for us.”
It’s an emphasis point, yes. Not a problem, per se. Not yet. Since it punched its Big Ten ticket, USC has largely faced a slew of funhouse-mirror offenses, riding on a carousel of backup quarterbacks. They first shut down Bryson Barnes at quarterback for Utah State, then schemed against the imposing legs and less-imposing right arm of Michigan’s Alex Orji, and then handled Wisconsin’s Braedyn Locke, a backup with a career completion percentage of exactly 50% who completed exactly 50% of his passes against USC.
Generating pressure has mattered much less in 2024 than containing rush-lanes and making open-field tackles. USC has excelled in both, thus far. And Riley and Lynn pointed this past week, when asked about the lack of sack production from USC’s edge rushers, to the defense’s ability to still affect quarterbacks’ rhythm.
But come Saturday in Minneapolis, USC will at last see the return of a fairly normal and balanced offensive attack, with Riley and Lynn heaping praise on Minnesota quarterback Max Brosmer.
“He’s a really good quarterback,” Riley said Thursday of Brosmer, who’s completed 66% of his passes in 2024. “He’s smart, decisive with the football. You can see he’s got a great feel for what they’re doing offensively, and you can tell, like, it really fits him. He just seems very comfortable.”
“I think the obvious thing for us,” Riley continued, “is we’ve got to do things to make him uncomfortable. Which is, given what we’ve seen on tape, not an easy task.”
That starts, firstly, with collapsing the pocket, one of the first games in USC’s season where such a concept becomes truly important. And that’ll largely hinge on the production of the Trojans’ defensive ends and edge rushers, with an opportunity to win some one-on-one matchups against Minnesota right tackle Quinn Carroll, who surrendered seven pressures last week against Michigan.
Junior Anthony Lucas has largely led the way in USC’s pass rush, with a team-leading seven pressures. Sophomore Braylan Shelby, who put on 20 pounds in the offseason, has shown flashes. Senior Jamil Muhammad has been solid against the run, but has been less impactful in attacking quarterbacks after leading USC with 6.5 sacks last year.
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Saturday, against Brosmer and Minnesota’s line, will present an opportunity for all to show USC’s early-season lack of pressures doesn’t need to be a pressure point.
“There’s more than one way to affect the quarterback,” Lynn said Wednesday. “It doesn’t have to be just sacks. It can be taking him off of his spot, compressing the pocket.”
“So it’s something we need to get better at. But I think we’re going in the right direction.”
No. 11 USC at Minnesota
When: 4:30 p.m. PT Saturday
Where: Huntington Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota
TV/radio: Big Ten Network/710 AM