LOS ANGELES — Lincoln Riley built his reputation on high-powered, explosive offenses, elite quarterback play and playmakers capable of changing a game in an instant.<\/p>\n
Two weeks into the 2026 season, however, the attention surrounding USC might be shifting to the other side of the ball.<\/p>\n
Gary Patterson\u2019s defense isn\u2019t just complementing Riley\u2019s offense. It might be stealing the show.<\/p>\n
USC\u2019s first-year defensive coordinator showed just how suffocating his defense can be Friday night, leading a dominant defensive effort in the Trojans\u2019 39-0 victory over the Bulldogs in Fresno State’s debut game in the Pac-12 conference at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.<\/p>\n
Patterson, who joined Riley\u2019s staff in January, has brought an aggressive, disciplined identity to a defense that held Fresno State to just 116 total yards, the lowest mark for a USC defense since 2008. Prior to the Fresno State’s final drive, USC surrendered just 56 total yards on 33 plays (1.3 yards per play) and allowed four completions for 38 yards through the air.<\/p>\n
During his 22 seasons in Fort Worth, Patterson had the nation\u2019s top total defense five times and became the winningest coach in TCU history, finishing his tenure with the Horned Frogs with a 181-79 record.<\/p>\n
Now, the 66-year-old has coached the Trojans to one of the team’s finest defensive efforts in school history.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe brings a whole lot of energy to us,\u201d USC safety Kenny Urlacher said. \u201cHe just helps us get better each and every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The performance marked USC\u2019s first shutout in nearly two years and just the second in the past 15 years. The only other shutout during Riley\u2019s tenure came in his second season with the Trojans on Sept. 7, 2024, when USC defeated Utah State 48-0 at the Coliseum.<\/p>\n
Patterson, who is known for his signature \u201c4-2-5\u201d defensive scheme \u2014 a hybrid system built on speed, disguise and discipline \u2014 had Fresno State\u2019s offense out of sync all night. USC recorded five sacks, seven tackles for loss and forced two turnovers. On fourth-and-goal from the USC 8-yard line with less than a minute remaining, Trojans defensive end Jadyn Ramos took down Fresno State quarterback Jayden Mandal for his second sack in as many weeks, putting the finishing touches on the defensive clinic and preserving the shutout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat red zone stop at the end was tremendous,\u201d Riley said. \u201cThat\u2019s something we\u2019ve really been emphasizing heavily.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most impressive feat came from USC\u2019s ability to put four points on the board without the offense touching the football. The Trojans recorded two safeties in Friday\u2019s 39-point victory, something that had not been done in college football since Nov. 9, 2024, when Duke and UNLV each recorded two.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know that for as long as I\u2019ve been a coach if we\u2019ve ever had two\u00a0[safeties]\u00a0in a game,\u201d Riley said. \u201cThat was pretty darn cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Junior safety Kennedy Urlacher, the son of NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher, played a major role in helping USC limit Fresno State to .<\/p>\n
Urlacher finished the game with two sacks, a forced fumble and a safety, the latter coming when he slammed Mandal out the back of the end zone to give USC a 16-0 lead in the second quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a high energy, high effort player,\u201d Riley said. \u201cOnce he turns it loose, you feel his speed and physicality on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Urlacher\u2019s safety was set up by the instant pressure generated up front. Junior defensive tackle Jide Abasiri beat a double-team block up the middle on third-and-23, forcing Mandal to roll out to his right, where Urlacher was waiting to knock the Bulldog quarterback out of bounds for two points.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good to see guys like KU [Kenny Urlacher] make plays,\u201d Abasiri said.<\/p>\n
The defensive showing was especially notable after USC allowed 23 points in the fourth quarter against San Jos\u00e9 State last week. Despite that late-game lapse, the Trojans have been dominant defensively for seven of their first eight quarters this season, allowing just three total points with the starting unit on the field.<\/p>\n
That collective execution has allowed the Trojans to play with the speed and physicality that has defined Patterson\u2019s defenses throughout his sustained career. Through two games \u2014 albeit against inferior, non-conference opponents \u2014 USC has shown the ability to pressure the quarterback, force negative plays and create turnovers while remaining disciplined on the back end.<\/p>\n
Now, the challenge will be sustaining that standard as the Trojans march toward the heart of their schedule. For Abasiri, continuing to harass opposing offenses starts with every player executing his assignment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt ultimately boils down to everyone doing their job,\u201d Abasiri said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES — Lincoln Riley built his reputation on high-powered, explosive offenses, elite quarterback play and playmakers capable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[179465,1815,949,112,114,113,3257,176312,179464,1723,27989,11879,100,3533,13670],"class_list":["post-454333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-alex-graham","tag-college","tag-football","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-fresno-state-bulldogs","tag-jide-abasiri","tag-kenny-urlacher","tag-live-coverage","tag-los-angeles-memorial-coliseum","tag-ncaa-football","tag-news","tag-usc","tag-usc-trojans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}