The last legacy of the first lincoln riley team at USC was set up. It can be said unequivocally what Trojans were and were not. Riley lived up to his offensive reputation and delivered the best offense in the nation with a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback in Caleb Williams, a reliable running game and a good offensive line powered by the All-Americans. Brett Neilon and Andrew Vorhees.
Defensively? Oh.
We don’t need to question the Trojans’ last cataclysmic two-game playoff streak or rehash the grisly details of what added to the USA’s No. 111 defense based on points allowed per drive. The equation is incredibly simple. USC enters the offseason with a national championship offense and an insurmountable defense nationwide.
Trojan fans know Riley has no chance of winning the No. 12 national title unless he fixes that defense. So let’s talk about building a national championship defense and how far USC is from the best in the business. We’ll compare the two depths Georgia announced for Monday’s national championship with USC’s Cotton Bowl.
Let’s start with the ingredients. We looked at how Georgia’s defensive line recruiting compares to USC signers in 2023 and it’s just as relevant when evaluating current teams.