D’Anton Lynn walked along the perimeter of Allegiant Stadium hours before his anticipated USC debut, headphones on, shutting out the noise around him for one lap around the sideline, then another … then another. In a loud stadium, on a crowded sideline, Lynn walked as if totally alone, talking to no one, entranced in a silent, steely focus.
The Trojans’ new defensive coordinator had certainly earned a few moments of calm before the chaos of a new college football season, his most critical yet as a coach. He’d carried on the past nine months amid constant noise and persistent questions about how quickly he’d turn around a dismal USC defense after doing the same in a single year at UCLA. All throughout, he’d kept an even keel, making no promises other than to assure his team would come prepared Sunday.
“He’s actually a lot more relaxed [of a coach],” safety Akili Arnold said. “Because he knows we’re going to play good ball. He trusts in us.”
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That quiet confidence was felt throughout Sunday’s 27-20 season-opening win over LSU as USC’s defense delivered in its coordinator’s debut, clamping down against the run and making key stops at critical times, two things the Trojans rarely managed under his predecessor, Alex Grinch.
It wasn’t always perfect. The secondary still allowed 304 yards through the air. But the difference on USC’s defense was still staggering.
“This new defensive identity is way different than in previous years,” defensive end Braylan Shelby said. “We hold ourselves accountable. We hold ourselves to a standard.”
Nowhere was that new standard more clear Sunday than at the line of scrimmage. Few fronts in college football were worse last year at stopping the run. Opposing offenses bowled over the Trojans weekly, piling up an average of 186 yards per game on the ground.
So when Lynn took over, there was understandably no bigger question mark on the Trojans’ roster than the defensive front, which seemed even thinner on difference makers and depth than the group that ranked 119th in the nation in rush defense.
It certainly didn’t look that way Sunday. USC held LSU to just 117 yards on the ground, most of which came on four carries. The other 22 LSU runs amounted to just 46 yards — basically two yards per carry — as USC’s front was able to force the Tigers’ trio of backs into tight gaps with very little room to run. And that was with Bear Alexander, USC’s all-Pac-12 defensive tackle, playing only a part-time role (28 snaps) at defensive tackle.
“That just shows you how dominant our D-line is,” linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold said. “They’re a force to be reckoned with.”
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The scheme also seemed to bring out the best in some players who’d fallen short of expectations in seasons past. Defensive end Anthony Lucas, who had disappointed amid high praise as a sophomore last season, looked dominant at the point of attack, forcing his way into the backfield on numerous occasions. Linebacker Eric Gentry, whose unusual skill set confounded the last defensive staff, was a force in the middle for this one, tallying seven tackles in just 29 snaps.
“I know [LSU is] looking out there like, ‘Damn, they got a 6-foot-6 linebacker,’” Mascarenas-Arnold said of Gentry. “Like, I know he’s a threat. I know he’s going to have an amazing season. This is just not even close to what he’s capable of.”
For LSU, Sunday marked one of its worst rushing performances of the past year. That it came after left tackle Will Campbell confidently stated LSU’s intentions to run the ball in a “fistfight” with the Trojans’ defense only made vindication all the sweeter for USC.
Whether Campbell’s comments were intended as a jab, the Trojans took them personally enough to make a point of it.
“They had every right to be confident, but so did we,” coach Lincoln Riley said. “We just chose not to say it in the media.”
The story wrote itself for USC on Sunday night. It started as soon as the first drive, when LSU spent more than half the first quarter driving the field, only for Lynn to call a critical blitz on fourth down, inside the three-yard line, that forced LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier to throw it away. And it continued into the third quarter, as USC responded to an LSU touchdown drive with two straight defensive stands.
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The second came courtesy of Gentry, who blew up an LSU run on third and one, midway through the fourth. Soon after that, USC seized control back from LSU as quarterback Miller Moss led a three-play touchdown drive to reclaim the lead.
Lynn’s defense had one last stand in it. Even after a 41-yard pass play led LSU into the red zone, the Trojans stood tall with three straight stops, forcing a field goal.
It was all the help USC needed from its defense to silence LSU. But none had spoken louder in Sunday’s season-opening win than Lynn, whose defense had made a blaring statement to the college football world.
“I mean, shoot, I don’t even think it was just, statistically, that we won,” Mascarenas-Arnold said. “I think it was the way that we responded to the entire game.
“We believed in each other today, and it showed a lot about who we are.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.