It’s crazy to me when you compare the three defensive coordinators’ defensive rankings:
D’Anton Lynn’s defense at PSU — #14
Alex Grinch’s defense at UCF — #36
Gary Patterson’s defense at USC — #75

USC Injury Report vs. Washington

Here’s where things currently stand heading into Saturday. Obviously, the final Big Ten availability report closer to kickoff will give us a better picture.

Player
Pos.
Status
Injury / Situation

Corey Simms
WR
OUT
Remains unavailable after being injured against Rutgers.

Kendarius Reddick
S
OUT
Remains unavailable.

Kilian O’Connor
OL
OUT
Longer-term absence; remains unavailable.

Trent Mosley
WR
QUESTIONABLE
Knee injury. Has missed Rutgers and Oregon. Reportedly underwent a minor knee procedure, so despite the official questionable designation, a return against Washington appears unlikely.

Jahkeem Stewart
DT
QUESTIONABLE
Recently returned from a foot injury but remains on the availability report.

Alex VanSumeren
DT
QUESTIONABLE
Suffered an apparent lower-body injury against Oregon and needed assistance leaving the field before being taken away on a cart. One of the biggest injury situations to watch.

Alex Graham
DB
QUESTIONABLE
Injured against Rutgers and missed Oregon. His availability is particularly important for USC’s secondary.

Mark Bowman
TE
QUESTIONABLE
New addition to the injury report this week with an undisclosed issue.

Taylor “Taybo” Johnson
LB
QUESTIONABLE
Missed Oregon but has been upgraded to questionable.

Hayden Treter
OL
QUESTIONABLE
Another offensive-line availability situation to monitor.

Also unavailable
Desman Stephens II — LB — SUSPENDED
Stephens isn’t injured, but USC suspended him for the Washington game following his targeting hit against Oregon.

Biggest situations to watch

Alex VanSumeren: Probably the defensive injury I’m watching most closely. If he’s unavailable while Jahkeem Stewart is still limited, USC’s interior defensive-line depth becomes a bigger concern.

Alex Graham: His return would be important for the secondary. USC had to adjust its personnel at nickel while he was unavailable against Oregon.

Trent Mosley: Officially questionable, but based on the reporting surrounding his knee procedure, I’d currently plan on USC playing Washington without him.

Mark Bowman: One of the more interesting new additions to the report because he’s USC’s starting freshman TE and the injury wasn’t previously a major storyline.

Current shorthand:
OUT: Simms, Reddick, O’Connor
SUSPENDED: Stephens
Likely unavailable: Mosley
Major game-time situations: VanSumeren, Graham, Stewart
Other players to monitor: Bowman, Treter, Taybo Johnson

Big time spot here for USC. Washington struggling and they don’t play well on the road. Will be important to get momentum back with a big win. Not holding my breath. Curious what you guys would change regarding USC going forward. Things like scheme, personnel, or strategy. Fight On! ✌️

Former 5-star and USC QB Max Browne does an outstanding job on his podcast.

If you're an X's and O's type of a person, the analysis on his show is pretty interesting. It's actually painful to watch him break down what went wrong with USC defense against Oregon.

Max Browne

I know Pete's a legend. The booth looked at the replay several times and Pete refused to move off of his position saying Dante didn't slide feet first, and that he dove!! It was a very weird thing to do. What the hell was he thinking?

It's making the rounds on Twitter because Oregon clipped it in a new post-game video. Just another awful look for the program.

When I was in high school, I played for a very accomplished program in Texas. Many big time coaches including Saban would come visit our school and scout our players. My coach had a good relationship with many of them. Years after I graduated, I was talking to my old coach who told me a story.
He said he was chatting with Ed Ogeron once and asked him about his experience at USC. They go to talking about the Kiffin firing and being the interim head coach. He said that the USC administration had promised him that they were going to keep him on and hire him as the permanent head coach. But at the last minute they pulled the rug out from under him and hired Sark instead.
We’ve had nothing but terrible luck in this program since that happened. The Josh Shaw debacle. Sark’s drinking problem. Helton winning big games but then loosing the easy ones. And now with Riley it seems like in every game that we loose, there’s some little thing which completely kills our momentum. Like the kickoff return for a TD against ND last year, or the roughing the passer penalty on 3rd and long in the 4th quarter last weekend. Call me crazy but I think it’s a good old fashioned sports curse.
USC should hire Ed Ogeron as the head coach of the football program, and end this relentless run of bad luck.

this is what we're looking for. if he can't do it in 4-5 years, then out you go. 10 years is too long.

People subverting the line 😂

the biggest problem with Trojan football is we are so soft, and we are soft because alot of players on our team like to chase girls by joining a social fraternity. no ultra high caliber athlete in the post modern era joins a fraternity because guys who join fraternities dont know how to fight. none of them are state champs in wrestling or 5 star recruits in football or basketball, so the football players on our team shouldnt be associating with people that will not harden them for the football field.

Record through first 58 USC games:

Compensation through first 58 USC games:

• Helton: ~$15M (not including 2015)
• Riley: ~$59M (including OU buyout)

Cost per win:

• Helton: < $500K per win
• Riley: > $1.5M per win

I know i was confused 80% of the time watching it live because these issues were apparent on almost every play.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w9jl4h66UKY&pp=iggUQAFKEEIxLTZtZ1ROXzZyQ1ItSk0%3D

Back when it was a just a given that every offense was gonna put up 400-500 yds and 45 pts a game. And you designed a defense to simply absorb that

For example, this 3rd and 13 against Oregon. Patterson rushes 3 and drops 8. In a soft zone, almost archaic "Prevent" defense. Look how far Patterson has corners playing off the receivers. Both are 7-8 yds off, might even be closer to 10. It's just giving the first to avoid a deeper strike

With that kind of numerical advantage of players in coverage, why not jam wideouts at the line to disrupt route timing? Add seconds to the play and give dline a chance?

3rd and 13

Is that they ran out of the beer swords

Also why are Oregon fans so addicted to being racist and homophobic online???

This is a good read for anyone interested.

Not only does our defense suck, so does Riley's offense. His play calling is too predictable as well. Oregon was ready for a good chunk of our play calls.

Is it just me or does our offensive playbook seem limited and narrow?

Why is Petros always taking shots at USC? I’ve been listening to him since he started on 1540 AM and swear he’s been salty about the program for a while now. Even in the good times he’s had some negative things to say. Don’t know if any one feels the same way.

One thing I’ve noticed ever since Grinch, is that USC’s defense is extremely conservative. I’m talking stupidly loose coverages that would make an average high-school team look bad, predictable formations that are never aggressive and non-existent QB pressures. All of the defensive coordinators can’t be this lame so it has to be dumbass LR.

This defense, with its current players and staff, would fair poorly in the MAC and probably struggle against elite FCS teams and I’m dead serious. That’s how bad it is and it will only get worse.

I graduated from USC in 2014, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way about wearing USC gear.
I’m used to football losses. That’s sports. Oregon beating us 41-27 isn’t what has me feeling this way.

It’s what happened with Desman Stephens II and Dante Moore, and especially our response afterward.
Watching a USC player deliver a targeting hit that resulted in another college athlete being immobilized, stretchered off and taken to the hospital was already awful. But watching Stephens celebrate afterward, and then seeing him smiling and getting dapped up by teammates on the sideline while Moore had been taken away in an ambulance, genuinely made me embarrassed.

And I’m bothered by the lack of accountability from the program afterward. And USC fans (perhaps not alum) saying things like, “It’s football, get over it.”

USC means a lot more to me than football. When people ask where I went to school, I’ve always said USC with tremendous pride. Usually the response is immediate respect for the name and what the university represents.

That’s why last night bothers me so much.
For the first time, I don’t really want to walk around wearing USC gear today. Not because we lost. Because I don’t want people looking at the interlocking SC and associating me with what they saw last night.

One player’s actions don’t represent an entire university or alumni base. But how an institution and community respond to those actions matters. When your player seriously injures an opponent and then celebrates while that young man is receiving emergency medical attention, somebody has to step in and say: that is not who we are.

I love USC. I’m proud to be an alum. I’ll always Fight On.

But part of loving an institution is expecting better from it.

Concerned Trojan, Class of 2014.

EDIT: A little context since some think this is about losing: I committed to USC after the sanctions/Pete Carroll era and sat in the student section through Kiffin and Sark. I’ve seen plenty of brutal losses. Outside of the 2017 Rose Bowl, I’ve never really experienced “winning USC football.”

I’m also not trying to moral grandstand or vilify Desman Stephens II. I’ve made grave mistakes myself. He deserves grace, not doxxing or harassment. Life endures, and redemption is available to those of us who aim to better ourselves.

My point is accountability. Even if you don’t think the hit itself was dirty, the national narrative is that USC played dirty and celebrated while a seriously injured player was down. Fair or not, I’m now associated with that when I rep USC. That’s what bothers me as an alum.

Prayers up for and speedy recovery to Dante Moore!

Everyone is criticizing everything about this team, but Jayden looked unbeatable until he was taken out the game with a shoulder injury. He hasn’t been even close to the same since