LOS ANGELES — There would be no fuel added to the fire here. No potshots taken from the cheap seats at a media podium. No war of thinly veiled sound bites that could give the most visible coach in college football a spur to a hungry Colorado program.
On Monday, before one of the most highly-anticipated games of the early college football season between USC (4-0 overall, 2-0 Pac-12) and Colorado (3-1, 0-1), Deion Sanders settled into his pregame press conference in his customary white hat and dark shades and waxed poetic about Lincoln Riley. Unprompted. First and foremost, Sanders gushed in an opening statement after a few verbal bullet points: he had the “utmost respect and love, and appreciation, for (USC’s) head coach.”
The kingmaker spoke firmly, emphasizing every few words as if to drive his message home, speaking of watching Riley’s coaching climb from Texas Tech to USC.
“He is one of the upper-tier coaches,” Sanders said Monday. “And I admire him tremendously.”
When asked Tuesday, Riley said he hadn’t seen the comments. He was holed up, in preparation for the game, but when USC’s coach was asked about Sanders, there was no hint of Oregon’s Dan Lanning’s “fighting for clicks,” or Colorado State’s Jay Norvell saying “when I talk to grown-ups I take my hat and glasses off” that so spurred Sanders and Colorado – nothing but courtesy in return.
And, in the process, it sent a clear, underlying message: there was no time for pointing fingers at Colorado’s unprecedented transfer portal-driven overhaul. No media shenanigans ahead of eighth-ranked USC’s first true test of the year.
“There’s a lot more similarities in the transformation here and what Coach has done at Colorado than there’s not – I see right where he’s coming from,” Riley said Tuesday, referring to USC’s own transfer portal improvements.
“He seems to be very genuine in his approach,” Riley continued, on Sanders. “Listen, everybody is different, everybody has got different personalities … regardless of what your characteristics are of your personality, if you’re yourself, you can be a great leader.”
And for once, rinse-and-repeat coach-and-player speak of approaching every opponent the same rung true on Tuesday, because these Trojans have a litany of their own pressing issues to sift through before heading to Boulder this weekend.
DEFENSIVE OPPORTUNITY SHRINKING
After Riley said last week that he expected to see all of USC’s five-deep linebacker group against Arizona State, two of them – Raesjon Davis and Shane Lee – didn’t earn a single snap, while the returning Mason Cobb had a tough day with just one tackle in 74 snaps.
Davis, in particular, made a strong impression while Cobb was sidelined, and Riley said Tuesday of Davis that “if he continues to keep the great attitude like he always has, he’s going to play a big part.”
Senior Kyon Barrs, too, seemed like he would be a major part of the defensive line after transferring from Arizona, but has seen his snap count steadily fall through USC’s first four games.
“Probably more of a credit to some of the other guys, as opposed to a scarlet letter against him,” defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said Tuesday.
TACKLING PROBLEMS PERSIST
USC missed 146 tackles in 2022, according to Pro Football Focus, and the Trojans have racked up 42 through four weeks this season. None, perhaps, have been more glaring than ASU running back Cam Skattebo’s fourth-quarter touchdown Saturday night, where Eric Gentry and Max Williams had prime one-on-one shots at him and just … whiffed.
“I mean, it didn’t look like guys were really trying to wrap up and do the technique,” Cobb said generally of USC’s defense in the 42-28 victory over the Sun Devils.
It was all fine, ultimately, to eke out a sloppy win. But against Colorado’s army of playmakers, that same effort won’t fly.
“Gotta practice like you play, and maybe we didn’t practice as hard last week,” Cobb said Tuesday. “But, you know, I’m not gon’ let that happen again.”