Gary Patterson’s intensity seldom fluctuates. Players have said that USC’s latest defensive coordinator is the same person seven days a week, no matter the circumstances.
Read more Rams cut down to their 53-man roster, include standout undrafted rookie
Except, maybe, after Saturday’s 42-26 win over San Jose State.
“I know he’s pissed right now about the fourth quarter,” head coach Lincoln Riley said.
The Trojans gave up 23 points in the fourth quarter after allowing just a field goal in the first three frames. A fearless Spartans offense put up 232 yards of offense in the second half compared to USC’s 193.
This freshman class was the top-ranked recruiting class of the 2026 cycle and most of that class has been on campus since spring. But Saturday afternoon proved that there is no replacement for game experience when it comes to building depth.
“We’ll have to turn this over quick,” Riley said. “Typically that first and second game is when you make a lot of improvements. You get that first chance to go play against someone. And it reveals a lot.”
Playing in a Week 0 game with 94-degree weather at kickoff against a Mountain West team exposed the Trojans’ biggest current flaw: a shallow defense.
The defensive starters lived up to Patterson’s high standard in the first half, making key stops in the red zone and limiting San José State to 102 yards of total offense and just 39 rushing yards.
Junior defensive tackle Jide Abasiri bolted across the field to finish the game with a team-high four tackles and two tackles for a loss. He made a critical stop on a fourth-and-1 to force a turnover on downs early in the second quarter, and Pro Football Focus gave him an 84.2 grade for his run defense.
A drop-off in execution was evident when starters like Abasiri left the field.
“When guys play the way they did for three quarters,” Riley said, “you want to hand it off to the next group and then go finish the deal, because the way our starters played — that deserved to be a single-digit score game.”
Fifteen freshmen played in the game, according to USC’s postgame participation chart, and seven of them were defensive players.
Read more Aaron Donald comes out of retirement, joins Rams for 2026 season
The Spartan receivers’ ability to win one-on-one battles against the Trojans’ secondary for catches made the closing quarter of the game feel like a freshmen-versus-varsity matchup.
USC’s veterans made their message clear in the locker room afterward.
“Always finishing, always staying strong,” junior linebacker Desman Stephens said. “It doesn’t matter who’s in the game — we all Trojans. We all have the same standard of defense, and that’s zero. We all D-1 athletes (going against) other D-1 athletes, but the goal is always zero for the defensive side of the ball.”
Lackluster performances on defense held USC back last season and conversations about the Trojans and their chances of making the College Football Playoff are already happening, even though the season is still young.
Patterson was brought in as a solution — as someone who could reform the defense with the knowledge gained through 21 years of head coaching experience.
He and his players need to act quickly if they want to build up the depth that USC will need to dominate its remaining nonconference games and survive a difficult Big Ten schedule that includes Oregon, Ohio State and Indiana.
Riley’s faith in Patterson to do so remains strong, even as the two continue to mesh as coaches.
“There’s been times that he does things or how he handles a player or staff or a practice or a call, and sometimes … it doesn’t make sense to me,” Riley said.
“And I’ll just go ask him, why are you doing that? Or what’s your thought process? Then he explains it to me. I’m, like, oh, OK … you’re kind of thinking down the line. That’s where his experience pays off. And there’s just a burning desire to be great.”
Read more Angels place George Klassen on IL with back issue, return to five-man rotation