LAS VEGAS — The defenses at No. 13 LSU and No. 23 Southern California were so subpar last season that both teams made major changes, including hiring new coordinators.
Their early work seems to have paid off, particularly for USC.
Both defenses bore little resemblance to the units that last season ranked 108th (LSU) and 119th (USC) nationally. Each side gave its respective offense a chance to win on Sunday night before the Trojans finally did by beating the Tigers 27-20 on a Woody Marks touchdown run with 8 seconds left.
USC cut LSU's offensive production roughly in half. The Tigers led the nation with 45.5 points per game last season. Kyren Lacy led LSU with seven catches for 94 yards and a touchdown, but the Trojans took him away in the second half by holding him to two targets – and no receptions.
“From early spring all the way to the last practice of fall camp, we have made huge strides as far as running the defense, learning what we're supposed to do and trusting each other within the defense,” said safety Kamari Ramsey, who led USC with nine tackles. “The communication has gotten a lot better. Obviously, we have to continue to grow.”
Though the Tigers lost, they also can point to reasons for optimism with that side of the ball.
USC, like LSU, was among the nation's scoring machines last season, finishing third with 41.8 points per game.
It was the Tigers' own vaunted offense that coach Brian Kelly said didn't do its part against USC by failing to capitalize on several scoring opportunities. Two of LSU's trips to the red zone ended in a field goal and a turnover on downs.
“We went up and down the field, but if you don't score points when you're down inside the red zone like we did not do tonight, you're going to lose a one-possession game like we did tonight,” Kelly said. “We put way too much pressure on our defense to be something that they're not ready to be. They battled, but we have warts and they're not going away overnight. They got better, but our offense needed to be better because we needed to score in those situations.”
LSU hired Blake Baker in January, luring him from Missouri with a three-year contract that pays $2.5 million annually. Baker replaced Matt House, who was part of a defensive house cleaning by Kelly, who also fired three other assistants.
It was a homecoming of sorts for Baker, who served as LSU's linebackers coach in 2021.
USC coach Lincoln Riley didn't even wait until the offseason to begin making major changes. He fired defensive coordinator Alex Grinch with two games left and later handed the reins to D'Anton Lynn, bringing him over from cross-town rival UCLA.
So far, so good for the new man in charge.
“You can bring in really good coaches, which we did," Riley said. "You can run whatever scheme you want to run. But at the end of the day, these (players) have got to trust and believe in it. We've brought in some outstanding players like Kamari that have helped us grab hold of this defense early on, and we've got a lot of guys in the locker room before that are incredibly hungry to go play USC defense.
“There's a vibe and a confidence about that group right now, and we're just going to get better.”