USCs crummy defense looks painfully familiar against Rutgers

PISCATAWAY, NJ — For months now, the narrative around USC’s defense was that things were different, that Gary Patterson still possessed the schematic sorcery needed to complete the missing piece and get the Trojans to the College Football Playoff.Unfortunately for their fans, what Patterson’s side of the ball unveiled Saturday looked a lot like what preceded it.There were undeniable shades of Alex Grinch and D’Anton Lynn in the mess of a defense that took the field against Rutgers.The Trojans gave up 460 yards — just 1 fewer than Lincoln Riley’s offense managed.They allowed the Scarlet Knights to convert 6 of 11 third downs and 3 of 4 first downs.

And perhaps most troublesome, they gave up 5.3 yards per carry.The Trojans could exhale and the school band that was exiled to one corner of the upper deck inside a half-filled SHI Stadium could blare “Conquest” after No.12 USC held on for a 42-35 victory.But what sort of fate might this defense meet a week from now against Oregon and quarterback Dante Moore, who rolled up 84 points against Portland State?As he tends to do, Riley acknowledged the mistakes while leaning heavily into the positives.“Gave up too many big plays defensively,” he said.

“You know, not pleased at all with how we played there.”Then again …“The picks were huge,” Riley said, referring to interceptions by Christian Pierce and Prophet Brown.“I mean, it’s hard to underscore how big those turnovers were.

Really, you know, with the fourth-down stop, I mean, we caused three turnovers, you know, so that is obviously significant.”Cue the eye roll from skeptics.Rutgers’ offense isn’t exactly a juggernaut, with quarterback Dylan Lonergan now having tallied four interceptions in only two games for a team averaging 21 points before Saturday.The Scarlet Knights have an NFL-ready receiver in KJ Duff, whose one-handed heroics kept them within shock-the-world distance against the Trojans (4-0 overall, 1-0 Big Ten).Brown he...