USCs Lincoln Riley not giving up on Hall of Famer who has been colossal bust

USC football fans may be losing patience with Gary Patterson and a defense that has been abysmal in recent weeks.Patterson’s boss? Not so much.Coach Lincoln Riley gave his veteran defensive coordinator what amounted to a vote of confidence Thursday when asked about his team’s continued struggles on that side of the ball.“Trust me, nobody takes it more personal than him or takes more responsibility than he does,” Riley said of Patterson, the former longtime TCU coach who will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame later this year.“I mean, he’s done this for a long time.He’s done it at a high level, and there’s nobody more committed to getting it fixed, and I would also say my confidence level in us being able to elevate and play defensively comes from our players, and it comes from the fact that we have a Hall of Fame coach, and you don’t get to the Hall of Fame without dealing with some adversity in your career – like, that don’t happen.“So there’s very few that have been through as much as he has, and we’re gonna lean on that, lean on our players, our staff, and count on everybody to be better.”Defense has been the one issue that won’t go away under Riley.

After pivoting from defensive coordinator Alex Grinch to D’Anton Lynn and seeing some improvement before Lynn left for Penn State, the defense has regressed in its first season under Patterson.The Trojans have given up an average of 35.7 points over their last three games – and that was against Louisiana, Rutgers and Oregon.Their pass rush isn’t generating sacks, linebacker Desman Stephens II just got suspended for an ugly celebration of a big hit and the secondary struggles in coverage.What does Patterson have to say about all this? It’s hard to know given that he has not been made available to speak with reporters since before the season.Riley said he understood why Patterson would come under scrutiny given the expectations versus the results.“You know, li...