Confidence was radiating from Will Campbell as Louisiana State’s towering left tackle and future first-round pick leaned back comfortably in his chair this week, declaring in a deep bayou drawl his intentions for Sunday’s season-opening meeting with USC’s defense in Las Vegas.
“We know what we’re there for. It’s not to go to Caesars Palace,” said Campbell, the All-Southeastern Conference lineman. “It’s to be in a fistfight.”
He wasn’t hiding how it would be fought either. “We’re gon’ run the ball,” Campbell said in another interview. “That’s not something we’re … trying to keep quiet.”
This wasn’t exactly bulletin board material in the traditional sense. Even if it was presented that way to USC defenders, who responded with shrugs or sideways glances. But Campbell’s confident declaration drove home the reality of USC’s situation.
There is no warmup week this season for a new staff to work out any kinks in its new scheme. After eight months of USC taking punch after punch for its flimsy performance on defense last season, here is a heavyweight bout against one of the most physical offensive fronts in college football, a group seemingly built to exploit the issues that USC set out to fix in the offseason.
D’Anton Lynn, the man tasked with making those fixes, called it a “great test” of the Trojans’ evolution up front, where USC set out to get bigger and stronger this summer ahead of its Big Ten leap. Asked what gave him confidence as USC squares up with a seasoned LSU line that returns four starters, including Campbell, the top tackle in college football, Lynn answered plainly.
“We’re prepared,” the new coordinator said. “We’ve known what the challenge is going to be since I got the job here.”
Players and coaches had been answering the same questions for months, repeating the same refrain about how a defense that dwelled near the bottom of every statistical category last season would be decidedly different. They’ve pointed to the depth in the secondary and the apparent 1,400 pounds of mass added in their offseason training program. They’ve assured anybody who will listen that the scheme is smoother and easier to understand.
But in spite of his own confidence in the Trojans’ defensive turnaround, Jamil Muhammad knows nobody is going to be convinced until they see it for themselves.
“You gotta realize,” the senior defensive end said, “until you have another real chance to show what you’re working on or how much better you’ve gotten, what you did and what everybody saw is going to be on their minds until you change it.”
Can Lincoln Riley cool down his already hot coaching seat? Can UCLA’s DeShaun Foster coach the team to a winning record?
A strong first impression Sunday would go a long way in that regard. Especially if it includes USC holding its own at the line of scrimmage, where LSU is at its best. Last season the Tigers ranked first in the nation in yards per attempt (6.18) on the ground.
“Teams from the SEC, they’re going to run the ball,” USC linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold said. “That’s inevitable. We pride ourselves as being a run-stopping defense.”
That pride was noticeably absent last season as USC slid to 119th in run defense, second worst among power conference teams. But while the Trojans hit rock bottom against the run, Lynn was leading a UCLA defense that improved from 36th to second in rushing yards given up.
What progress looks like against LSU, a team replacing more than 75% of its rushing production from a year ago, is difficult to pin down. The Tigers relied heavily last season on Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jayden Daniels to pile up rushing yards as he scrambled from the pocket. Without him the expectation is LSU will divvy up carries among a deep, experienced rotation that’s yet to have one lead back emerge.
Though, behind an offensive line that could be dominant, it may not matter who’s carrying the ball for LSU.
“We don’t have trouble blocking anybody,” Campbell said. “You line them up, we’ll block them.”
It’ll be up to Lynn and his retooled defense to complicate that equation up front for LSU. But as USC’s potential redemption awaits, any concerns about confidence after last season’s collapse have faded.
Asked how USC’s new defense might match up with LSU’s ferocious front, Mascarenas-Arnold didn’t hesitate to offer his own declaration, one that’s sure to be tested.
“As a defense,” Mascarenas-Arnold said, “we fear nobody.”