If the team wearing the familiar USC uniforms last fall at looked a lot like recent Oklahoma editions, there was a reason, as Lincoln Riley effectively recreated his Sooners teams with his first Trojans contingent. It was particularly the case for quarterback Caleb Williams, who followed his coach from Norman and would become the third Riley QB disciple to win a Heisman Trophy after Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray did so wi th the Sooners. It was all a far cry from the disastrous end to the Clay Helton era in 2021, when the Trojans stumbled home at 4-8 after an early-season coaching switch. Unfortunately for USC, the Riley defense also looked a lot like preceding Sooner editions (and the preceding Trojan defense in 2021) too often. The Trojan D too often resembled traffic cones a year ago, allowing 40+ points four different times past midseason, with the no-tackle bent never becoming more painful than it was in a hard-to-comprehend Cotton Bowl loss to Tulane, when the Alex Grinch defense became more helpless as the game progressed…
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