On Friday night, USC wrapped up its 2024 season with a 35-31 victory over Texas A&M in the Las Vegas Bowl. In addition to the fact that it marked the last game of USC’s 2024 season, it marked the final game of D’Anton Lynn’s first year as the Trojans’ defensive coordinator. By all accounts, Lynn’s debut campaign was a major success.
After fielding the worst defense in school history in 2023, the Trojans made major progress on that front in 2024. USC held 10 of its 13 opponents to under 30 points, and seven of them to 24 or fewer. By comparison, last season, the Trojans allowed at least 34 points in their final eight regular season games, and only held one Power Five opponent to fewer than 28.
Friday was actually one of the less impressive performances by USC’s defense on the season. But the unit still did enough to keep the Trojans in the game, something that could certainly not be said about last year’s group.
Coming out of halftime, USC struggled defensively, allowing A&M to score 17 points on its first three drives of the second half. But the Trojans locked in after that, forcing two punts and holding the Aggies to a field goal, giving the offense a chance to get the team back in the game.
It should be noted, however, that the USC defense did allow a seven-play, 75-yard TD drive to give A&M the lead with under two minutes left. If not for Kyle Ford’s heroics, we would be having a very different conversation today.
Overall, though, the bowl game performance encapsulated USC’s 2024 season defensively. By no means were the Trojans elite, but for the most part, the unit did enough to keep the team in every game. After where USC was this time a year ago, that’s a major step in the right direction.