Tag: USC offensive line

USC offensive line knows it must set the bar much higher vs Wisconsin

No USC position group faces more of a burden to perform entering the Wisconsin game than an embattled offensive line which must step up quickly.

We have said it throughout the offseason. We are certainly going to keep saying it now: The USC offensive line is the whole key to the Trojans’ 2024 season. When this unit is right, USC is right. When this unit doesn’t play well, the Trojans are going to struggle. The Michigan game affirmed this point. We talked to our friends at Badgers Wire about the bottom-line reality facing the Trojans as they prepare for Wisconsin:

The attitude is that the offensive line has a lot of work to do. That is the unit most people agree is the whole key to USC’s season. The offensive line couldn’t keep Miller Moss clean in the pocket, and it couldn’t consistently run the ball. Elijah Paige is a very big, very strong offensive lineman, but he was slow on the snap and was outmaneuvered all game long by Michigan. He was subbed out in the third quarter when the USC offensive line improved. Tobias Raymond came into the game and made the line better, but after a strong third quarter, USC regressed in the fourth quarter and could not perform well with a lead when trying to get a few final first downs to close down the game. The offensive line has to be fixed. If it isn’t, the season won’t reach its potential.

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Michigan defensive line, USC offensive line have a lot to prove

The matchup between the Michigan defensive line and the USC offensive line will most likely decide the outcome of this game on Saturday.

We are talking to Wolverines Wire editor Isaiah Hole before Michigan faces USC this Saturday. Texas’s offensive line manhandled Michigan’s defensive line, which was supposed to be the strength of the 2024 UM roster. We asked Isaiah if the Michigan defensive line is ready to bounce back against the USC offensive line, in what figures to be the most important positional matchup on the field in Ann Arbor.

“It absolutely can and it’s somewhat shocking that that happened,” Hole said about Texas dominating Michigan up front. “Remember, these four in the front were the ones on the field for the final play against Alabama and were the ones throwing Washington’s Joe Moore Award-winning offensive line around in the national championship game. But for some reason, they look like they’ve taken a step back. Part of that is depth – these players are used to playing about 35 snaps a game, not 50-plus. But we’re not seeing early dominance followed by a falling off, so that’s a bit perplexing. Quinn Ewers wasn’t holding on to the ball for very long and was adept at sidestepping pressure throughout the game, so it wasn’t like Michigan’s front wasn’t getting into the backfield, it just wasn’t getting home. But we’ve seen these specific four dominate elite lines in the past year, it just hasn’t quite found the same momentum yet this year. This game will be the big test as USC is good but not as elite as what the Longhorns presented.”

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Lincoln Riley challenges young USC offensive line to improve consistency

Lincoln Riley knows how central his offensive line is to a successful 2024 USC season.

USC football news is flowing from August camp.  All spring camp and during USC Media Day last month we hear offensive line coach Josh Henson talk about the need for someone to step up and show consistency at the right guard position. Coach Lincoln Riley discussed consistency in play from members of the right side of the USC offensive line here in week two of fall camp.

Riley explained after practice:

“The young guys are talented, inconsistent. It’ll be kind of this second half of camp of who can really take that jump from a consistency standpoint they all have talent to be able to potentially contribute but they are going to have to show more consistency to be able to trust them.”

“I mean there’s still definitely some position battles going on on the o line you know. As that plays out we’ve had a couple of guys banged up through camp. Nothing serious, but  there’s always positives and negatives.”

“There hasn’t been as much continuity. There’s a few guys that we wanted to see a little bit more, but we have had to move a lot of guys around — which has been a positive because you build like what’s going to happen in the season at some point and you build that experience.  So for the ones that have been healthy, it’s been a great thing, but excited to get those guys back and try to get some clarity on that as we get a little bit closer to the first game.”

Can Alani Noa, who started games for the Trojans as a true freshman in 2023 hold off the versatile veteran Gino Quinones or Noa’s 2023 freshmen classmates Micah Banuelos and Amos Talalele?  The battle for the right guard position will be one to watch as fall camp winds down.

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