Matt Entz isn’t pretending Friday night is some ordinary nonconference tune-up.
USC comes in ranked No. 14, riding a 42-26 win over San Jose State, and the Trojans are a 22.5-point favorite over Fresno State at DraftKings Sportsbook. But Entz, now in his second season with the Bulldogs, made it clear this one has his full attention as Fresno State heads to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for USC’s only Friday night game of the season.
The Bulldogs are also stepping into the Pac-12 for the first time this year, and some college football prognosticators have pegged them as a possible CFP Group of Five contender. They’ll get a big early test against Lincoln Riley’s team.
Entz has a rare level of familiarity with USC. He worked under Riley in 2024 as an assistant and linebackers coach, and on Monday he talked through what he knows about the Trojans and what his team has to handle.
“I don’t know if I would say I know their tendencies. I know probably their personnel a little bit, having been there for two different recruiting classes.
I got the utmost respect for Coach Riley and his staff. There’s some new pieces to the offensive staff that weren’t there when I was there,” Entz said during Monday’s press conference.
He didn’t stop there. Entz went on to praise Riley’s coaching profile while stressing that Fresno State has to be ready from the opening whistle.
“Defensively there’s a few guys that were there that I worked with. I have some really good friends on that staff right now.
When you talk about being a coach, Riley is one of the top head coaches in college football, top offensive coordinators, developers of quarterbacks; his resume is pretty deep, and I have nothing but great respect. I know we’re going to have to be ready to play all four quarters and from the get-go,” Entz continued.
Entz also broke down what makes Riley’s offense so difficult to deal with, pointing to leverage, disguises and the burden placed on the quarterback.
“Well, I think there’s a reason why Coach Riley is one of the best offensive minds in college football because he’s going to try and get you in pictures that he’s seen before and take advantage of leverage. I think he’s looking at leverage of the nickel at where the three technique is: do you have leverage back to the field when they go FIB?
So there are things we’ve got to keep changing it up; we have to be really good at disguising things, trying to not give the same picture all the time. Because the other piece is he puts a lot on the quarterback, and Jayden became the starter when I was there in 2024.
I got nothing but a ton of respect and admiration for the type of young man he is, but also the quarterback that he is. He’s one of a kind type of kid,” Entz said.
On the defensive side, Entz said Fresno State has to tackle well and survive USC’s physicality at multiple levels.
“We’re going to have to be really sharp on defense, and then we've got to tackle. They have big backs, physical backs. They’re big on the perimeter with their receiver play, and we've got to be able to hold up on some of the isolation plays, and we just got to get our hats to the ball, and we got to tackle well and try to find ways to get them off schedule at different times,” Entz continued.
He also said Fresno State has borrowed from what it learned while working around USC’s program structure.
“I think some of the things probably from roster management, roster development, were some of the things that we utilized. Some of the periods in practice we might have kind of stolen a little bit or borrowed or tried to reshape just to kind of fit who we wanted to be, but like I said, they do a tremendous job.
You can tell they’re well coached right now, both sides of the football. I’ve met Coach Patterson a couple times in brief.
I’m sure he’s brought a lot of energy and excitement, intensity, to that side of the football, and it looks like they’re playing at a high level,” Entz said.
Fresno State will also bring a new starting quarterback into the game. Jayden Mandal won the job after a tough fall camp battle with Khristian Martin and will make his first start against USC. The nearby Clovis, California, native has completed just 39 passing yards in his collegiate career and has thrown two interceptions.
USC is 4-1 all-time against Fresno State and will try to add another win to the series on Friday. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. PT, and the game will air on FOX.
In Other News...
USC Just Reopened A Frustrating Debate About Lincoln Rileys Program
USCs 2026 opener against San Jose State did more than start a new football season. It also reopened an old question about how much pull Lincoln Rileys program really has, after the Coliseum was filled to only about one-third of its capacity. The university tried to get ahead of the optics with a statement pointing to possible factors behind the turnout, including the weather and the opponent.
Still, the image of a sparsely populated Coliseum landed hard because it came against the backdrop of what fans have come to expect from this program on game day. The discussion quickly drifted beyond one afternoon and back to a familiar frustration around scheduling choices and whether USC is giving supporters enough reason to show up early and often. [Read more 🡒]
Oregons New Play-Callers Will Decide How Real This 2024 Hype Is
USCs own coordinator search has been part of the wider wave of change sweeping college football, with Todd Orlando stepping in as the new defensive voice after the Trojans moved on from the previous setup. Around the sport, fresh play-callers are already shaping how teams are perceived, from Bobby Petrinos arrival at North Carolina to other staff shakeups at Texas, Virginia Tech, Clemson and Oregon, where early results have given fans a first taste of what these moves might mean.
For USC, the broader lesson is pretty clear: coordinator hires do not stay abstract for long. They quickly become the difference between a unit that merely looks organized and one that can actually hold up under pressure, and Orlandos early work will be judged in exactly that light as the Trojans try to make sense of a season defined as much by coaching changes as by on-field performance. [Read more 🡒]
USCs New Local Pipeline Already Looks Ready To Lift This Offense
USCs latest recruiting class wasted no time showing why the Trojans have been so aggressive about building a local pipeline. In the season opener, freshmen Trent Mosley, Kayden Dixon-Wyatt, Tron Baker and tight end Mark Bowman all started and immediately found roles in the offense, a reflection of the momentum general manager Chad Bowden and coach Chad Savage have tried to create with the 2026 group. Mosley made the loudest first impression, going for 118 receiving yards and a touchdown, while Bowman helped in the run game and running back Deshonne Redeaux flashed with a few promising carries.
For USC, the broader takeaway goes beyond one opener. When freshmen are not just dressed but already helping shape the game plan, it suggests the Trojans may be closer than expected to having another wave of homegrown playmakers ready to keep this offense moving. The only real question now is how quickly that early trust turns into a lasting feature of what USC wants to be on that side of the ball. [Read more 🡒]