USC is moving quickly from one test to the next, and Saturday’s home matchup with Washington brings a familiar face back to the Coliseum. The Trojans, ranked No. 18, are trying to shake off a 41-27 loss to No. 15 Oregon, while the Huskies arrive after a 27-24 home defeat to Minnesota despite being double-digit favorites.
That meeting also puts former Washington linebacker Deven Bryant on the opposite sideline. Bryant is now a starter for USC, and Washington coach Jedd Fisch addressed the move during his weekly press conference on Monday.
“He wasn’t the starter at the end of the year; he got beat out. Deven was fantastic; he’s an awesome kid, but Deven wanted to start, and Jacob Manu and Zadriuys were the starters, and then Xe’ree was right there, and Deven wanted a chance, and Deven and I had an amazing conversation, and he’s a wonderful kid,” Fisch said.
“The conversations were real clear-cut, like I think I have an opportunity to start if I go into the portal, and here I probably don’t have an opportunity to start, so I’m gonna go in the portal and start, and we wished him absolutely the best, and I can’t wait to say hello to him after the game, but he’s a wonderful person and had three great years,” Fisch continued.
Fisch also laid out the challenge USC presents, pointing to the Trojans’ talent and the way Washington has to prepare for the defense.
“It’ll be a great challenge. He’s done some very elite things as a head coach, defensive play caller, and he’s always been the head coach and defensive play caller. There’s a lot of film you can watch if you want to go back, but the personnel you’re seeing now is really fitting into the scheme that he wants to run,” Fisch said.
“You’ve got to be really cautious of what you line up in because he’s very capable of getting in and out of a play call quickly on defense based on what you’re lined up as he’s been doing this for so many years,” Fisch continued.
“Our focus is on a really good SC team that’s 4-1, that has a ton of talent everywhere on that field, so we gotta go against a team that is loaded with talent, and we’re gonna have to find a way to move the ball and stop their offense,” Fisch said.
Washington’s offense still gives USC plenty to worry about, even after a sluggish stretch that included uneven showings in wins over Utah State and Washington State, plus the loss to Minnesota. Quarterback Demond Williams Jr. has been the key piece, throwing for 1,129 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions through four games while completing 69.3 percent of his passes.
Williams also brings a rushing threat, and he’ll have Dezman Roebuck as his top receiving target. Roebuck has become Washington’s leading receiver after Denzel Boston left for the Cleveland Browns.
USC enters the game as a 9.5-point favorite, according to the latest DraftKings Sportsbook odds, with the over/under set at 57.5 points. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m. PT at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and NBC will carry the broadcast.
The Trojans are also trying to end a three-game losing streak against Washington. Their last win in the series came in 2016.
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USCs First Real Test Exposed A Problem Trojans Fans Know Too Well
USCs first real test of the season brought the kind of reminder Trojans fans have seen before: the Coliseum can be loud, the offense can move the ball, and still the game can slip away when the pressure rises. Oregons 41-27 win in Los Angeles ended USCs 10-game home winning streak and left the Trojans with the familiar frustration of coming up short in the kind of matchup that tends to define a season.
Jayden Maiava put together a productive night, throwing for 326 yards and accounting for three touchdowns, but the late interception was the kind of mistake that can change the tone of a high-stakes conference game. Oregon had its own answer under center, with Dylan Raiola stepping in after an injury to the starter and delivering two passing touchdowns, and USC was left once again trying to sort out why its biggest tests so often expose the same old flaw. [Read more 🡒]
USC Must Rework Its Linebackers At The Worst Possible Time
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Riley addressed the situation during a Sept. 28 media appearance, noting the need to adjust the depth chart while also pointing to the broader lessons from the Oregon game. For a defense that is still trying to find more reliable execution, losing a key piece for even one week only sharpens the urgency heading into the next round of games. [Read more 🡒]
USC Freshman Tron Baker Shares What Hit Him Hardest Early
Ja'Myron "Tron" Baker has already started carving out a real role for USC as a freshman receiver, and not just by catching passes. Through five games, he has eight receptions for 111 yards while also doing the kind of dirty work that earns trust quickly in a college locker room, including contributing as a blocker. For a young player still adjusting to the speed and physicality of the college game, that kind of early responsibility says plenty about how the Trojans view him.
What hit Baker hardest early was the transition itself, along with learning how to fit into the flow of a new offense and a new level of competition. Even so, he has leaned on veteran teammates who have helped him settle in, and that support matters as USC tries to regroup in Week 5 after the loss to Oregon. The Trojans need more from their young playmakers, and Baker's development is one of the quieter storylines worth watching as they look to answer back. [Read more 🡒]