Cal Football: 5 Questions About USC for a Trojans' Beat Writer
USC arrives at Memorial Stadium to face Cal on Saturday in something of a unique circumstance. The Trojans are 17-5 so far in coach Lincoln Riley’s two seasons but they have lost two in a row and fans aren't taking it well.
We talked with Ryan Kartje, in his sixth season as beat writer for the Los Angeles’ Times — and a new father — and asked him 5 Questions, including about the mood around the program right now.
“The mood is not great at this point,” Kartje says in the video at the top of this story. “It’s a wild turn just to see where this program was just a year ago (when) the fans were just sort of kneeling at Lincoln Riley’s feet. He was the savior of the downtrodden, great program.
“And now, all of a sudden, they’re ready for him to go to the NFL. It turned that quickly on him, and it really just took two losses in a row.”
Riley, who took over a program that was 4-8 in 2021, has never lost three consecutive games as a head coach at either Oklahoma or USC. Some USC fans apparently fear the worst.
“The pessimism has returned,” Kartje said. “It sort of feels like the heyday of Clay Helton around these parts lately, with was pretty dark.”
— USC’s defense has been shockingly ineffective. The Trojans rank last in the Pac-12 in run defense, have allowed 20 touchdown passes and their past four opponents have averaged 41 points. What is the root of the problem?
“There was hope that USC’s defense would find something different, anything different this year from last year. The way it ended last year was especially ugly.”
The Trojans ended last season by allowing 93 points in defeats to Utah in the Pac-12 title game and Tulane in the Cotton Bowl.
Acknowledging the problem, USC brought in defensive line help from the transfer portal. “It seemed like that front was going to be better," Kartje said, "but it just hasn’t been, especially in the run game.”
The feeling is the Trojans just aren’t physical enough on defense. Their pass rush has actually improved, Kartje said. “But everything else has gotten worse.”
— Give us an evaluation of Caleb Williams’ Heisman Trophy encore season. He has assembled some crazy numbers but had just one touchdown pass and three interceptions in the losses to Notre Dame and Utah heading into this week.
“Caleb Williams started his encore really strong. USC was winning games to the point where he was on the sideline in the third quarter,” Kartje said. “He really wasn’t being tested. Those tests came fast and furious the past couple weeks.”
Kartje wonders if all the attention and distraction that comes with being a Heisman Trophy winner — including a reported $2.7 million of NIL earnings — has taken a toll.
“The spotlight has never been brighter on a Heisman winner than it is on Caleb Williams right now,” Kartje said. “All you have to do is watch the commercials between football games. He tends to be on one or two of them.
“There’s a lot going on with Caleb Williams. And it’s fair to wonder what his head space is right now.”
He also expects Kartje to snap out of it. Cal fans hope that doesn’t happen Saturday.
“I’ve seen Caleb Williams do some amazing things,” he said. “This is a top-notch quarterback prospect in the same mold as a Trevor Lawrence or an Andrew Luck, guys who were obvious top picks in the NFL.”
— Freshman wide receiver/return specialist Zachariah Branch is averaging 143 all-purpose yards per game, leads the nation in punt-return average and has touchdowns via both kick and punt returns. Describe his skillset and tell us what it’s like watching him in the open field?
“It’s hard to think of a more electric freshman, just in terms of what he’s able to do, stopping and starting, cutting,” Kartje said. “The speed he brings to the equation is really something I haven’t seen personally since I’ve been covering USC.”
If anything, the Trojans need to involve Branch — whose great uncle was Raiders star pass catcher Cliff Branch — more in the passing game because of that speed. Kartje called him “a home run threat at any moment.”
“I just don’t know if there are many cornerbacks that can keep up with him.”
— Lincoln Riley banned access to a beat writer for conducting an interview beyond their scheduled time a few weeks ago and on Saturday kept players from talking with reporters after the loss to Utah. How is all of that being received in the nation’s second-largest media market?
“It hasn’t gone over that well, as you might imagine,” Kartje said.
“When Lincoln Riley came to USC, he had a reputation at Oklahoma for being paranoid, not that that’s that much different from most college football coaches. He seemed to be on the higher end of that.”
By comparison, former USC coach Pete Carroll ran a loose ship where seemingly anyone was welcome. “You could come off the street and watch practice.”
“It’s totally fine if you start to close that down if you’re winning. No one really starts to complain about it except us reporters, and no one really wants to hear us complain,” Kartje said. “When you’re losing suddenly it’s a symptom of the program sort of going downhill. That’s really where people’s heads have started to go lately.”
Again, Kartje doesn’t believe this is an issue that ultimately derails Riley or his program.
“This is a new challenge for him. He’s a smart guy,” Kartje said. “He’s also a stubborn guy but he’s a smart guy and he’ll figure this out.”
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Cover photo of USC freshman Zachariah Branch by Kirby Lee, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
