welcome back to another episode of rock boys football Lincoln Riley USC kicking off the 2024 college football season with a massive matchup Sunday night against LSU want to take a deeper dive into this football game from a USC perspective and you know talk about a few things that I think USC can have success with against LSU Sunday night now we're going to be doing really the same exact thing with LSU from their standpoint but really excited to kind of get into a little bit of the deeper weeds into this matchup now before we get into it as always just want to say thank you to you guys and there was a ton of support for the game prediction the game breakdown we did for USC LSU earlier in the week the USC fans y'all continue to show a ton of love a ton of support to the boys we appreciate yall if you guys do enjoy the content consider subscribing to the channel much more importantly you know I know a lot of USC fans have dug into this matchup would love to hear some of your big for this USC program against LSU without further Ado let's get into this one I want to start on the defensive side of the football I think that's where we have probably the most question marks heading into this 2024 season obviously Danton Lynn taking over this defense now you look at LSU their starl tackle will Cambo came out was talking to the media yesterday and said it ain't no secret we're going to be running the football against USC that is something we expected right with Jaden Daniels moving on to the NFL with how good LSU's offensive line is going to be we expect this LSU team to run the football a lot in the 2024 season specifically against the USC defense that ranked what 124th stopping the run last year now we expect this USC defense to be significantly improved on the defensive side of the football not only the transfer portal additions but I think more importantly danlin coming over and taking over this USC defense I think my biggest key to this football game is loading the Box on defense I don't know if many of you guys watched that Georgia Tech Florida State game our big key for Florida state was to run the football against Georgia Tech that was very bad against the run in 2023 Georgia Tech knew what Florida state was going to do how do you answer some of those questions Georgia Tech just started putting seven eight guys in the Box said all right if you want to run the football you were going to be running the football against numbers we are just going to throw bodies around the line of scrimmage and stop that run game and it worked I mean Florida state had a good first two drives and struggle to run the football the rest of the way and you know Florida State couldn't really capitalize pushing the ball down the field now you look at this match up and say we like these USC quarterbacks right you look at John Humphrey you look at the Carlos Nicholson and jayen Smith and greedy Vance and say we're probably comfortable leaving those quarterbacks on Islands now that's not disrespectful in LSU's wide receiver and which is g to be a very good unit but you look at maybe one of the bigger mismatches in this football game would be Alice 's offensive line which I think is one of if not the best unit in all of college football against the USC defensive line that we think is better but probably still has some question marks one of the best things you can do to kind of answer some of those questions say hey a Kelly Arnold a guy that played over 300 snaps in The Tackle Box last year at Oregon State we are going to walk you into The Tackle Box we're going to add another body against the run and kind of trust our cornerbacks on Islands when you're playing an LSU defense that is as Dynamic and as prolific as they are you kind of have to pick your battles and if there was a battle and I'm de and ly and I'm picking I'm picking my cornerbacks which I have a lot of confidence and I brought two of them over in the transfer portal against these LSU wide receivers so I think the number one key here load the Box do not let LSU kind of control the pace of this football game and control the time possession the best way to lose a football game is if you can't stop the run because one they're moving the football on you with the ground game but more importantly your offense that we think's going to put up a lot of point points is sitting on the sideline not being able to score points so LSU loading the box key number one going into two and again it's really hard to pick holes in this LSU offense because I do think they're going to be really good winning on the inside with the pass rush you look at the LSU tackles Amry Jones and will Campell those are two guys that are probably going to go in the first round of the NFL draft in the next six months I think the edge rushers can have some success but that's probably not the particular particular battle that you're going to go play I think the maybe the quote unquote uncertain part of this LSU offensive line is you got a sophomore Center that hasn't really started much football in his college football career DJ Chester look I think DJ Chester is going to be good but this is the first big moment that this kid has played at the college football level what I'm doing is hey bar Alexander we might just put your head up on the center we might be firing Mason CRA e masarus Arnold two linebackers that have in the past been very successful blitzing those aamb gaps try to manufacture your pass rush from the inside because again you look at the LSU offensive tackles and say Will Campbell ER Amry Jones we know they're really good football players we might have some question marks about LSU's interior offensive line especially with a young Center that's getting his first career start if I'm USC I'm trying to attack the inside of this offensive line particularly that Center position again I think when you're going up against an LSU offense that is this good you got to pick your battles you got to try to find the matchups that might favor this USC defense and go at it I think it's loading the Box trusting your cornerbacks and I think more importantly trying to manufacture your pass rush on the inside where you have a guy in Garen usme who is a solid athlete but he ain't no Jaden Daniels so if you can get disruptive in that pocket Gary NM is a quarterback that wants to operate from the pocket if you force him to kind of have a money pocket try to start extend sending plays that's probably where Garrett nus Meer is least Dynamic going over to the offensive side of the football I think the number one key for me is playing with four wide receivers and I think we've talked about this a lot in the off season this this has very little to do with me not liking the tight end position it has a lot more with me loving the wide receivers specifically the four sophomores induce jacobe Zachariah and maai lemon I think this could match up well for against LSU for a couple of different reasons one if you're USC you're getting your best football players on the field which is when you're playing the sport of college football that's always a good thing but I think secondly if you play Four wide receivers and kind of spread out this LSU defense one they did not tackle in space very well last year but more importantly you know it kind of gets Harold Perkins outside of The Tackle Box you look at Harold Perkins where he's probably the best player on this not probably he is the best player on this LSU defense where is har Perkins most dynamic it's around the line of scrimmage it's getting after the passer if you play Four wide receivers take a tight end off the field you're forcing Harold Perkins to play a little bit more off the line of scrimmage play a little bit more in space and that's probably the best way you neutralize a player like Harold Perkins so again going back to matchups one we're getting our best football players on the field in these wide receivers but I think more importantly you're kind of doing your part in neutralizing probably the biggest game record on this LSU defense I think finally got to be able to run the football in a light box this is something that I think we'll see USC go to you know a lot more in the 2024 season where you look at USC last year they ran the football relatively effectively right 4.8 yards per carry that was 30th in the country they only ran the football 42% of the time that was 125th because you had a quarterback like Caleb Williams with Miller Moss at quarterback a guy that we believe in but you're probably going to lean on the Run game more with an offensive line that I think is more put together to run the football and move bodies off the line of scrimmage if you look at LSU they probably will be playing with two high safeties to try to respect what USC can do at the wide receiver room you got to have a big game from Woody marks and you look at keys to winning this football game I think it's you know both teams are going to try to establish the Run keep the opposing offense off the field I think LSU is going to give a light box because they probably have more question marks in their secondary than they do in their front seven although that might be a question mark too and they want to try to keep USC from manufacturing those explosive plays that you know Lincoln Riley's going to try to find and so if LSU is going to give you that light box and you split out your four wide receivers out wide you're probably going to be running into a light box five or six guys USC has to have success there and you brought in a guy like Woody Marx who's had good games against LSU in back to his career in Mississippi State that's you know probably one of the things things that if you're USC you're probably trying to attack now to kind of finish off this episode I want to talk about my most important players in this football game I think it starts with your cornerbacks John Humphries D Carlos Nicholson greedy Vance Jaylen Smith whoever is going to be for USC I think you got to trust those cornerbacks to win on Islands because I really do think USC is going to load the tackle box and try to prevent LSU from just running the football and chunking them up on the ground and so you're going to load your box if you're going to walk ailly Arnold into that Tackle Box you got to trust your cornerbacks to win those one-on-one matchups on the outside so massive games from both cornerbacks I look at greedy Vance at nickel and say greedy Vance is going to play a lot at least I expect him to play a lot you're going to need production from greedy Vance in the Run game it's something that he wasn't great at at Florida State he's going to need to be in exceptional run support nickel Defender and then finally Woody Marx I think Woody Marx is gonna have some looks I think they're gonna ride Woody marks hard he's the most experienced running back they brought him in the transfer portal for a reason if LSU is going to give a light box we kind of trust this USC offensive line to maybe move a little bit off the line of scrimmage Gotta Have Woody marks having a big football game whether he's running the football whether he's getting utilized out of the back field this could be a real you know X Factor for this USC offense those are my keys for USC beating LSU going to be a really fun game to talk about we're going to be a really fun game to break down live Sunday night we'll cut it there appreciate you guys rocking with the fellas if yall do enjoy the content consider subscribing to the channel appreciate you guys and we'll talk to y'all