Alexander: USC recaptures its defensive swagger in 2nd half

LOS ANGELES — As the first half continued Saturday night at the Coliseum, and Arizona State quarterback Emory Jones and running backs Xasvarian Valladay and Daniyel Ngata kept getting outside and getting chunks of yardage against USC’s defense, the Trojan faithful could have been excused for wondering just how good their heroes could be if they could only stop the run.

It was a reasonable question. Coming into Week 5, USC was 100th out of 131 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in rushing defense, giving up 4.8 yards per play and 171 yards per game.

But maybe the first half was a wake-up call. USC gave up 61 net rushing yards to ASU in the first 30 minutes … and just 27 in the second half. Thus, what was a narrow 21-17 Trojan lead at halftime ultimately became a 42-25 spanking of a team playing for an interim coach and trying to salvage its season. The tone was set at the start of the second half with three straight stops in Sun Devil territory, two of them three-and-outs, and a total of 12 offensive yards for ASU in the third quarter.

“We challenged the guys,” coach Lincoln Riley said afterward. “We didn’t play overall in the first half the way we needed to, that kind of attacking, relentless style that we want to play really on both sides. The offense had some really good quality drives, but it just wasn’t quite the edge that we’re used to playing with and that we expect to play with.

“I thought our guys responded well in the third quarter and made some key plays when it mattered to get (separation) and win the game.”

And perhaps one difference was that linebacker Eric Gentry had to clear his head a bit. Gentry, the 6-foot-6 sophomore disruptor, played for ASU last season. By his own admission, playing against his former team was just weird for a while.

“Me being the Mike (middle linebacker), I really set the energy,” Gentry said, who described himself as playing timid. “But the second half I felt way better, felt way more confident. Just another football game, and I just played with a lot of energy.”

Safety Calen Bullock said he noticed. So did defensive coordinator Alex Grinch.

“He’s been a good player for us and a guy we’re thrilled to have,” Grinch said. “And I know he wanted it. We all wanted to get that one. But obviously he’s got history. So I was thrilled for him that we came out on the right side.”

And maybe there’s a lesson here.

“I think, you know, sometimes when you talk about emotion, you assume it’s bad,” Grinch said. “And sometimes the emotion can take you to heights that make the execution kind of go south on you. One of the things we talk about is if a distraction diminishes you. …

“We’ve got to instill in these guys (that game day is) an extension of the work week. We’re not going to ask you to do something on Saturday that we don’t ask you to do on Tuesday.”

Bullock said that Gentry described the feeling against his old team as like “he was (back) in practice with them. And (before) the second half I just told him, ‘Be the guy that you are, that you know you are, let’s be great.’ And that’s what he did that second half. He came out and you could see that swagger. He was comfortable. He got back to his game.”

Really, the Trojans should play with swagger, on both sides of the ball. This is their identity, the attitude with which Riley took over this program last December and the method in which he and his staff rebuilt last year’s down-and-out team into this year’s potential monster.

(That swagger doesn’t seem to have carried over yet to special teams, or at least it didn’t at times Saturday night. But there’s time.)

Maybe against ASU the idea was for the offense to control the game long enough for the defense to get untracked, which is the opposite of the way things often work. For sure, this year’s Sun Devils can identify with last year’s Trojans, because they’re living that same scenario, dealing with an early-season coaching change and trying to salvage a season that, at 1-4 overall and 0-2 in the Pac-12, very well could go off the rails. It hasn’t yet, at least from an effort standpoint.

And possibly the defense took it personally after the offense’s first turnover of the year. Caleb Williams and his unit had a clean sheet up until nearly seven minutes had expired in the third quarter, when Timarcus Davis picked off a pass in the end zone intended for Jordan Addison.

The defense immediately forced a three-and-out, and late in the game the Trojans atoned for that turnover — and restored their national-best takeaway margin to a plus-14 — when Bullock picked off his second pass of the season, after ASU had driven to the USC 18 in the final minute.

His first interception, against Rice in the opener, was a 93-yard pick-six. This one Bullock only returned 56 yards, but that was all that was necessary.

Saturday’s margin was comfortable enough. But there are tougher assignments coming up — against Washington State this coming Saturday at the Coliseum and against defending conference champ Utah the following week in Salt Lake City.

They’ll need every ounce of that swagger, in all three phases.

jalexander@scng.com