After playing against a gauntlet of tough defenses in their last four games, the USC football team gets to finish off the regular season against one of the weakest defenses (on paper) that the Trojans have faced all season.
The UCLA defense has had a really rough time this season from the Bruins’ first game against Utah all the way up until their most recent game against Washington, and it’s no mystery why. There is a clear blueprint to beat the Bruins.
Let’s break down the UCLA defense, and explore what could be a good game plan for the USC offense.
Bad against the run
The UCLA defense is one of the 15 worst run defenses in the country. The Bruins surrender nearly 200 yards per game on the ground (195.8). Rutgers and Colorado are the only two power four teams that surrender more yards per game on the ground than the Bruins.
That’s mostly because the Bruins have struggled to set a physical tone up front. That was apparent in the Bruins’ first three games, when they were getting bullied physically even by Group of 5 teams UNLV and New Mexico.
The Bruins have only 37 tackles for loss and 8 sacks on the season. By comparison, USC, who has a mediocre defense by Big Ten standards, has 61 tackles for loss and 24 sacks on the season. The Bruins just don’t win at the line of scrimmage all that often.
That’s a good matchup for a USC offensive line that has been great all year long.
Decent against the pass…sort of
The UCLA defense is statistically much better at pass defense than run defense. The Bruins allow only 191.1 pass yards per game, which is top-30 in the FBS.
The catch is that opponents will always take the path of least resistance on offense, and it’s always less risky to run the football than to pass it. UCLA’s offense has been so poor against the run that opponents just haven’t needed to throw the football all that much.
The Bruins have only 4 interceptions on the season. They don’t exactly have a fearsome or dangerous pass defense either.
Linebackers are the heart and soul
A reliance on linebackers is to be expected when the defensive system in place at UCLA is the same one that graduated Carson Schwesinger last season.
JonJon Vaughns and Isaiah Chisom are really the backbone of this defense. Vaughns has 102 total tackles on the season and Chisom has 82. They are seemingly often left to clean up after the mistakes of the defensive line.
Trojan fans may recognize Vaughns’s name: he is the brother of former USC wide receiver Tyler Vaughns.
Rodrick Pleasant has a bright future
Here’s what Connor Dullinger of the Daily Bruin wrote about UCLA redshirt sophomore defensive back Rodrick Pleasant:
“Realistically, the Bruins need to throw out their whole defense and restart,” Dullinger wrote. “But if there’s one semi-bright spot, it’s the team’s secondary – specifically, redshirt sophomore cornerback Rodrick Pleasant.
Pleasant was a consensus four-star recruit and a top-100 player in the nation out of high school and was even ranked as a top-10 cornerback in the country by both ESPN and 247Sports. And while he didn’t register many defensive snaps after two years at Oregon, he boasts the physical traits to match up against any opposing pass catcher in the country.He could very well be the fastest player on the team, notching a personal best 10.16 in the 100-meter dash for Oregon’s track and field team in 2025 – a mark that qualified him for the NCAA West Regionals.
Pleasant consistently takes one of the opposing team’s best offensive threats and could be the staple of the Bruins’ secondary and the most reliable defensive back for UCLA’s next defensive coordinator.”
Pleasant has 6 pass breakups on the season, which would rank first on the Trojans. If there’s anyone in UCLA’s secondary to be aware of, it’s him.
USC’s Ideal Game Plan
With all of that considered, here is how the Trojans should attack the UCLA defense:
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Football scouting report: UCLA defense, key matchups with USC offense
Reporting by Ethan Inman, Trojans Wire / Trojans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
