Louisiana football coach Michael Desormeaux has been to California only once, on a trip to Lake Tahoe. He’s also seen a defense like USC’s only one other time in his life.
“They have got some creatures on defense,” Desormeaux told reporters. “This is probably the best defensive line in 11 years of being here, outside of maybe Alabama in ’18.”
That Alabama team was a national championship runner-up and held seven of its opponents to two touchdowns or less that season. USC (2-0) still has to finish the nonconference season, but Desormeaux’s assessment could be sage-like when it comes to Saturday night’s matchup at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Defensive coordinator Gary Patterson coached the Trojans’ defense to its first shutout win since 2024 when they beat Fresno State 39-0 last week. It marked the first time since 2009 that USC has held opponents scoreless in the first half in back-to-back games.
“Ultimately, it’s everyone doing their job at a high level, high speed,” Trojans defensive tackle Jide Abasiri said. “Just trusting the guy next to you to do their job. I feel like we just trust each other more overall, as a whole defense. The biggest thing for us is just trust.”
Abasiri has burst onto the scene this season as one of the most intimidating forces on USC’s defense. The junior from Minnesota is among the best pass-rushers in the country, and his physical transformation has him taking double teams and clearing the way for the rest of the defense.
“A great interior defensive lineman is so tough on offenses because everything you do is going to be affected,” USC head coach Lincoln Riley said. “That’s the kind of impact really good ones have and that’s what Jide is doing for us right now.”
This will be the first game between USC and Louisiana (1-0), which is projected to finish second in the Sun Belt Conference West.
When Louisiana has the ball
Quarterback D’Wanye’ “Lunch” Winfield is in his second season as a starting quarterback after earning the job halfway through the 2025 season.
He passed for 1,555 yards and 11 touchdowns last season while rushing for another 667 yards and nine touchdowns, even as the offensive line took a hit. Seven of the top tackles on the depth chart missed playing time last season due to injury.
“He’s far and away the most athletic quarterback that we’ve seen up to this point,” Riley said.
Winfield will be down a target with leading receiver Shelton Sampson ruled out due to injury, so the Ragin’ Cajuns will likely rely on their run game for the second consecutive game.
Cutting off rushing lanes will be the key to stopping Winfield, who threw for 189 yards and rushed for a team-leading 84 yards and one touchdown in last weekend’s 38-7 season-opening victory against Lamar. USC will also need to play tough red-zone defense, considering Louisiana scored all five of its touchdowns against Lamar on the ground from 25 yards or less.
Desormeaux doesn’t want his team’s toughness to stop there, either.
“We’ve gotta play harder than they do,” he said. “Period. We’ve gotta play harder and we’ve gotta want to win the game more than they do. It has to mean more to us to have a chance in this game.”
When USC has the ball
Jayden Maiava has been on a tear in USC’s first two games, completing 88.9% of his passes (48 of 54) for 635 yards and five touchdowns. A reconfigured offensive line has allowed him to be sacked only once.
The Trojans’ offense was nearly equally balanced between the run and pass last week against Fresno State, but it wants to take a step forward in the run game after rushing for 140 yards and two touchdowns. Ball security will also be important after a fumble by Waymond Jordan.
“We’ve done the majority of things pretty well,” Riley said. “But we seem to have had some small breakdowns here and there, whether it’s not leveraging a block correctly, missing a cut. I put us in bad situations at least twice the other night.”
Sophomore Tanook Hines played against Fresno State after missing the season opener due to injury and adds to a receiving corps that has been led by freshmen. Trent Mosley is the team’s leading receiver with 11 catches for 222 yards and Kayden Dixon-Wyatt is second with 10 receptions for 138 yards.
Louisiana returns its best interior lineman in Fitzgerald West Jr., who made 23 tackles and two sacks last season. Cornerback Brent Gordon Jr. anchors the secondary and was an All-Sun Belt Conference first-team pick after recording a team-best 62 tackles.
LOUISIANA (1-0) at No. 14 USC (2-0)
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
TV/Radio: Big Ten Network/710 AM