On Saturday night, the USC football team defeated Penn State 31-23 in State College, Pennsylvania. With the victory, the Trojans improved to 6-1 on the 2026 season and 3-1 in Big Ten play.
Following the game, Penn State head coach Matt Campbell discussed his team’s loss. One topic that he touched on was his team’s inability to get pressure on USC quarterback Jayden Maiava.
“I think those situations, especially against who those guys are offensively, they‘ll spread you out,” Campbell said. “They're going to try to get their athletes in space. I think from our end of it, how multiple could we be in a football game to try to play man, but not sit man the whole football game, while trying to help our DBs out. I think that was really our thought process going into it
“When you talk about the pressure piece of it, we're going to have to continue to find ways to get creative. I think that's an area for us, especially those third down situations. They had time to be able to make the plays and extend the play, and I think that’s what you’re talking about on the three-man rush and we have to find a different way to be able to get off the field on the third down.”
USC’s offensive line certainly deserves a lot of credit for its performance. Unfazed by one of the most hostile environments in all of sports, the unit gave Maiava plenty of time to throw throughout the night, which played a massive role in the Trojans winning the game.
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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Penn State’s Matt Campbell discusses struggles defending USC offense