Lane Kiffin repeated a comment to ESPN on Wednesday that he made right before the Sun Bowl: “I’ve said this before: If Matt Barkley had the defense that Matt Leinart and Carson Palmer had, Matt Barkley would have won the Heisman Trophy just like they did. He would have had the winning records they had.”
This begs the question: If the defense was such a problem, why does USC have seven offensive coaches (including Kiffin) for next season and only three defensive assistants?
New defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast must be that good. Some might argue that Leinart did not have a great defense either in 2005.