USC football notebook: Eric Gentry is the MVP of this defense … and the Pac-12

Where do we begin in assessing the USC Trojans after their win over Oregon State? There’s so much to say. There are so many interesting statistics and game notes to pass along. We’ll share a lot of them here in this article.

We have to start with Eric Gentry. The man is making lots of plays, but more than that, he’s making plays in so many different facets of the game. Beyond that — as we saw against Oregon State — he made plays in a close, important game when the Trojans lacked a large margin for error.

Tuli Tuipulotu is playing really well and deserves his props, to be sure, but if you had to pick the best player on this USC defense, I think it has to be Gentry.

We start with Gentry in our wide-ranging USC notebook below. We continue with all sorts of interesting facts about this Oregon State win:

GENTRY IS A G

The USC postgame show at The Voice of College Football with Tony Altimore, Tim Prangley, and Rick Anaya had a lot to say about USC’s win. Get the full video of the show here, which included a lot of praise for Eric Gentry. We all agreed that he is the front-runner for 2022 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.

Catch USC postgame shows every Saturday at The Voice of College Football, in addition to the weekly USC show on Tuesdays at 1:05 p.m. in Los Angeles, and the Wednesday night Pac-12 call-in show as well:

INCREDIBLE STAT

INCREDIBLE CHART

GREAT QUOTE

NO ARGUMENT HERE

KEY OREGON STATE GAME FACT NUMBER ONE

Oregon State converted just 5 of 12 third downs against USC’s defense.

KEY OREGON STATE GAME FACT NUMBER TWO

USC won time of possession, 30:15 to 29:45. That’s incredible on a night when USC’s offense didn’t even play well. The defense got off the field on third down and got four takeaways. Just an amazing performance.

COURTLAND FORD

Ford did not play against Oregon State. Given how bad Arizona State (the next opponent) is, USC might as well sit Ford one more week and have him fully ready for Washington State on Oct. 8.

JUSTIN DEDICH

Dedich was far from 100-percent healthy, another reason USC’s offense didn’t thrive against Oregon State:

PAC-12 PRESENCE

Stop for a moment and realize that USC’s best offensive player — Travis Dye — and its best defensive player against Oregon State — Eric Gentry — are both Pac-12 transfers. Lincoln Riley’s use of the portal mattered a lot in this game, but the Pac-12 portion of the portal was the biggest difference. Conference knowledge mattered a lot.

SOLOMON BYRD

Want an unsung hero on this USC defense? Byrd helped pressure Chance Nolan into the Ceyair Wright interception which changed the game.

EARL BARQUET

Barquet helped Solomon Byrd on the pressure which rattled Chance Nolan.

TULI TUIPULOTU

USC needed guys such as Solomon Byrd and Earl Barquet to help out Tuli Tuipulotu along the defensive front, and the Trojans received that help on Saturday. Let’s not forget the necessary point: Tuipulotu, who had a pass deflection and was part of a solid pass rush, is doing his job. That means everything to USC, and it shouldn’t go ignored in all of this.

JORDAN ADDISON

This is a detailed “student of the game” insight from Addison on his game-winning touchdown catch:

SHUT THEM UP

USC WON IN SPITE OF THIS

Caleb Williams completed less than 50 percent of his passes: 16 of 36. USC still won. Amazing.

TROJANS GOT SOME HELP

Chance Nolan had a chance to stamp himself as one of the better quarterbacks in the Pac-12 in this game. USC made plays, but it remains that Nolan threw four interceptions. If he throws only two instead of four, this outcome is probably different. USC got some help here (but the Trojans will take it).

MORE HELP

USC’s Denis Lynch missed a field goal, but so did Oregon State kicker Everett Hayes. Oregon State did not punish USC for its mistakes.

FAVORABLE SCHEDULE

USC ends September 2-0 in the Pac-12, having won two road games in the conference.

Look at how the schedule sets up from here on out:

Story originally appeared on Trojans Wire