Justin Wilcox on Trojans defense: ‘It all starts with the coaches’

Justin Wilcox drew a large contingent of reporters after Tuesday’s practice, all questioning the embattled USC defensive coordinator about what happened in the Trojans’ 41-31 loss to Stanford.

Asked if he felt the heat from fans, Wilcox did not hesitate.

“Every day I’ve ever coached college football, there’s that,” Wilcox said.

USC blew an 11-point second-quarter lead, gave up 474 yards, got pushed around by the Cardinal offensive line and could not contain quarterback Kevin Hogan.

“Nobody felt good coming out of that game about how we performed,” Wilcox said.

Stanford used multiple formations and an unbalanced line to rush for 195 yards.

“We didn’t do a good enough job of that and it all starts with the coaches,” Wilcox said.

The Trojans also struggled to pressure Hogan.

“You pick and choose your spots on pressuring,” Wilcox said. “Sometimes you want to rush with four guys and sometimes you’re going to bring five or more, and we did both.

“We had opportunities to make plays back there and we didn’t quite finish them.”