UCLA Football: 5 reasons the Bruins will be better than USC in 2018

3. Defense Wins Championship

Now I’m not suggesting that UCLA will be in contention for the Pac-12 Championship. However, with USC likely starting freshman, JT Daniels, the UCLA Bruins will have the upper hand in the rivalry game. UCLA’s defense struggled significantly last year, and injuries were a big factor in the lack of defensive performance.

The team returns over 15 defensive players who saw relevant playing last year. Therefore, with one more year of development for many of these players, Coach Azzinaro has a handful of weapons to put together a forceful defensive group. Furthermore, UCLA should have a lock-down secondary by returning Nate Meadors and Darnay Holmes at cornerback and Adarius Pickett at safety.

There’s no way of telling how injuries are going to impact the Bruins this year. However, with such depth on the defensive side of the ball, Coach Azzinaro can rest easy that “the next man up” will fill in any role with little to no issue. So at the end of the year, when other teams are fatigued and broken from the season’s grind, the Bruins will be able to maintain their defensive performance…especially in a rivalry game.

USC’s defense was fairly good last year…much better than UCLA’s. But with foreseeable issues on offense for the Trojans, their defense will be on the field much more than they were last year. Simply, with a worse offense, the likelihood for defensive struggles increases.