To me it was a winning defense (we did win the game).
Against Tennessee we gave up 16 points in regulation, but we allowed long sustained drives. The one turnover made a huge difference, but very few negative plays.
On Saturday against a better foe we actually disguised some of our coverages. We had more pressure on the QB. We forced turnovers and negative plays. Yes we gave up 27 points in the game, but those are the types of games that give your offense confidence and for the most part the offense came through. Then with the game on the line the defense came through again with a big play. We even had some 3 and outs!
Give me defense like we played against USC again this week and we will have another chance to pull off the upset.