USC Football: Safety Bryson Shaw Voices Strong Support for DC Alex Grinch
USC has shown little to suggest that their offense cannot hang with any other in the country. Caleb Williams and his elite arsenal of pass catchers, as well as a talented backfield led by Marshawn Lynch, have averaged over 50 points per game and are a championship-caliber offense.
The Trojan defense, however, looks all too similar to the group that let down the USC offense game after game last season, denying Williams a chance to play for anything bigger than a Cotton Bowl title.
While the Trojans left Boulder with a 48-41 win in a game that never really felt like USC would lose, the Buffaloes were an onside kick away from pulling off a backbreaking upset that would likely tank any chance of USC making the College Football Playoff.
So, what happens when USC plays Oregon, whose offense is unrelenting and whose defense ranks in the top ten in yards allowed per play? What happens when the USC secondary has to deal with Washington's Michael Penix, the competition Williams has for the Heisman this season?
After allowing five passing plays over 20 yards, including a 65-yard bomb in the third quarter, USC safety Bryson Shaw called the Trojans' performance "embarrassing."
"We need to learn from this, we need to fix it," Shaw said after the game. "Unacceptable individually as a unit, and we'll go back to the film and get it fixed. We need to get it fixed, it was embarrassing."
(Via @RyanYoungRivals)
The Trojan secondary was beaten over the top multiple times by one of Colorado's speedy receivers. The issues seemed schematic. Man coverage breaking down with no deep safeties to prevent big plays. Players positioning late against the Colorado offense as the ball was snapped.
But another issue came from the physicality of the Trojan defenders, as missed tackles hurt the Trojans all game.
With each poor defensive performance comes calls from Trojan fans to fire defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, who is in his second year at USC. Unprompted, Shaw defended his coach and said that it was an issue with the players on the field, not the man calling the plays from the sideline.
"Coach Grinch, he's doing a great job," Shaw said. "We're letting him down, that's point blank period, we're letting him down ... He's putting us in the right spots, we're not making plays we're missing tackles, we're not doing our job, I'm not doing my job, we're letting him down."
(Via @RyanYoungRivals)
There is plenty of blame to go around for the Trojans' consistently lackluster defensive performances. If players aren't physical enough in games, there are ways to address that in practice or recruitment. While it may not be clear if it is more on Grinch than it is on the players or vice versa, it's clear that there are many problems with the Trojan defense.
A host of solid offenses in Notre Dame, Washington, and Oregon await, licking their chops to get a win against a top-ten team with a defense allowing the 70th-fewest yards per game this season.
The Trojan defense must improve quickly if they want to find themselves in the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history come December.
