Andy Staples reacts to USC's firing of Alex Grinch

The USC Trojans made an abrupt decision after the team’s 52-42 loss to Washington on Saturday, firing defensive coordinator Alex Grinch the following day on Sunday.

Grinch has been a part of head coach Lincoln Riley‘s coaching staff since his coaching days for Oklahoma, as Riley announced on Sunday that defensive line coach Shaun Nua and inside linebackers coach Brian Odom will serve as interim co-defensive coordinators for the remainder of the season.

There’s no question that USC’s defense the last two seasons, and defenses historically at large under Riley, have underachieved. Which On3’s Andy Staples unpacked and reacted to following the firing for Grinch.

“The same complaints that followed Grinch from Oklahoma followed him to USC, it’s trying to use players that are probably too small for their position,” Staples said. “I was talking to a former player who watched Grinch closely at Oklahoma and has watched from afar at USC who said it feels like Grinch’s whole philosophy is to avoid blocks when sometimes you just have to take on blocks and overcome them. That’s what Georgia does, Alabama does, Ohio State does, Michigan does, they try to just bulldoze you at times. USC never did that.” Staples said.”

USC ranks 109th in the nation in yards per play allowed with 6.1 and 124th in scoring defense allowing 34.5 points per game, showing regression following a season where Grinch’s defense struggled and let their offense down in the eyes of Staples.

“So at this point, USC has now wasted two years with Caleb Williams. The Heisman Trophy-winning season last year where had the defense played even halfway decent in the Pac-12 Championship game, USC probably would’ve made the College Football Playoff, would’ve won a conference title,” Staples said. “This year even an adequate defense would have USC still in the mix probably for a Pac-12 title, but you saw a shootout against Washington where they just couldn’t compete.”

Staples and others like former USC quarterback Matt Leinhart touched on how Grinch’s defensive scheme was complex and particularly a challenge for their younger players, resulting in players being out of position and the success of offense despite improved personnel on the defensive side of the ball.

“USC still has really good players, they have very good athletes. Is there a chance that these guys can simply the defense? Just play something somewhat vanilla and get better results?” Staples asked.

It will be interesting to see if the Trojans’ defense can show some semblance of improvement this weekend, as they face yet another elite Pac-12 opponent this Saturday as they hit the road to face Oregon.