Alex Grinch faces his first true crisis at USC
Alex Grinch did a tremendous job as USC’s defensive coordinator in the first six weeks of the 2022 college football season. USC’s defense was generally ordinary … but that’s the point: Ordinary was actually a great outcome for this group, which was widely expected to be bad.
Clay Helton left behind a total mess on the defensive side of the ball. This wasn’t going to get fixed all at once. There were holes on the roster which needed to be filled. This year was going to be a bumpy ride. We all knew it.
In light of that reality, what Grinch did in the first six weeks of the season was special and very impressive.
The last three weeks have been closer to what many people expected.
It raises some questions and talking points, which we will address below:
RECENT PATTERN
Tactically, Grinch has been smoked in recent weeks. He was expecting the run against Utah and Cal, but those two teams threw the ball a lot more than he anticipated, and he didn’t adjust. It became very easy for Utah and Cal to throw the ball. They both threw for over 400 yards.
SECOND HALVES
Utah and Cal both lit up USC’s defense in the second half. Grinch made good halftime adjustments in the first six games of the season. That has not been in evidence recently.
SECONDARY
The performance of the secondary has truly regressed. Ceyair Wright got torched for a big gain against Cal. Grinch had to shuffle personnel in the secondary, and nothing really worked. It was a low point for a group which struggled against Utah and Arizona.
IN DEFENSE OF GRINCH:
i need domani to stay healthy next year and be who i know he can be on the outside.
— shonnus (@kingshaundiz) November 6, 2022
NOTABLE
https://twitter.com/BrianGrummell/status/1589117820440571906
ERIC GENTRY
It sure seems that Gentry was the piece which made this defense work. That can’t be overlooked.
THE GENTRY FACTOR
Cal got a lot of completions and yards on slants. Those are the kinds of passes Gentry defended well with his long strides and long arms, getting deflections and covering a lot of ground.
THIRD DOWN AND LONG
Cal had 3rd and 8 or longer on several different occasions on Saturday and converted (this includes having third and long and then converting fourth down). Allowing third-and-long conversions are never good, but against Cal’s meager offense? That’s a five-alarm fire.
CAL DROUGHT ENDED
Cal hadn’t scored that many points (34) since its 49-31 win over Arizona several weeks ago. USC woke up Cal’s slumbering offense. That’s embarrassing.
CAL TD DRIVES
Four of Cal’s touchdown drives on Saturday were 73 yards or longer. It’s not as though Cal scored cheap points. It steadily moved the ball.
RALEN GOFORTH
The Gentry injury is very significant. The Domani Jackson injury matters. Ralen Goforth’s absence is also important. It’s an interesting thought exercise to assign a level of importance to Goforth with and without Gentry in the lineup.
KOREY FOREMAN
Foreman’s health has been a question for much of the season, but it’s also true that when playing, Foreman has not been making much of an impact.
Is it simply the case that Foreman is a bust, or is there a player development component here which belongs on Grinch and the defensive staff?
I’m not sure. What matters: This is a significant deficit for USC, not getting much of anything from Foreman. The Trojans could sorely use him.
DOUBLE-DIGIT MISSED TACKLES
USC missed 11 tackles according to an immediate statistical analysis of the Cal game. That’s three straight games with at least 11 missed tackles. The numbers were much higher against Utah and Arizona, but 11 is still far too many.
DOUBLE WHAMMY
We can all see that USC’s defense is worse with no fully healthy starting linebackers. Shane Lee is playing at less than 100-percent health.
However, injuries don’t fully explain the regression in the secondary and the failure to dominate a bad Cal offensive line.
Grinch is working with an undermanned roster which already had limitations before the injuries hit. However, it’s also clear he isn’t adjusting. It’s bad at both ends right now.
THE BIG WORRY
USC allowed 62 points to UCLA last year. If the Trojans get similarly torched by the Bruins this year, it would undo a lot of the good work Grinch did through the Washington State game on Oct. 8.
