Alex Grinch has been with Lincoln Riley for each of the past four seasons — three at Oklahoma, this one at USC. None of those four seasons have produced a national championship or even an appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. This is what Riley and Grinch aspire to. They haven’t gotten over the hump yet.

While it’s true that this season was unlikely to deliver USC — and its coaches — a national title game appearance, it remains that getting overpowered and outworked in a conference championship game, with a playoff spot hanging in the balance, will sting for Alex Grinch.

What stings even more is that the same opponent gave Grinch and USC the same problems. Dalton Kincaid, Cam Rising, and the Utah offensive line dominated USC’s defense twice. The Trojans couldn’t tackle the Utes twice. The Men of Troy lost to the Utes twice.

It is understandable that USC fared poorly against Utah in Year 1 under the new coaching staff. The Trojans didn’t have the dudes they needed, and people in and around the program were aware of that.

However: The end product was still very bad against a chief Pac-12 contender. That won’t simply slide away and become ignored. It has to be dealt with.

People are upset, and they should be. It’s not as though Grinch — despite knowing he didn’t have a fully-stocked cupboard — should get a free pass. He should be cut some slack, but he should still be scrutinized. He’ll also be the first one to admit this.

Let’s look at that scrutiny from fans and analysts after the 47-24 loss to Utah.

NATIONAL SPORTSWRITER

WOLVES ARE OUT

REPUTATION

OVERSTATED, BUT HE ISN'T ONE OF THE VERY BEST, EITHER

MANY ARE SAYING THIS

OUCH

THIS IS A FAIR POINT

BELOW THE BELT, THIS

OVERDONE

IT CERTAINLY WASN'T GOOD

YES -- GET SOME BETTER PLAYERS

NOT REALLY

SERVICEABLE ISN'T BAD (BUT NOT GREAT, EITHER)

TRUE

THE VULTURES ARE SWOOPING IN

NO, BUT IT COULD SEARCH FOR OPTIONS AND KICK SOME TIRES

NO

THIS IS FAIR

SOMETIMES, BUT NOT ALWAYS

MISTER GRINCH

INEVITABLE

Story originally appeared on Trojans Wire