USC was supposed to be tougher this season. The Trojans were supposed to be stronger and more robust on defense. This is Year 2 of Alex Grinch. Players were supposed to be more familiar with the system. The strength and conditioning program was supposed to take effect and create tougher, more durable players. The understandable weaknesses and limitations of Year 1 were supposed to give way to a better product in Year 2.
Unless you want to put a lot of weight and emphasis on a beatdown of Stanford — a really good defensive performance against a really bad team — USC’s defense has not meaningfully improved this season. The Trojans are soft as a pillow. If it doesn’t change, this season will be a failure.
Let’s go deeper into this central, disturbing reality surrounding the Trojans: