Tag: USC Football

Trojans Wired podcast reacts to the firing of Alex Grinch at USC

We react to the big news story of the week.

Alex Grinch easily could have been fired two weeks earlier than he actually was. The Utah game could have been cause for Lincoln Riley to act.

Remember this?

“However, just in case Lincoln Riley is unsure about all of this — just in case he wants to find a way to justify keeping Grinch on his staff — he and USC athletic director Jennifer Cohen might have been given enough evidence to admit they don’t have any other choice.

“Grinch might have fired himself. He might have made it easy for Riley and Cohen to finally act.”

What we were referring to in the Utah game was Grinch specifically saying he hadn’t seen Utah use a wheel route on film. The Utah-Cal game film from the week before directly showed that the Utes had, in fact, used a wheel route. Grinch basically failed to look at all of Utah’s game film from Cal. That was a fireable offense. Riley chose to wait two more weeks after USC gave up 52 points to Washington.

Finally, it happened. On our latest podcast, we react to the big news at USC. Ian Hest co-hosted and produced the show:

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Bucky Irving figures to be a problem for USC’s run defense

Bucky Irving is tough to bring down.

Oregon will host USC in Autzen Stadium for the first time since 2015 on Saturday night, as the Ducks hope to keep their Pac-12 Championship Game and College Football Playoff hopes alive.

UO is currently the highest-ranked one-loss team in the CFP rankings. The Ducks will put an 8-1 overall record on the line against one of the nation’s top offenses and the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, Caleb Williams.

A key to victory on Saturday night will be to keep USC’s offense off the field by running the ball. The ground game will drive the Ducks’ offense, starting with Bucky Irving.

Oregon running back Mar’Keise “Bucky” Irving transferred to Oregon from Minnesota after his true freshman season. He quickly became a star player in the Ducks’ explosive, high-powered offense. He has averaged over 7.5 yards per touch in each of his two seasons in Eugene.

The Ducks have proven to be one of the most balanced and efficient teams in the nation. Oregon leads the country in scoring offense (47.4 PPG) and ranks 11th in scoring defense (16.0 PPG). UO is one of just three teams (Georgia, SMU) in the top 20 for both total offense (2nd, 538.7 YPG) and total defense (18th, 301.7 YPG).

USC ranks 118th in rushing defense out of 130 FBS teams. Washington running back Dillion Johnson ran for 256 yards and four touchdowns, both career highs, against USC last weekend.

Bear Alexander and the Trojans will have their work cut out to say the least versus the Ducks’ run game.

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Oregon’s Tez Johnson is a key player to watch in Ducks’ battle vs USC

USC will have its hands full here.

The Oregon Ducks have a lot of firepower. Bo Nix, Bucky Irving, Troy Franklin and Tez Johnson have been outstanding skill-position players all year. This week should be no different when they play the USC Trojans and their bottom-tier defense.

Recently, a young star has risen and become one of the favorite targets of Oregon quarterback Bo Nix. He happens to be Nix’s adopted brother and former high school teammate, Tez Johnson.

Johnson, a junior receiver and punt returner who transferred to Oregon after last season, delivered an eye-popping performance in the Ducks’ 63-19 rout of Cal on Saturday at Autzen Stadium. He produced a career-high 12 catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns. Johnson also returned three punts for 75 yards, including a 47-yard return, the longest in his career.

The junior transfer from Troy University has had a breakout season. Johnson has 46 catches for 599 yards and six touchdowns.

“Tez is a guy that battles every single moment he is on the field,” said Oregon coach Dan Lanning.

Oregon has not faced USC since the 2020 Pac-12 Championship Game, won by the Ducks in Los Angeles.

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Top-5 most watchable college football games of Week 11

We’ve compiled our list of the top-5 most watchable games of Week 11, along with where you can watch them.

The College Football Playoff race is becoming clearer as we enter the final weeks of the regular season, and it’s becoming increasingly likely that we could find ourselves in a situation with more undefeated or one-loss conference champions than there are playoff spots. That means that the remaining contenders have no margin of error from here on out. Every loss could be a knockout blow to a team’s playoff, hopes and that means high-pressure situations week in and week out.

To help you get a handle on which games will have the biggest impact on this dramatic playoff race, as well as which games are worth your time even if they have no impact on the playoffs, we’ve compiled our list of the top-5 most watchable games of Week 11, along with where you can watch them.

Coaching carousel primer for USC’s defensive coordinator search: what to watch for in the coming weeks

It’s that time again!

It’s that time again! USC has to find a coach — not a head coach, but a coordinator. It’s a hugely important search and a defining moment for Lincoln Riley. Alex Grinch got fired, which is undeniably good, but this matters only if Riley and athletic director Jennifer Cohen find an elite replacement for Grinch. Jim Leonhard is the guy most USC fans want. He is also our preferred No. 1 choice as well. However, this is where we have to remind you that a school’s top choice might not want to coach at that school. The interest and desire have to be mutual. If not, USC has to pivot to a second choice, and then a third choice, if the next few candidates say no.

USC needs to be ready and able to have rock-star quality in its fourth, fifth and sixth choices. Cohen and Riley need to have a list in which their various options are all good, and they don’t have a weak choice too high on their menu.

Here is our guide to the ins and outs of this USC defensive coordinator search. It’s a lot more than just having a top target. That’s the easy part. The hard part is when the top target says no and the adjustments have to be made on the fly.

If Jim Leonhard says yes, this is very easy for USC … but we don’t expect Leonhard to say yes. We’ll explain that and a lot more below in this coaching carousel primer:

Taylor Mays will coach USC safeties after Alex Grinch’s firing, an interesting plot point for the Trojans

More from USA TODAY Sports on a plot twist involving the USC coaching staff.

It will be fascinating to see how USC’s defense does or doesn’t change in the final two weeks of the season against Oregon and UCLA. One would expect a simpler scheme which reduces confusion among USC players. One other interesting development is that a former USC football star will now have a more direct role on the coaching staff.

Jordan Mendoza of USA TODAY Sports has more on this story:

“Defensive analyst Taylor Mays has been elevated to an on-field assistant coach and will work with the (USC) safeties.”

USC’s secondary has been poor this season. There’s just no other way to put it. Taylor Mays having more involvement in coaching the safeties could elicit a higher level of performance. If it does, Mays might be able to stay on the 2024 staff when a new defensive coordinator arrives.

USC has declined under Alex Grinch, as Mendoza outlined here:

“The Trojans entered the season with national championship aspirations, and after a 6-0 start to the season that saw the Trojans rise as high as fifth in the US LBM Coaches Poll, USC has lost three of its last four games and is now unranked. The one win coming in a nail-biting 50-49 against Cal that came after the Golden Bears failed on a two-point conversion in the final minute of the game.”

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Raleek Brown’s future at USC will be a big question heading into the offseason

This is a very important question.

This is a roster question which will loom large for USC in the coming weeks. Raleek Brown, a dynamic 5-foot-8 running back with plenty of speed and obvious potential, got the call to play Saturday night when MarShawn Lloyd got scratched due to injury. The USC Trojans took a 52-42 loss to Washington at home, but it wasn’t due to a lack of offense.

Caleb Williams put on a show passing for 312 yards and three touchdowns for the Trojans (7-3, 5-2), who have lost three of four games.

Brown, in his first action since San Jose State in late August, had 3 carries for 16 yards and a touchdown. He also added 2 catches for 4 yards.

The Mater Dei product racked up 227 rushing yards, 175 receiving yards, and six total touchdowns as a true freshman last year.

He can still play in two more games for USC and preserve his redshirt on the year. With the last three losses the Trojans have absorbed, however, it is probably wise to use him next year instead of this season which is pretty much over. The main question, however, is this: Has Brown privately decided that entering the transfer portal is best for him, or has he fully (personally) committed to USC for 2024? That is a question worth pondering with just two games left in USC’s regular season.

The Trojans still have to compete against Oregon Ducks and the UCLA Bruins.

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Social media reaction to Alex Grinch being fired by USC and Lincoln Riley

People who vented now get to celebrate and express relief: Alex Grinch is out at USC.

So many people believed it would not happen. They would have to see it to believe it. Well, it has happened, and it has been seen. The headlines have appeared. The stories have been published. The announcement is official. There’s no going back.

Alex Grinch is gone at USC.

Lincoln Riley, Jennifer Cohen and USC are moving on. They knew it had to be done, and it was done. Alex Grinch was fired on Sunday afternoon after the latest capitulation from the USC defense, a 52-42 loss that brought Caleb Williams to tears and ruined what was left of the Trojans’ immensely disappointing 2023 season.

There will not be a Pac-12 Championship game appearance. There will not be a New Year’s Six bowl game. There will not be a 10-win regular season. This year is a complete failure.

Grinch, who was retained by Riley in the offseason when most fans hoped for a change at defensive coordinator, caused those failures. Riley did, too, because he essentially said it was fine to bring Grinch back.

You can imagine how social media reacted to this huge story.

Let’s see what people had to say:

ALEX GRINCH FIRED AS USC DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR

Done. Deal.

It has happened, and it has happened quickly. Alex Grinch, whose tenure as USC defensive coordinator brought the Trojans and their fan base nothing but headaches for nearly two full seasons, was fired on Sunday afternoon.

Defensive line coach Shaun Nua and inside linebacker coach Brian Odom will serve as interim co-coordinators for the remainder of the season.

A lot of people thought Lincoln Riley would never, ever fire Alex Grinch, as though the head coach and the defensive coordinator were married.

This isn’t a household. This is a college football program. This is big business. People who were skeptical that Alex Grinch would be fired lost awareness of how untenable this situation had become. There was simply no way out. There was no possible remaining justification for retention. Lincoln Riley ran out of leverage and excuses.

Let’s go through some of the details and immediate reactions to this big story, a story USC fans had been waiting to see:

Caleb Williams wanting to cuddle with his dogs after USC’s loss is the most relatable thing ever

Who DOESN’T want to go home after a long day and spend time with the dogs and Netflix?

The No. 5 Washington Huskies got a massive victory over Pac-12 (for now) rival Southern California on Saturday night. It was a battle between two Heisman hopeful quarterbacks in UW’s Michael Penix Jr. and USC’s Caleb Williams. Offense was definitely on display as the two teams combined for 94 points in a 52-42 Huskies win.

After the game, Williams — who threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for another touchdown in the loss — was understandably emotional and frustrated as the Trojan defense continued to underperform. ABC cameras lingered unnecessarily long on the reigning Heisman winner being consoled by his parents after the loss, but his comments after the game were the most relatable thing ever.

“I want to go home and cuddle with my dog and watch some shows,” Williams said in the postgame press conference.

Who among us hasn’t wanted to just curl up with the pups and turn on Netflix after a bad day?

Williams continued, saying “Like, we lost the game. I work hard throughout months, years to have big games like this, try and go win and play your best, each and every one of us. We came out with a loss today, so emotionally I want to go home and I want to play with my dog.”

Same, Caleb. Same.