One of the things we wrote last year about Alex Grinch at USC was that the Trojans were not Georgia. They had not arrived. They were still in a building phase on defense. They couldn’t rise to Georgia’s standard in one year. They had to develop an identity. They couldn’t think they were more advanced than they actually were.
Here’s what we said after the 2023 season opener against San Jose State:
“It stands to reason that at a program which has established an elite national championship standard on defense, it’s a lot more reasonable to teach concepts at a high level. Players have demonstrated they can absorb information, process it, and execute the plan on Saturdays.
“USC isn’t nearly as advanced in its ability to process defensive concepts. One could say USC isn’t advanced at all. Why would Alex Grinch try to include so much complexity in the equation this early in the season, instead of developing a steady, slowly escalating build?
“This could be intentional, but even if it is intentional, it just doesn’t come across as the right sequencing for USC.”
It seems Lincoln Riley learned a lot about improving process and not thinking solely about results. We’ll explain this point below: