If you watched the first half of USC’s regular-season finale against UCLA, you saw play after play in which a Bruin outmuscled a Trojan. It might have been on the line of scrimmage, a true trench battle in which the UCLA line was stronger than the USC line, both offense and defense. It might have been a UCLA defender ripping the ball away from a USC receiver. It might have been a UCLA defensive back outfighting a USC receiver for a downfield pass, gaining an interception. Again and again and again, UCLA showed it had tougher, stronger players than USC.
It is as though a message was being sent to USC head coach Lincoln Riley: “Your players aren’t strong enough. Your philosophy and vision for your strength and conditioning program are manifestly inadequate. You need to bring in a new strength coach and admit your current approach is wrong and insufficient.
USC simply has to fire strength coach Bennie Wylie. This first half against UCLA showed what we have been saying for weeks: This isn’t just an Alex Grinch problem. On the offensive and defensive lines, and on the perimeter, USC just wasn’t strong at all. UCLA was. It’s as simple as that. Wylie has to be fired, and a lot of people inside and outside the USC family agree, as you can see below: