No. 6 Trojans understand defense will make or break Pac-12, CFP title hopes

By DAN GREENSPAN
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — There was one message Southern California defensive coordinator Alex Grinch tried to hammer home last season.

“Listen, if we don’t play 60 minutes of football games, you cannot be a champion. It will not happen,” Grinch said.

The Trojans found out the hard way, losing in the Pac-12 title game before melting down in the Cotton Bowl to sour what had been one of the best turnarounds in recent college football memory.

Going into its second season under Grinch, No. 6 USC understands it must be better on defense, especially in crunch time, to contend for a conference championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff.

“We get it,” safety Bryson Shaw said. “We know the position we’re in as a defense here. We know what we got on the offensive side of the ball. We know it’s on us.”

Heading into the season opener hosting San Jose State on Saturday, Grinch is still stung by a defense that gave up 45.3 points per game in two losses to Utah and the postseason defeat to Tulane. That included 54 combined points in the fourth quarter, with the Green Wave overcoming a 15-point deficit in the final 4:30.

“Every place I’ve ever coached we’d have that conversation about the fourth quarter,” Grinch said. “Man, 15 minutes can change your career, 15 minutes can change a season. I guess call it a positive, but only if the message is received, is now we have a visual.”

Grinch and his staff evaluated every part of the defense in the offseason, even digging into practice film in hopes of identifying the causes of those issues.

USC also went back into the transfer portal to upgrade the roster. Notable additions included Oklahoma State linebacker Mason Cobb and Arizona cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace, but the main emphasis was on improving the defensive line and pass rush.

The Trojans added former touted recruits in Bear Alexander from Georgia and Anthony Lucas from Texas A&M with prototypical size and standout athleticism. They found proven contributors at the power conference level in Jack Sullivan from Purdue and Kyon Barrs, who was named second-team All-Pac-12 last year for the Wildcats. Jamil Muhammad, an edge defender who had 11 tackles for loss with 7 1/2 sacks in the past two seasons at Georgia State, brings tantalizing upside.

“Most every one of those guys that you’re going to get in a transfer portal is a guy that you think can compete right now for a starting spot. I don’t really see a benefit otherwise if you don’t feel that way,” outside linebackers coach Roy Manning said.

There are also freshmen that look to be capable of contributing immediately, the most prominent being inside linebacker Tackett Curtis. A consensus top-150 national recruit from Louisiana, Curtis chose USC over Ohio State and Wisconsin among other notable schools.

“He’ll have a major part in the defense,” Grinch said.

The coaches all believe these newcomers have raised the overall talent level and depth for the Trojans, which should allow the defense to perform better in those critical moments late in games.

The challenge, Manning said, is turning those hopes into reality.

“We want to finish games,” Manning said. “This entire offseason — you probably have heard it — ‘the longer it goes, the better we get.’ Just engraining that into our memory banks, our mindsets, our fibers that we’ve got to get stronger as games go on, you know what I mean, because that’s really what it takes to play championship level football.”

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