USC fires defensive coordinator Alex Grinch with 2 games left in regular season
Head coach Lincoln Riley dropped his longtime top assistant
Updated: 3:12 PM CST Nov 5, 2023
BEAT YOU AND DON’T LET LET THAT GUY JUST TAKE OVER. YEAH AND THE X’S AND O’S OBVIOUSLY SUPER IMPORTANT. BUT THEN THERE’S ALSO THAT WILL FACTOR, THAT HEART FACTOR THAT ONLY COMES IN HUGE GAMES LIKE THIS. YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT TWO TEAMS THAT REALLY WANT TO GET AFTER IT. A LOT OF OKLAHOMA BORN PLAYERS IN THIS HUGE MATCHUP. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR THEM, THEIR FAMILIES, THEIR THEIR LEGACIES? THE PEOPLE THAT PLAYED BEFORE THEM AND THEIR FAMILIES? THERE’S ALL KINDS OF STORYLINE LINES. SO THAT’S JUST ONE OF THE REASONS WHY THIS GAME JUST MEANS MORE ROLL THE PACKAGE. IF YOUR PARENTS WENT TO OR GREW UP AS FANS OF OKLAHOMA AND OR OKLAHOMA STATE, THEN CONGRATULATIONS. YOU WERE BORN INTO BEDLAM. DEPENDING ON WHO WENT WHERE, YOU MIGHT HAVE HAD A CHOICE ON WHICH TEAM YOU WANTED TO ROOT FOR. BUT IF YOUR DAD JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE ONE OF THE GREATEST HEAD COACHES IN OU FOOTBALL HISTORY, THEN THE CHOICE WAS MADE LONG BEFORE YOU ARRIVED. GROWING UP WATCHING IT, I MEAN, IT’S DEFINITELY A BIG DEAL. AND I KNOW THE MAGNITUDE OF IT FOR SUMNER WIDE RECEIVER DRAKE, STOOPS SON OF BIG GAME, BOB STOOPS. STOOPS HIS HAIR GOT HIM TOUCHDOWN OKLAHOMA THIS WILL BE HIS THIRD AND FINAL TIME PLAYING AGAINST THE COWBOYS AFTER YEARS OF LOOKING UP AT DAD AND WANTING TO BE IN THE GAME. YEAH, I THINK IT’S JUST A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE FROM WATCHING IT AS A KID AND NOT REALLY. I MEAN, OF COURSE WANTING YOU TO WIN BECAUSE MY DAD WAS A COACH, BUT NOW, LIKE BEING IN IT, REALLY HAVING LIKE SOME SKIN IN THE GAME, LIKE PLAYING FOR OKLAHOMA, IT’S DEFINITELY A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON IT. SO OBVIOUSLY THE STOOPS HOUSEHOLD IS A SOONER HOUSEHOLD, BUT FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA, IT’S A LITTLE MORE COMPLICATED. AND MY DAD’S SIDE WAS ALWAYS AN OU FAN, AND THEN MY MOM’S SIDE, MY GRANDPA WAS AN ALUM, MY GREAT GRANDPA WAS AN ALUM, MY UNCLE’S AN ALUM, MY AUNT’S AN ALUM. SO LIKE IT’S ALWAYS BEEN A HOUSE DIVIDED TYPE DEAL. SO JUST GROWING UP WATCHING IT, I JUST WANT TO BE A PART OF IT. AND IT’S JUST I’M JUST THANKFUL TO BE HERE AND BE A PART OF IT. BUT NO MATTER WHICH TEAM YOU ROOT FOR WHEN IT COMES TO BEDLAM, THERE’S ONE THING WE CAN ALL AGREE ON. IF YOU’RE FROM OKLAHOMA, THIS GAME IS PERSONAL. LIKE I GREW UP IN THIS RIVALRY, SO LIKE, IT MEANS A LOT MORE TO ME RATHER THAN SOMEONE WHO’S COMING FROM ANOTHER SCHOOL WHO LIKE IT’S THEIR FIRST YEAR IN THE PROGRAM AND STUFF. SO IT’S LIKE THE FEELINGS MIGHT NOT BE THE SAME, BUT LIKE JUST TEAM WISE, I FEEL LIKE YOU JUST TELL THEM LIKE, LOOK, THIS IS ONE OF THOSE GAMES THAT YOU JUST GO OUT THERE AND YOU JUST PLAY WITH A TON OF JUST ENERGY. I MEAN, ONCE YOU FEEL THAT ENERGY AND ALL THAT STUFF, LIKE IT’S IT'
USC fires defensive coordinator Alex Grinch with 2 games left in regular season
Head coach Lincoln Riley dropped his longtime top assistant
Updated: 3:12 PM CST Nov 5, 2023
Southern California has fired defensive coordinator Alex Grinch with two games left in the Trojans’ disappointing regular season.Head coach Lincoln Riley dropped his longtime top assistant one day after USC (7-3, 5-2 Pac-12) gave up 572 yards and 52 points to No. 5 Washington in the Trojans’ third loss in four games.Open the video player above for other related coverage.USC’s defense has played poorly for the past six games and the Trojans have lost three of their last four to fall out of the College Football Playoff race after a 6-0 start. USC was unranked in Sunday’s AP Top 25 for the first time in Riley’s two-year tenure at the school. Defensive line coach Shaun Nua and inside linebackers Coach Brian Odom will serve as USC’s co-defensive coordinators for the remainder of the season, which includes games against Oregon and UCLA before a bowl game. Taylor Mays, the former USC safety who has been a defensive analyst this season, was promoted to an on-field role working with the Trojans’ safeties. Grinch became Riley’s defensive coordinator at Oklahoma in 2019, and he followed Riley to Los Angeles in late 2021. But Grinch’s defenses have repeatedly lagged behind Riley’s prolific offenses at both schools, and this season’s unit at USC has been thoroughly ineffective despite an influx of talent from the transfer portal.USC has allowed 42.0 points and 483.7 yards per game over its past six contests. The Trojans have fallen to 119th out of the 130 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision this season with 436.9 yards per game allowed, and they’re ranked 121st with 34.5 points per game allowed.Grinch’s first USC defense also struggled, particularly down the stretch while the Trojans lost their final two games. Riley defiantly stuck with Grinch in the offseason over calls for his ouster, but the Trojans only got worse this season.Top Headlines3 people killed in McCurtain County collision Saturday40 year later, former OU band members remember 'the day The Pride won Bedlam'Could lawmakers mandate a yearly Bedlam matchup? It isn't unheard of
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California has fired defensive coordinator Alex Grinch with two games left in the Trojans’ disappointing regular season.
Head coach Lincoln Riley dropped his longtime top assistant one day after USC (7-3, 5-2 Pac-12) gave up 572 yards and 52 points to No. 5 Washington in the Trojans’ third loss in four games.
Open the video player above for other related coverage.
USC’s defense has played poorly for the past six games and the Trojans have lost three of their last four to fall out of the College Football Playoff race after a 6-0 start. USC was unranked in Sunday’s AP Top 25 for the first time in Riley’s two-year tenure at the school.
Defensive line coach Shaun Nua and inside linebackers Coach Brian Odom will serve as USC’s co-defensive coordinators for the remainder of the season, which includes games against Oregon and UCLA before a bowl game. Taylor Mays, the former USC safety who has been a defensive analyst this season, was promoted to an on-field role working with the Trojans’ safeties.
Grinch became Riley’s defensive coordinator at Oklahoma in 2019, and he followed Riley to Los Angeles in late 2021. But Grinch’s defenses have repeatedly lagged behind Riley’s prolific offenses at both schools, and this season’s unit at USC has been thoroughly ineffective despite an influx of talent from the transfer portal.
USC has allowed 42.0 points and 483.7 yards per game over its past six contests. The Trojans have fallen to 119th out of the 130 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision this season with 436.9 yards per game allowed, and they’re ranked 121st with 34.5 points per game allowed.
Grinch’s first USC defense also struggled, particularly down the stretch while the Trojans lost their final two games. Riley defiantly stuck with Grinch in the offseason over calls for his ouster, but the Trojans only got worse this season.
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