Sunday’s Takeaway: Taking Responsibility

Taking accountability and responsibility for one’s actions is something I put a lot of stock and value on. I live by the philosophy that one’s best ability is their accountability. So if USC’s head coach and certain players can meet with the media following a win, then so should the coaching coordinators.

But that’s not how Lincoln Riley likes to run his program. It’s his and he’s being paid well to make the big-boy decisions.

However, with that said.–

The last person I wanted to hear from after USC (barely) hung on to beat Colorado 48-41 was starting safety, Bryson Shaw. And it had absolutely nothing to do with Shaw’s performance on the field. He gave maximum effort on the road even if he felt like he let his position coach down.

Shaw will be the first to tell you, “Coach Grinch, he’s doing a great job. We’re letting him down. Point blank, period, we’re letting him down. I don’t know what to tell you all. As players, we’re letting him down. He’s putting us in the right spots. We’re not making plays. We’re missing tackles. We’re not doing our job. I’m not doing my job. We’re letting him down.”

Shaw isn’t a team captain, nor is he in charge of the defense.

However, he was recruited and played defense for Ohio St. when Grinch was coaching the Buckeyes. And while I appreciate Shaw’s candor, loyalty, and strong leadership qualities, he shouldn’t be the one facing the media scrum.

And not because he may be biased. I’m just not sure what Bryson can say that will change the opinions of the “untrained eye” that he hasn’t already said before.

The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same.

“It’s not really the same issues though,” Riley said when asked what’s going into the USC defense continuing to have the same problems. “I don’t agree with it…When something doesn’t go our way, it doesn’t look like last year. Not to the trained eye. Not to a coach. We’ve still got plenty to correct. But no, it doesn’t look like last year. There’s a lot that’s improved and we’ve got to obviously put it all together.”

There has been a lot that’s improved, most notably the depth on defense and the play up front at the defensive line.

But even if Lincoln Riley disagrees that this year’s defense isn’t facing the same challenges that plagued last season’s team. There are a lot of untrained eyes that are seeing the same issues and disagree.

Last year, the Trojan defense had issues making a tackle. A year later in Boulder, Colorado, according to PFF, the USC defense was credited with 18 missed tackles.

In 2022, USC had difficulty getting off the field on 3rd downs. On Saturday, Colorado converted 12 of their 14 third down chances of six yards or shorter.

The Trojans’ defense in 2022 had challenges stopping their opponents from running the ball.

Then how can anyone say there is no correlation between last year’s run defense and the one that allowed Colorado to rush for 200 yards?

Following USC’s win over Colorado, the Buffaloes run game jumped 5 spots from the bottom of the ranking.

Two weeks ago the Trojans were the No. 5 ranked team in the country, and now, for the second week in a row after winning on the road both times, USC fell in the polls. The Trojans are now ranked No. 9. Um, coach, I think it’s time for USC to start sending a message.

I had already heard from the person in charge of the offense who stopped scoring in the 2nd half after the team put up 34 first-half points when Riley and both team captains talked after the game. “Didn’t play a very good second half on any of the three sides,” Riley said. “We did the things that you don’t do when you’re trying to finish out a good opponent on the road.”

Coach Prime Time’s team has some talented players, I agree. But Coach, c’mon, they’re not a good team. Although I will concede, the Buffaloes are developing and getting better every week.

That is something Trojan fans were hoping to see for their team as well.

However, even though 48 points should be enough to win on the road against a team whose defense was statistically worse than USC’s. I wanted to hear from the person in charge of a defense explain how a 41-14 lead with 6 minutes left in the 3rd quarter nearly disappeared completely.

Alex Grinch should be the one answering questions about the Trojans’ defense. It shouldn’t be one of the team’s players who is still full of adrenaline and is taking it personally.

I understand Coach Riley wants to let his coordinators review the film before speaking and dissecting what was good and what needs a lot of work. However, those film review sessions aren’t helping identify the same problems from last season that have carried over to this season.

And every time USC squanders away a big lead and a chance to send a message, there’s a bigger picture that’s being overlooked. Lincoln Riley is losing the chance to develop weekly by rotating in younger players who could use the valuable reps on the field. And by extension, hurt recruiting.

“I have full faith in our defense and I know we’re going to get this fixed, for sure,” Shaw said.

But whose responsibility is it to get it fixed?

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