3 takeaways from USC's Cotton Bowl loss to Tulane: Is Alex Grinch's job in jeopardy?

'We didn't play good enough today. ... the lack of just not tackling to the level that we would expect is very, very alarming.' - Lincoln Riley

ARLINGTON, Texas — USC’s terrific bounce-back season came to a dramatic close with a 46-45 Cotton Bowl loss to Tulane on Monday.

Lincoln Riley’s first season as head coach of the Trojans was largely a success, but the way this game ended makes it all feel a bit disappointing.

The Trojans scored 45 points, maintained the ball for 39 minutes and 49 seconds, and ran 84 of the game’s 136 total offensive plays. Caleb Williams threw for 462 yards and a Cotton Bowl record five touchdowns. Meanwhile, Tulane completed just eight passes the entire game.

That should be a formula for success, save for extreme circumstances like an opponent scoring multiple defensive touchdowns, yet Tulane pounded the ground game and broke big play after big play on the way to humiliating a lackluster USC defense.

Here are three takeaway's from USC's Cotton Bowl collapse:

IF ALEX GRINCH WASN'T ON THE HOT SEAT BEFORE ...

A ton of new faces came to USC’s locker room over the last 12 months, from Lincoln Riley to Caleb Williams to a plethora of talented transfers and a new staff of coaches. There’s no doubt the Trojans had a very impressive season given all the new blood in the building, and it was a huge improvement from 2021.

However, nobody right now is feeling excited about USC’s 11 regular season wins, the last of which came more than five weeks ago in Los Angeles and feels about as distant as the legendary Pete Carroll teams.

In most cases, first-year coaches are given the benefit of the doubt: they need time to get the high school players they’ve recruited into the building before they can be fairly evaluated.

But USC's defense, which features at least one NFL-caliber player at all three levels, just put up one of the sorriest performances of this college football season. Again, Tulane completed eight passes the entire game and still amassed 539 yards of total offense.

It’s not for a lack of talent defensively, though there is still room for improvement from a recruiting standpoint. This falls almost entirely on Alex Grinch, USC’s defensive coordinator.

When asked about Grinch postgame, Lincoln Riley said he’s not ready to make any “big-picture assessments” yet, but said he would “take a deep dive into every part” of the program and admitted the defense was very weak.

“We didn't play good enough today. We gave up -  the big plays obviously, and the lack of just not tackling to the level that we would expect is very, very alarming and something that we've got to do a much better job of,” Riley said.

Tuli Tuipulotu was the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and racked up 12.5 sacks this season. Shane Lee and Eric Gentry are more than capable linebackers, and even former four-star recruit Raesjon Davis contributed at times Monday. Calen Bullock is one of the most promising young defensive backs in the country, and Mekhi Blackmon had an all around excellent year.

Grinch’s commitment to an overly-conservative defensive scheme that just doesn’t work is the only explanation for a talented group to play so poorly and get flat out run over by what was supposed to be an inferior opponent.

With four minutes and 23 seconds left on the clock, Tulane’s Michael Pratt had completed just three passes, and USC led the game by 15 points. Still, Grinch refused to put a third linebacker on the field, and stubbornly took his nickel and dime defense to USC’s grave.

At a certain point, he just has to stack the box and make opposing quarterbacks beat his team over the top. It is unacceptable to give up 305 rushing yards and seven rushes of 10-plus yards - including three of 40-plus - without making a schematic adjustment.

“Again, our tackling hurt us,” Riley said. “300 yards-plus rushing, I mean, that's the entire game right there, and we didn't do a good enough job at it obviously. And you don't tackle good players and a good running back, that's what happens.”

There’s an argument that with better recruits in the building, maybe Grinch’s scheme can work out. But after Monday's abysmal performance on national television, high school recruits certainly are not going to be eager to play for him.

With the best player and sometimes the best offense in college football, the Trojans couldn’t win big games. This is USC’s ceiling until a glaring weakness on defense is fixed.

CALEB WILLIAMS WAS SPECTACULAR

Williams and the offense were the bright spot for the Trojans, not that there was ever a question about USC’s ability to move the ball or put points on the board.

The Heisman Trophy winner didn’t have much to say after this one, and how could he? He played as well as any quarterback possibly could and led his offense to six touchdowns and just under 600 yards.

Riley’s offense somehow managed to score quickly with explosive plays, score slowly while chewing the clock, and do everything it wanted to against Tulane’s defense.

Brendan Rice had a phenomenal game with 174 yards and two touchdowns, including several critical plays in high-pressure situations. Tahj Washington also racked up over 100 yards, and nine different Trojans caught passes from Williams.

Raleek Brown got to show some of his burst on a 39-yard touchdown carry and finished with 61 yards on six touches.

But once again, USC's explosive offense wasn't enough to win a big game.

SPECIAL TEAMS, DEFENSE NEED TO BE FIXED

The Cotton Bowl felt like a replay of the first Utah game. USC jumped out to an early 14-point lead against Tulane, which they quickly blew. Then they managed to regain another 14-point lead by halftime, only to blow that one just as quickly as the first. Then with under five minutes remaining, USC gave up two touchdowns and a safety to surrender a 15-point lead in unbelievable fashion.

As good as Riley’s offense is, USC has never felt complete at any point in the season. Games never really felt in control, and this one was no different. When it’s so easy to score, all a team has to do is put up some semblance of a fight defensively, and 45 points should be enough to win games comfortably.

But USC’s defense is a doormat in the run game. They can’t make tackles at any level of the field, and they just can’t get off the field without relying on turnovers. Tulane punted once in this entire game.

Special teams is a nightmare, and Riley refuses to designate a coaching spot to this part of the game. Special teams won’t win you games, but they can lose you games. A poor effort in this area of the game combined with some questionable decision-making from Riley were key factors in the loss to Tulane, defensive shortcomings aside.

Riley sent Denis Lynch out to attempt a 52-yard field goal early in the third quarter, which came up laughably short. Alex Stadhaus hooked a kickoff out of bounds to set up an easy score for Tulane. And potentially the worst gaffe was Mario Williams’ inexplicable decision to field a kickoff at the one-yard line while sprinting towards the sideline. That mistake led directly to a late-game safety.

Several other kick return opportunities for the Trojans cost USC field position, starting primarily with Raleek Brown being a bit too confident in his ability to get the ball past the 25.

USC leaned into the passing game all day and struggled to move the ball on the ground, with Austin Jones averaging just 2.8 yards per carry on 22 touches. Not to mention USC was missing two starting interior offensive linemen, and the position group was shifted around as a result. So why did Riley call a run on the one-yard line with three minutes to play?

Yes, Riley is an offensive guru, and great quarterbacks and players want to play for him, but there’s more to it than that. USC has struggled with the same things all year: closing games, tackling, special teams.

“The line to finish and win these big games like we had here at the end, it's so thin, man. It's a fine line,” Riley said. “It's one play here or there, and it changes everything.”

“We know what we need to get better at as a program. We have to finish better. And we didn't get that done enough this year.”