USC Football: Coach May Need To Be Canned For "Soft" Play Of Current Trojans

A weakness of the 2023 roster.

USC head coach Lincoln Riley hasn't had the best showing this season, and part of the blame may fall on his staff. 

Plenty of critics of Alex Grinch's defense have voiced their concerns for the coordinator, but another coach could also be causing more problems than fans may think. 

USC’s strength and conditioning coach is presiding over a team that has been very soft in 2023. If the strength coach isn’t creating strong players, you do the math. USC has to be tougher and stronger over the next month. If not, Wylie absolutely has to go. Many would say — and we would agree — that Grinch and Wylie both need to be fired. However, unless USC somehow wins six straight games to finish 12-1 (which seems virtually impossible at this point), everyone should be able to agree that at least one of Grinch or Wylie must be fired. Either the players aren’t strong, or they aren’t being coached well. It has to be at least one of the two. It can’t be neither.

via Matt Zemek, Trojans Wire

USC hasn't convincingly won the battle in the trenches since their dominant victory over Stanford over a month ago. 

All four of the Trojans' proceeding games have either cut it way too close or resulted in utter disaster, as shown by Notre Dame's dominant win over them. 

Twenty-eight points separated the Men of Troy from the Fighting Irish in an unacceptable effort on all fronts against one of USC's most storied rivals. 

Caleb Williams had no time to show his superior talents as the USC offensive line fell apart all night. 

Whenever Williams wasn't on the ground or getting pressured, he got forced into some ugly throws that led to three first-half interceptions. 

If USC truly wants to become the national or even the conference contenders we know they can be, it might start with Wylie's poor coaching this year. 

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