College Football

Alex Grinch rescues the USC offense and transforms the Trojans’ season

Alex Grinch rescues the USC offense and transforms the Trojans’ season

There’s a very simple word of football wisdom to ponder on Saturday night, after USC somehow beat Oregon State despite scoring only 17 points, seven of those points set up by a short 26-yard field: You are what you are.

Bill Parcells and other longtime football coaches have been fond of saying that at some point, reality is reality. It might not be what anyone expected, and it might not seem to mesh with months of offseason analysis or a larger understanding of rosters and schemes, but at some point, we have to accept reality for what it is: This USC defense knows how to get turnovers.

It saved the Trojans against Oregon State. Let’s dive into this amazing plot point for USC’s 2022 season:

4 MORE TAKEAWAYS

USC won’t get four takeaways in every game … but the Trojans have gotten four takeaways in three of four games. When you do something so consistently that it keeps showing up over a whole month, it stops being a total fluke. Maybe a partial fluke, but not a total one. There’s something here.

TURNOVER MACHINE

USC players have consistently gotten their hands in passing lanes — Eric Gentry most of all — and when balls are tipped, teammates catch interceptions instead of dropping them. This is a skill. This is the product of good coaching.

DOING IT WHEN IT MATTERS, PART ONE

USC’s takeaways against previous opponents were part of blowouts. This was the first game in which USC gained game-changing and game-sealing turnovers. The takeways contained a higher value against Oregon State.

DOING IT WHEN IT MATTERS, PART TWO

Oregon State was such an important game. Getting turnovers against Rice and Stanford? Nice, but not a huge deal. Getting turnovers in a tense, close, season-shaping game against Oregon State? The turnovers matter more when they come under these circumstances. We told you that if USC…

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