USC’s lack of progress on defense compelled Lincoln Riley to fire coordinator Alex Grinch

Lincoln Riley said he hadn't seen much progress or improvement from Southern California's defense since the previous November, and that's why he finally decided to fire coordinator Alex Grinch. Riley acknowledged Monday that he felt exactly the same way as most of his team's fans while the USC defense badly failed to match its offense's excellence this season, culminating in three losses in the Trojans' last four games. "We simply weren’t making the progress that we all expected we would make,” Riley said after the Trojans’ first practice to prepare for their trip to No. 6 Oregon.