Alex Grinch and the USC defense are preparing for a Cotton Bowl matchup with Tulane that presents the Trojans an opportunity to win a 12th game for the first time since Pete Carroll left town.

USC beat UCLA and Notre Dame this season. It went to the Pac-12 Championship Game in Year 1 under head coach Lincoln Riley. Quarterback Caleb Williams claimed the Heisman Trophy as the sport’s most outstanding player. The ceiling is the roof going into 2023.

But a Cotton Bowl appearance is not a College Football Playoff berth, and the Trojans were within a game of the latter. USC has two losses on the year, both to Utah, both of which featured more than 40 points surrendered by the defense.

Asked this week what he felt the defense accomplished in Year 1, Grinch was blunt.

“The answer is not enough,” he said. “You’re charged with having a championship-level defense at USC. You signed up for that.”

“We played good enough defense 11 times. We didn’t play good enough defense two times, but I don’t take a lot of solace in that. We were expected to have a championship-level defense, and we weren’t able to do that in the ‘22 season.”

USC took the ball away at a strong rate this season and largely lived off that reputation. The defense was entirely too “bend, don’t break” in every other way, though, that when the turnovers weren’t there, USC’s shortcomings were laid bare.

The defense ranked 119th nationally in yards allowed per play. It was equally poor defending both the run and the pass, ranking outside the top 100 nationally in both rushing yards and passing yards allowed per play.

In the title game, USC gave up 533 yards of offense and a season-high 47 points. Utah fumbled the ball early, but that was it. In the second half, the Utes scored touchdowns on four of their last six possessions, including each of the final three.

“If you’re not careful, you default to just being OK,” Grinch said. “It pains me to say that that’s where we’ve been the bulk of the year. We’re still learning. You try to bend reality to the situation you’re in. We had an opportunity to play for a championship, and we couldn’t bend reality far enough to get that thing done.

“In terms of how we practice, what we preach, what we do, we won’t change a lick. If you call yourself a good coach, you have to believe in the things you’re coaching.”

Grinch and the USC defense get one more chance to leave a good impression on Monday when they take on Tulane. Kickoff at the Cotton Bowl is set for 10 a.m. PT on ESPN.