USC’s defense this season has been the poster child for doing just enough to get by. It’s a group that at one point or another has led the country in takeaways and sacks. It’s a group that was on a turnover-producing tear over the first four weeks of the season.

But it’s also a group that ranks…

  • 83rd nationally in pass defense (7.4 yards per pass allowed)
  • 100th in run defense (4.5 yards per carry allowed)
  • 109th in defensive efficiency (6.1 yards per play allowed)
  • 105th in third-down defense (42.4% conversion rate allowed)
  • 96th in fourth-down defense (59.1% conversion rate allowed)
  • 91st in red zone defense (64.1% touchdown rate allowed)

When the turnovers haven’t presented themselves, teams have usually been able to move the ball and put points on the board. In the last two weeks, that has meant late comeback attempts from teams USC should have put away earlier. Coach Lincoln Riley says the offense deserves some criticism for what he has felt has been an inability at times to complement what the defense is doing when that side of the ball is clicking.

“The thing this team has done a phenomenal job of up to this point — I mean phenomenal, it’s why we’ve had a chance to win every single game — is we’ve rarely had stretches where we didn’t play well on both sides,” Riley said this week. “It’s typically been the defense is playing really well — and there’s tons of examples — and the offense is sputtering along. And we’ve had a few obviously vice versa too.”

Defensive coordinator Alex Grinch came from Oklahoma with Riley. And Riley trusts him to do at USC what he helped do at Oklahoma.

In 2018, OU gave up 40 points or more in five of its last six games. Grinch was brought over from Ohio State in the offseason to turn things around. That next season, OU had a stretch where it gave up 48, 41, and 31 in consecutive games, but the overall season average for points allowed was cut by a touchdown (from 33.3 to 27.3). The following year, OU’s defense again improved its bottom line — allowing 21.7 points a game.

“Alex is a pro. This is not Alex’s first rodeo,” Riley said. “We’re not gonna back off of the high expectations that we have in all parts of this. Alex feels the same way, I feel the same way, we all feel the same way. Honestly, after last week, we all feel about the same. I mean, we stunk offensively in the first half, we stunk defensively in the second half.”

The Trojans are looking for a complete game against Colorado.

“Just finishing obviously,” said defensive lineman Tuli Tuipulotu, via Inside Troy. “The past couple weeks we’ve been not doing too well in the second half, so we’ve got to execute and just finish the game off, especially when the offense puts us up by a lot.

“We just needed to finish on the ball. A lot of our guys were there except for the blown coverages, but I thought our guys were there, on the ball. We can’t miss tackles. We can’t let them catch it. We’ve got to finish at the ball for sure.”

The eighth-ranked Trojans (8-1, 6-1 Pac-12) host the Buffs (1-8, 1-5 Pac-12) Friday at 6:30 p.m. PT on FS1.