USC strength coach Bennie Wylie doesn’t let the Trojans get through a weight room workout without hearing about their defensive shortcomings last season.

He reminds the Trojan defenders — both returning players and newcomers — of their national rankings last season. USC was 93rd in points surrendered per game. USC was 117th in run defense (by yards per carry). USC was 124th in defensive efficiency, giving up more than 6.5 yards per play.

Yes, the Trojans were among the most opportunistic teams in the country at taking the football away — their 28 takeaways ranked sixth nationally — but opponents were either giving USC the football back via a turnover or a kickoff.

USC was bottom-10 in the FBS in forcing punts.

“It is what it is,” said first-year linebacker Mason Cobb during his appearance at Pac-12 Media Day. “Coach Wylie mentions, ‘Hey, you guys weren’t here (but) it’s also your fault. It’s not just these guys’ fault.’ Everyone’s motivated by last year. … We talk about it every day because that’s the reality.”

Head coach Lincoln Riley faced mounting pressure after back-to-back losses to close out the year to part ways with defensive coordinator Alex Grinch.

The two came to USC together from Oklahoma, and some of the same issues that plagued Riley’s College Football Playoff teams at OU popped up at USC. But Riley backed Grinch and has impressed upon anyone who will listen that he expects improved play from that side of the ball in Year 2.

“We feel like we learned a lot in Year 1,” Riley said Friday. “We took some tremendous steps, but also had some very obvious holes to fill, improvements to be made. We feel like we’ve aggressively addressed a lot of those areas.”

That involved bringing in Cobb to add to the depth at linebacker. That meant bringing in SEC bodies along the defensive line in Bear Alexander and Anthony Lucas. That meant adding to the secondary with Tre’Quon Fegans and Christian Rolland-Wallace. Kyon Barrs and Jamil Muhammad also joined the front seven.

“We want to be the best defense in the Pac-12,” said Cobb. “I want to be the best defense in the country. We’re not settling for third, fourth in the Pac-12, we want No. 1 in everything. That’s a goal for us this year.”