USC Football needs to fire Alex Grinch after Cotton Bowl collapse

USC Football's defense was just incredibly embarrassing in the Cotton Bowl, with Alex Grinch's group giving up 46 points and 539 total yards.

They were up 45-30 with 4:30 left in the contest, and SC then gave up a two play touchdown drive. Then, SC had a safety after a muffed kick return that went out of bounds and gave the Trojans the ball at the one yard line. Then, SC gave up two 4th down conversions on a three minute and 11 second drive to give the Green Wave another seven points and a win.

It was an unbelievable collapse by the Trojans, who now drop each of their last two games of the season after winning 11 of their first 12. The offense dominated on Monday, scoring 45 points behind Heisman QB Caleb Williams' 460 passing yards and five passing touchdowns. The defense, however, allowed NINE yards per rush and 13(!) yards per pass attempt.

This is absolutely a fireable offense for Grinch. Yes, USC was without their two best offensive linemen. Yes, USC was without Jordan Addison. Yes, there were concerns about whether USC was going to be motivated to play in this game, with how close they were to playing in the College Football Playoff. But the reality is that there is no excuse to lose like that for Grinch, after there had already been so many concerns about the defense heading into the game.

USC Football needs to fire Alex Grinch after the Cotton Bowl.

Alex Grinch had far too many ups and downs to start his career as a defensive coordinator for USC Football to give him a long leash when he was brought on to coach the Trojans, so he needs to be fired after a putrid season for his side of the ball. This was not a fluke performance from his crew. SC came into the game 81st in the country with 27.92 points per game allowed.

SC also came into the game 101st in yards allowed per game with 415.1. Somehow, those averages will be worse with the type of game that they just had.

Remember all those rushing yards per attempt aforementioned in this article? That wasn't new for this group, as SC gave up 4.66 yards per rush on the season (98th in America). Remember all those pass yards per attempt aforementioned in this article? That wasn't new for this group, either, as SC gave up 7.84 pass yards per attempt this season (tied for 116th in America).

If USC wants to take winning seriously more than anything, they need to acknowledge what killed this team in the few losses they had this season, and accept that Grinch coming back for another year as USC's Defensive Coordinator just can't happen.