It's impossible not to get torched on defense at least once a season now
True, but Grinch's defense got torched in practically every game except two - against Rice and against Oregon State.
Fucking Grinch is ass. He's not any better than Orlando or Pendergast before him, and his track record shows it. He's an average at best DC.
Yeah, the defensive side of the ball was 1)lacking in talent and 2)depleted with injuries, but the most damning thing against Grinch is that his defense got worse, not better, as the season wore on. Statistically speaking, if you added up the offensive numbers for all of USC's opponents this season - those numbers would belong to the #2 offense in CFB. So the defense isn't even below average, it's literally worse than all but the best offense in all of CFB.
Grinch must have some secret photos of Riley he's using as blackmail because Riley is so loath to can him. Think Saban (or Day, or Harbaugh, or Dykes, or anyone who is actually chasing titles) would tolerate a shitshow of a defense like that?
I know, it's only the first year, and he
should improve next year, but like I said, his track record doesn't show that he'll be anything better than average. As long as Riley sticks with Grinch, USC will never truly be in the shampship convo.