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  USC guard Boogie Ellis, left, reacts as Cal State Bakersfield guard Marvin McGhee III, right, vies for the ball during the first half on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  Cal State Bakersfield guard Kaleb Higgins, left, dribbles as USC guard Isaiah Collier defends during the first half on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC forward DJ Rodman gestures after making a 3-point shot during the first half of their game against Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC freshman guard Bronny James, right, celebrates from the bench during the first half of their game against Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday night at the Galen Center. James is not medically cleared to play yet. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  Cal State Bakersfield guard Kaleb Higgins, right, shoots as USC guard Boogie Ellis defends during the first half on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  Cal State Bakersfield guard Cameron Wilbon, right, pokes the ball out of the hands of USC forward DJ Rodman during the second half on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  Cal State Bakersfield guard Kaleb Higgins gets to the basket for a layup during the first half of their game against USC on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC guard Isaiah Collier, left, considers his options as Cal State Bakersfield guard Marvin McGhee III defends during the first half on Thursday night at the Galen Center. Collier had 19 points, five assists and four steals as the Trojans rolled to an 85-59 win. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC guard Boogie Ellis shoots as Cal State Bakersfield forward Fidelis Okereke defends during the second half on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  Comedian Chris Rock, center, watches during the first half of a college basketball game between USC and Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC guard Boogie Ellis brings the ball up the court during the second half of their game against Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC forward Joshua Morgan, center, Cal State Bakersfield guard Marvin McGhee III, left, and forward Fidelis Okereke vie for a rebound during the second half on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  Cal State Bakersfield head coach Rod Barnes gestures from the sideline during the first half of their game against USC on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC guard Boogie Ellis, center, handles the ball as Cal State Bakersfield guards Dalph Panopio, left, and Corey Stephenson defend during the second half on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC head coach Andy Enfield calls out to his team from the sideline during the second half of their game against Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC guard Isaiah Collier brings the ball up the court during the second half of their game against Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC guard Isaiah Collier, left, shoots as Cal State Bakersfield forward Ugnius Jarusevicius defends during the second half on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC head coach Andy Enfield, right, speaks with freshman guard Isaiah Collier during the second half of their game against Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC guard Isaiah Collier, center, is hit in the face by Cal State Bakersfield guard Jaden Alexander, left, after driving past forward Fidelis Okereke during the second half on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC guard Isaiah Collier, right, is hit on the face by Cal State Bakersfield guard Jaden Alexander, left, during the second half on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC forward Brandon Gardner reacts after dunking during the second half of their game against Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC forward Brandon Gardner flexes after dunking during the second half of their game against Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC freshman guard Ronny James reacts from the bench during the second half of their game against Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday night at the Galen Center. James has not been medically cleared to play. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC guard Isaiah Collier (1) takes off the warmup pants of guard JD Plough during the second half of their game against Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

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  USC guard Boogie Ellis warms up before their game against Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

LOS ANGELES — Before the Galen Center was filled on Thursday night, the stands were vacant enough for one shrill voice to pierce the sanctuary of USC’s early warm-ups.

“Isaiah!” yelled one young fan wearing a USC jersey, beaming, leaning toward the court in the direction of Isaiah Collier.

The Trojans’ electric freshman floor general turned to him, a smile spreading across the 19-year-old’s face. He pointed, right at him.

And the boy shrieked. 

The USC basketball program hasn’t had a figure quite like this in a while, a player who combines one-and-done talent with style and charisma to match. And a bolt of lightning shot through Galen on Thursday, amid an otherwise sleepy crowd for the 6 p.m. start in the team’s home debut, when Collier emerged from the tunnel during pregame introductions to the tune of Soulja Boy’s “Pretty Boy Swag,” the crowd roaring so loud it temporarily drowned out the public address announcer.

And the show Collier put on in the first half was special, the engine of a No. 21 Trojans squad that built a 24-point lead by halftime and boat raced Cal State Bakersfield, 85-59, Roadrunner defenders looking like tumbleweeds when he decided to gearshift from 0 to 60. He spent much of the first 15 minutes pushing the pace in transition, dishing assists to bigs off pick-and-rolls or firing torpedoes to shooters stationed in weak-side corners, and he showed notable patience after a six-turnover debut.

“Track meet – we say that a lot, so, I mean, it’s just runnin’,” Collier said after the game.

With a minute left in the first half and a 20-point lead, though, Collier went into attack mode, calling for a transition pass he never received. Senior guard Boogie Ellis motioned at him though, and a burly Collier sealed his defender, driving baseline and hanging long enough to split the outstretched arms of a couple of potential shot blockers.

He flipped a right-handed layup over his head, looking like it would clank off the backboard, but, seeming to defy the laws of momentum, it kissed with perfect spin and dropped through.

Collier finished with 19 points, five assists and four steals, part of a dynamic USC attack that has improved noticeably in shooting and ball movement compared to last year’s squad. Washington State transfer DJ Rodman hit back-to-back 3-pointers at one point in the first half, later draining a wide-open transition look, and finished with 13 points after a quiet showing in an 82-69 victory over Kansas State on Monday night in Las Vegas.

“I really feel like I’m gonna step into a role that’s going to be more of a scoring, more assertive role here,” Rodman said last week, a prophecy fulfilled on Thursday night.

USC shot 59% from the field in the first half, scoring 19 points off Bakersfield turnovers.

Collier, though, ran into some second-half trouble, turning the ball over on three straight possessions after he had six turnovers in his collegiate debut on Monday. It’s a noticeable issue for a lead guard who attacks at breakneck speed, sometimes prone to tripping over his own feet or getting stripped – but it’s also part of who Collier is, an agent of chaos in the open court.

“The good players can get to where they want,” Coach Andy Enfield said after the win, “but the great players know what to do when they get there. And so, he has to figure out what to do when he gets there, because he can get where he wants on the court.”

They couldn’t rely entirely, too, on a freshman point guard, as Enfield pointed out. And USC was helped, too, by balanced scoring overall, even in wing Kobe Johnson’s absence – day-to-day, Enfield said, after an injury suffered in the season opener.

Lithe sophomore guard Oziyah Sellers, who Enfield has pointed out as much-improved, chipped in an efficient 16 points. Stalwart big Joshua Morgan added 12 points off some nice feeds from Collier and Ellis, and the USC bigs and perimeter defenders rotated well while holding Bakersfield to 42% shooting.

Ellis was held to 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting (1 for 6 from 3-point range) after scoring 24 in the season opener.

Kaleb Higgins led the Roadrunners (1-1) with 19 points and Cameron Wilbon had 10.

UP NEXT

USC hosts UC Irvine on Tuesday at 8 p.m.

.@chrisrock is all of us watching @isaiahcollier04 pic.twitter.com/JO1XNgx9dc

— USC Men's Basketball (@USC_Hoops) November 10, 2023

That Georgia boy connection @isaiahcollier04 @arrintenp22

: @Pac12Network
: https://t.co/sun5jxJiSz pic.twitter.com/8rZ6F1RzM9

— USC Men's Basketball (@USC_Hoops) November 10, 2023

Surprise, surprise@bgardner2023's first bucket at Galen Center is a slaaam dunk

: @Pac12Network
: https://t.co/sun5jxJiSz pic.twitter.com/ilSQKXv3r9

— USC Men's Basketball (@USC_Hoops) November 10, 2023

.@isaiahcollier04's triple gives us a big lead!

: @Pac12Network
: https://t.co/sun5jxJiSz pic.twitter.com/HPhuKEsjBy

— USC Men's Basketball (@USC_Hoops) November 10, 2023

They were boys since Pop Warner, playing on the same youth team. And both were headed to USC, highly rated local recruits who had committed to the Trojans in the summer.

Except Fields, in a surprise, announced in August that he had switched his commitment to Oregon.

“You flipped,” Fields recalled Jordan saying to him pregame.

“Go Ducks,” Fields responded.

They went at it over the next 48 minutes, Fields matched up one-on-one with Jordan and stifling him for much of the night. Until Jordan broke free for some room on a late fourth down, catching a pass before being tackled by Fields, looking down and flexing at the Serra senior as he got up.

“That’s my guy, but (expletive), he flipped,” Jordan said after a 35-28 Sierra Canyon win, “so I kinda took that personally.”

It wasn’t just the commitment flip. It was to whom.

An all-out dogfight has emerged between USC and Oregon on Friday night fields across the West Coast, an explosive, tug-of-war recruiting rivalry for top local talent that coaches and players in the mix are well aware of, growing in size and scope with both programs’ new regimes and upcoming moves to the Big Ten.

“They see everything each other’s doing,” said Sierra Canyon assistant Bruce Bible, who is well-connected in the Southern California recruiting world. “I mean, recruits going on trips, unofficial visits, official visits. And I don’t think the battle’s going to stop anytime soon.”

For years, USC had dominated the West Coast recruiting scene, particularly in California. But since Lincoln Riley and Dan Lanning took the reins of their respective USC and Oregon programs, there’s been a shift that reveals different approaches to program-building between longtime rivals.

The Southern California News Group compiled data on commitment decisions, from 247Sports, on every recruit across the western U.S. who has received an offer from both USC and Oregon since 2017. Before 2022, when Riley and Lanning were hired, the number of future Trojans outweighed Ducks 50 to 37.

Since then – including the class of 2024 – USC has signed 25. Oregon has signed 33.

The reasons for changing fortunes are complex and varied. Oregon’s aggressiveness in utilizing NIL, coaches say, has been a major factor. But USC, too, has become much more selective in local recruiting as it has built largely through the transfer portal – leaving the Ducks often more present across high school campuses, even in Southern California.

“You’re seeing this school that’s not in your backyard more than this school that is in their backyard,” Serra assistant coach Darrin Minor said. “So they’re making that effort to be in your face.”

Oregon’s ‘West Coast’ mentality

When Riley’s regime began at USC, the Trojans quickly established a strong presence at St. John Bosco High in Bellflower, the reigning national champions and one of the most successful football programs in the country.

USC went hard after Bosco defensive lineman Matayo Uiagalelei, who eventually signed with Oregon. The Trojans did get a commitment from Marcelles Williams, one of the top-ranked cornerbacks in the class of 2024, in the summer.

But since, as of late October, Negro said he hadn’t seen a USC recruiter on campus once.

“Oregon is just much – and other programs across the country – are just so much more aggressive in coming after our kids than they have been,” Negro said of USC, adding you could hardly criticize someone who has been as successful as Riley.

USC has had a string of local wins in recent weeks, getting commitments from 2024 Los Alamitos cornerback Isaiah Rubin and 2026 Loyola cornerback Brandon Lockhart. But Negro’s comments, on paper, hold true wider than Bosco; a pipeline from local power Mater Dei appears to have dried up, and just five of USC’s commits in the class of 2024 come from California. Oregon, by comparison, has nine.

That’s intentional, on USC’s part, to some degree. In late October, when asked about the approach to local recruiting, Riley said upon his first evaluation of the program, “there were a lot of players from the state of California who should not be on the USC roster.”

“Hiding behind the curtain of, ‘Well, at least we’re recruiting California kids,’ I don’t think does the program any good,” Riley said. “It’s – we want to get California kids, we want to get local kids, we want them to be the right kids.”

It’s an interesting contrast to Oregon’s philosophy in program-building – take comments to the SCNG from Pat Biondo, the Ducks’ football director of recruiting strategy.

“The biggest thing for us, in recruiting, is we want to keep the best guys on the West Coast,” Biondo said.

When their microscopes do align – and they do frequently – coaches and players in Southern California indicate Oregon is often more pushy in pursuing targets. Take St. John Bosco, a school ripe with defensive talent, where Negro says he’s in contact with Lanning and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi “weekly,” wooing Uiagalelei to the Ducks with now-fulfilled promises of playing immediately.

On Feb. 1, Gardena Serra cornerback Rodrick Pleasant tugged on an Oregon hat inside Serra’s gym, announcing a commitment that was a “shock to everybody,” according to assistant coach Minor.

Pleasant had been leaning toward USC, Minor said; what ultimately swayed the dual-sport prospect was a relentless and coordinated push from Oregon’s football and track departments. A little over a month later, Pleasant was featured on a billboard in Times Square in Nike gear.

It was the same concept of constant follow-up, constant love shown, that led Fields to flip, Minor said. Always there. Always visible.

“You don’t necessarily have to have a roster full of California kids,” Negro said, when asked about Riley’s comments, “but you better get the elite ones.”

“And I don’t think that that’s what they’re doing a very good job of right now.”

NIL affecting recruiting

Two years into the legalization of NIL monetization in collegiate athletics, discussion of its usage in local high school recruiting is still strangely taboo. Local coaches swear, widely, that Athlete X wasn’t wooed to a commitment by money or endorsement deals; Riley himself, even, expressed the desire for more transparency in the NIL space.

“We’re stuck somewhere right now in between kind of half-professional, half-amateur right now,” the USC coach said in late August.

And it’s hard to pin down USC’s exact approach to utilizing donor money in pitches to recruits. It’s less hard to pin down Oregon’s.

Sam Gallegos, the father of 2024 Sierra Canyon safety Marquis Gallegos, said every school in his son’s recruitment, including USC and Oregon, promised him a minimum of $75,000 in his first year. In general, according to coaches in Southern California with firsthand knowledge of recruitment, Oregon is much more up front with recruits in monetary compensation. It was the last part of USC’s pitch to Marquis, Gallegos said, and his son eventually chose the Trojans.

One source familiar with the situation told the SCNG that big-time freshman recruits – such as wide receivers Zachariah Branch and Duce Robinson – are “highly compensated” through NIL collectives that support USC student-athletes. But that same source told the SCNG that Oregon was simply spending more money in the NIL space than USC.

“Far as ’SC, they talk about it if you really break it up and kinda break it down, but there’s no for-sure number for everybody,” Minor, the Serra assistant, said in regards to NIL discussions with prospective recruits. “Oregon can literally tell you somewhat of what it’s going to be, and you know what to expect. You don’t fully know what to expect at ’SC.”

The future of USC’s NIL approach, however, will likely hinge on searching for sponsorship deals rather than tossing donor money at recruits. Major headway is already being made on that front: Another source told the SCNG that the Conquest Collective, a marketing agency supporting USC athletes, is finalizing a football program-wide deal with a major company that would provide players with a flat payment and percentage of back-end profits of merchandising revenue.

And Riley said new USC athletic director Jen Cohen and her team have been “really impactful” on the NIL front, with a clear vision to unify university-supporting collectives.

“Our goal is to be at the forefront of it,” Riley said, “and we have the firepower here to be at the absolute forefront of it.”

Two competing approaches, two programs casting different nets in this West Coast recruiting war, will collide Saturday night in Eugene in a present-day battle for a spot in the Pac-12 championship game.

And with Oregon following USC to the Big Ten, the jockeying for position will only intensify, both in the short- and long-term.

“It’s like, I don’t know who first,” Jordan, the Sierra Canyon star, said of the local recruiting rivalry. “But I know it’s Oregon and ’SC.”

And if you’re a USC or UCLA fan, you probably don’t find them funny. They probably seem kind of sick and twisted to you. Cruel, even.

Because all the Trojans’ College Football Championship puzzle is missing are those pesky defensive pieces, corner pieces that slipped out of their grasp and inexplicably disappeared. I assure you, if you spent months working on this glorious vision only to realize it’s not going to come together, you’d cry too.

And the Bruins’ have those very pieces!

But UCLA’s puzzle isn’t looking too hot either – because what it is missing is a crown-shaped piece under center, a dependable quarterback to complement a historically effective defense. And, be real, you’d get frustrated and “un-unified” too if giving up 129 yards on the ground (fewer than USC’s defense has in all but three games) proved insurmountable, as it did in last week’s 27-10 loss to Arizona.

Entering Saturday’s games at No. 6 Oregon and at home against Arizona State, USC and UCLA both have something the other wishes it did: The Bruins (6-3 overall, 3-3 Pac-12) have the defense the Trojans need. And USC (7-3, 5-2) has the offense UCLA needs.

And I’m sorry, but what in the 24-hour Alaskan winter darkness is going on?

It’s like a mirror image: identical, but backward.

All gas, all gas. All brakes, all brakes. Nothing in moderation.

And a couple of unranked football teams. A big bowl of pudding worth of proof: Football really is the sum of all its parts.

Maybe it’s the ghosts of the Pac-12 past delivering some penance to the schools that punctured the dam last year, the institutions that were first to announce their pending departure to the Big Ten, which took out the legs from and essentially delivered the death knell for the 64-year-old conference?

Or maybe it’s just the nature of the sport – of the quintessential team sport?

Caleb Williams tonight in the loss against Washington:

• 27/35 (77.1%)
• 328 total yards
• 4 total touchdowns

He gave it his all tonight
pic.twitter.com/4mP4lN4am9

— Ensign Gridiron (@EnsignGridiron) November 5, 2023

You can have Superman on your team, a Heisman Trophy-winning QB who is driving an offense averaging a gaudy 45.5 points per game – second both in the Pac-12 and nationally, among all FBS teams – and still be losing games.

You can have a new star defensive coordinator like D’Anton Lynn, who has engineered a unit that’s on pace to set school records in both rushing defense (70.4 yards per game) and sacks per game (3.8 per game) – both second-best in FBS rankings – and still be losing games.

PICKED!

Alex Johnson comes up with his team-high fourth interception of the year, and the Bruins have the ball back.

UCLA 0, Arizona 0
11:33 – 1st quarter

: FS1
: https://t.co/jrTMSerf7Z#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/W8BLAZgRNh

— UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) November 5, 2023

Because no matter how stout your defense is, if your team is able to muster only 28.6 points and 240.9 passing yards (62nd and 56th, nationally) per game while also giving the ball away 17 times (11th in the Pac-12 and 111th in the nation), you’re going to be losing games.

And no matter how prolific your offense is, if your defense is hemorrhaging points to the tune of 34.5 points per game (121st in FBS), including allowing more than 40 points in five of the past six contests – you’re going to be losing games.

That’s why USC coach Lincoln Riley finally made the call this week to fire his friend, former defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, excusing him after the Trojans relinquished 52 points and 572 yards against Washington – the most, in both cases, since the Trojans lost 62-33 to UCLA in 2021.

Is it any wonder major USC donors were fed up with their defense’s performance? Sources with knowledge of the situation told our reporter Luca Evans: “There was no way that Grinch was going to survive this season.”

Any surprise that UCLA fans also are starting to get agitated? Expectations weren’t as sky high as the Trojans’ were this year, but still Bruin believers are rustling around in their sheds and garages for pitchforks, starting to circle up, united by their dissatisfaction with Coach Chip Kelly – who is 33-32 in six seasons but recently signed an extension through 2027.

“Our execution on the offensive side of the ball has to improve,” Kelly said last Saturday, speaking specifically about his banged-up offense having squandered multiple red zone opportunities against Arizona – while also making a broader point about point-scoring.

Said Riley on Monday: “We’re gonna play great defense here. Like, period. It’s gonna happen. It’s gonna happen soon. There’s no reason why it can’t.”

You can imagine both coaches pondering: If the guys across the way – on the opposite side of town, if not the other side of the ball – can do it, why can’t we?

On a third-and-8 during the first quarter of Saturday’s loss to Washington, the freshman receiver found himself lined up on the outside in the most crucial game of the season. And lo and behold, he found himself wide open across the middle of the field, quarterback Caleb Williams firing a pass at him high and hard.

And a potential touchdown clunked off Robinson’s fingers.

It felt like a complete deflation of momentum in the moment, a true freshman who had gotten a shot unable to capitalize. It was defeating, Robinson said, in the moment; you could see it in his body language, outside receivers Dennis Simmons coach said. Robinson returned to the sideline, teammates grouping around him, telling him he’d have another shot to make a play.

“I don’t think any of us,” he said on Wednesday, smiling, “knew it was gonna be that soon.”

After the only three-and-out of an otherwise surgical night for the Huskies’ offense, Robinson trotted back out with the special teams unit, burst through the line, and stuck the lanky arms of his 6-foot-6 frame out for an emphatic blocked punt, setting up a Williams touchdown run on a silver platter.

“True character of a man is how he responds to adversity … I think that leveled him out, ground him and gave him his confidence to continue to play through the rest of the game,” Simmons said.

It’s a little generous at this point, perhaps, to call Robinson a man; despite a beard and natural self-assuredness, he’s still growing in both frame and understanding of the collegiate game, committing a key late-game holding call on a USC drive. But the fact he was even in the game in a key fourth-quarter situation speaks volumes to Simmons and the staff’s rapid trust in Robinson, a top 2023 recruit out of Pinnacle High in Phoenix who carved out a rotational role against Washington.

And through a largely disappointing season for USC (7-3 overall, 5-2 Pac-12), Robinson is one of the program’s brightest points for the future, with potentially dominant size and a gazelle’s speed to match.

“He’s gon’ be an animal,” running back MarShawn Lloyd said earlier this season. “He’s 6-foot-6, he’s going to grow more into his body … y’all don’t see it, plays that we see, it’s only going to get better.”

It took effort, too, to get dual-sport athlete Robinson to USC, a truly unique commitment journey that – considering all factors – might be head coach Lincoln Riley’s biggest recruiting win since taking over the program. Robinson and his family, Pinnacle High coach Dana Zupke said, were “carefully” looking at schools that demonstrated a willingness for football and baseball programs to work together so Robinson could play both. And that plan appears to have held, as Robinson said earlier this fall that he has been in constant contact with Trojans baseball coach Andy Stankiewicz and Riley was “completely on board with it.”

His recruitment within football, too, was complex. Robinson has always taken pride in his combination of size and athletic ability; that 6-6 frame, though, often led college teams to typecast him as a tight end, Zupke said.

“Duce wasn’t real high on that,” Zupke said, “and to (USC’s) credit, they shifted their lens towards him and started getting their receivers coach more involved.”

Riley, Robinson said, saw the way his body had evolved, and viewed him as a wideout. And he made an immediate impact in garbage time during three blowout wins to start the season, racking up 186 yards on a variety of long grabs; predictably, he then went quiet amid a stacked receiver’s room, but he showcased enough in practice to earn crucial snaps against Washington.

And not long after the blocked punt, he got another measure of redemption, too: catching a 43-yard pass from Williams.

“If I can get a little bit better every day,” Robinson said Wednesday, “eventually you’re gonna look back and you’re not even gonna know where you were.”

“Y’all are going to see just how good he actually is,” Ellis said, after a USC practice last week. “Yeah. Y’all see.”

How so?

“Just  –” Ellis paused. He smiled. He shrugged. “Y’all gon’ see.”

It took less than three minutes for the world to see on Monday, to realize that USC had something special here, in this top recruit who attacked his first game in cardinal-and-gold without a shred of passivity. Early in the first half of an 82-69 season-opening win over Kansas State, Collier snagged a rebound and took off, already feet ahead of four teammates on the fast break and two defenders back in transition; conventional wisdom would dictate that a conventional floor-general would slow and wait for a play to develop.

But Collier is anything but conventional, and he only accelerated, shifting into sport mode and somehow beating not one but two defenders in front of him to the rim for a finish through contact. He had three and-ones in the first half, a burly torso completely unmoved by any defensive resistance, showcasing a combination of lightning-quick handles and body control rarely seen in a USC jersey.

“The way he can go 20 miles an hour, then stop on a dime, then get into a euro-step, push a defender off – push me off,” said Washington State transfer DJ Rodman of Collier. “I’m one of the strongest on the team, and he can push me off with ease.”

The freshman finished with 18 points – 15 in the first half – and six assists, showing flashes of a more complete game than transition bully-ball. He hit a yo-yo midrange jumper in the first, also threaded a nice backdoor pass to wing Kobe Johnson, and hit a double-take stepback three in the first half; a scary sign that defenses might not be able to consistently go under pick-and-rolls set for Collier.

He was met with a resounding standing ovation after fouling out late in the second half.

“Isaiah got downhill, was able to get to the rim, made some great passes,” coach Andy Enfield said postgame. “But we expected that of him. I think he expected that of himself.”

His much-anticipated debut at the Galen Center comes Thursday, against a Cal State Bakersfield team coming off an 11-22 season and ill-equipped to stop him. CSUB’s point guard is 5-10 Kaleb Higgins; their best option on Collier might be 6-foot-6 Corey Stephenson, a sophomore who has played one game of collegiate basketball. If the Roadrunners throw a zone at USC to try to slow Collier and Ellis attacking off the dribble, USC showed poise in dissecting a Kansas State 1-2-2 look on Monday, swinging the ball on the perimeter to find open shooters and center Joshua Morgan made some nifty reads from the high post.

Collier’s biggest challenge Thursday – and through the rest of the season – will come in slowing pace and making correct reads, as he had six turnovers in his debut and struggled with ball control in a preseason Europe showcase. But his relentless motor adds a new dimension to this USC program, and makes his first appearance at the Galen Center a must-see.

“We have a certain standard,” said senior Ellis, who led USC with an efficient 24 points Monday, of him and Collier. “And we’re trying to bring everybody with us.”

Linebacker Mason Cobb strode ahead, placing himself directly at the center of post-Alex Grinch scrutiny.

“I’ll go right in the middle,” said Cobb, a senior and team captain.

Three days earlier, Cobb was a shell of himself, face reserved and words clipped after the 52-42 loss that sealed former defensive coordinator Grinch’s fate. But before practice Tuesday, with a pair of assistant coaches now sharing one coordinator’s chair and general instability swirling before a final chance to save their season on Saturday, Cobb pulled the defense together and delivered a message: What’re you gonna do? Tuck your tail? Or stick your fist out and fight? 

“It’s like you lose a brother, man,” Cobb said, referring to Grinch. “It hurts a little. It stings. But we have to keep focusing on the next game. That’s our only option.”

“There’s no – can’t lay down,” Cobb continued, as peppy as he’d been for weeks. “We don’t got time to lay down. We got Oregon this week, still.”

Collegiate football programs changing coordinators during a season, certainly, is not unprecedented; heck, Arkansas just fired its offensive coordinator a couple of weeks back. Less common, though, is firing a coordinator while days away from one final shot at a conference championship.

If USC (7-3 overall, 5-2 Pac-12) beats Oregon (8-1, 5-1) this Saturday and beats UCLA the following week – okay, a tall task, given the results of the past few months – the Trojans would earn a trip to Las Vegas with a shot at a Pac-12 championship trophy. And head coach Lincoln Riley made it clear Monday that he’d fired Grinch, in part, not as a white flag but because this team still had something to play for.

The caveat to that, though: do new co-defensive coordinators Shaun Nua and Brian Odom, elevated from respective roles as defensive line coach and inside linebackers coach, make any tweaks to the scheme Grinch set in place?

“That’s the million dollar question right now,” Nua said Tuesday.

Neither coaches nor players revealed much on Tuesday – Nua confirmed he’d be on the field Saturday and answered “we’ll see” when asked who would be in charge of play-calling. Odom, meanwhile, emphasized the importance of not straying far from concepts players were comfortable with. But the answer, still, to a million dollar question appears to be yes. To a degree.

Cobb said he had talked with Odom on Sunday about the coach’s defensive ideas, and that Odom was listening to players’ opinions. And Nua acknowledged a change was made at coordinator to look for a defensive spark.

“We might go in with one call,” Nua said, “if that’s what it takes for them to fly around and play as physical as possible.”

The slate, in one sense, has been wiped clean. Cobb, someone who has said he has to immediately go home after games and watch them back multiple times, didn’t even watch film from the loss to Washington. But this USC team still brings a dizzying array of defensive question marks into one loud exclamation point of a Eugene atmosphere on Saturday.

Oregon has looked for several weeks like the best team in the Pac-12; the Ducks rank second in the nation in yards per game and have steamrolled an assortment of decent defensive units. There is no room to figure out new concepts on the fly. No room for error.

“My focus is, like, every minute matters now,” Nua said.

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  USC forward Joshua Morgan dunks during the first half of their season opener against Kansas State on Monday night in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  USC guard Bronny James cheers for his team from the bench during the first half of their season opener against Kansas State on Monday night in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  Kansas State’s David N’Guessan handles the ball as USC’s Arrinten Page, left, and Kobe Johnson defend during the first half of their season opener on Monday night in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  Kansas State guard Cam Carter, right, knocks the ball away from USC forward Joshua Morgan during the first half of their season opener on Monday night in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  USC coach Andy Enfield reacts on the sideline during the first half of their season opener against Kansas State on Monday night in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  Kansas State’s Tylor Perry drives as USC’s Kobe Johnson defends during the first half of their season opener on Monday night in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC guard Isaiah Collier drives against Kansas State guard Tylor Perry during the first half of their season opener on Monday night in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  USC forward Arrinten Page, left, dives for the ball against Kansas State guard Darrin Ames (4) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  USC forward Arrinten Page, left, and Kansas State guard Darrin Ames scramble for a loose ball during the first half of their season opener on Monday night in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  USC guard Kobe Johnson dunks during the first half of their season opener against Kansas State on Monday night in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  USC guard Bronny James, center, cheers for his team from the bench during the first half of their season opener against Kansas State on Monday night in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  USC guard Oziyah Sellers (4) shoots during the first half of their season opener against Kansas State on Monday night in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  Kansas State’s David N’Guessan drives as USC’s DJ Rodman defends during the first half of their season opener on Monday night in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC guard Isaiah Collier shoots around Kansas State guard Cam Carter during the first half of their season opener on Monday night in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  Kansas State guard Cam Carter passes from the floor around USC guard Boogie Ellis (5) during the first half of their season opener on Monday night in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  USC’s Kobe Johnson shoots against Will McNair Jr. of the Kansas State Wildcats during the second half of their season opener on Monday night in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC’s Kobe Johnson passes the ball while under pressure from Jerrell Colbert (20) and Arthur Kaluma of Kansas State during the second half of their season opener on Monday night in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC’s Boogie Ellis passes the ball as Kansas State’s Will McNair Jr. defends during the second half of their season opener on Monday night in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC’s Joshua Morgan dunks during the second half of their season opener against Kansas State on Monday night in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC’s Isaiah Collier drives against Arthur Kaluma of Kansas State during the second half of their season opener on Monday night in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC guard Kobe Johnson (0) dunks against Kansas State during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  Kansas State guard Tylor Perry (2) and USC forward DJ Rodman (10) vie for the ball during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  Kansas State guard Tylor Perry (2) drives against USC during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  Kansas State’s Jerrell Colbert (20) fouls USC’s Oziyah Sellers during the second half of their season opener on Monday night in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  Kansas State forward Arthur Kaluma, right, and forward Will McNair Jr. (13) scramble for the ball with USC guard Kobe Johnson during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  Kansas State forward Jerrell Colbert (20) fouls USC guard Oziyah Sellers, center, during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  USC guard Isaiah Collier, right, fouls Kansas State guard Cam Carter, center, during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  USC’s Kobe Johnson dunks during the second half of their season opener against Kansas State on Monday night in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC’s Kobe Johnson (0) and DJ Rodman (10) celebrate after Johnson dunked during the second half of their season opener against Kansas State on Monday night in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC guard Bronny James cheers for his team from the bench during the first half of their season opener against Kansas State on Monday night in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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  USC’s Kobe Johnson walks off the court after their 82-69 victory over Kansas State in their season opener on Monday night in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC’s DJ Rodman (10), Kijani Wright (33) and Coach Andy Enfield walk off the court after their 82-69 victory over Kansas State in their season opener on Monday night in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC’s Isaiah Collier, left, and Boogie Ellis celebrate on the court after leading the Trojans to an 82-69 victory over Kansas State on Monday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Ellis had 24 points and Collier had 18 as USC won, 82-69. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

By W.G. RAMIREZ The Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — The USC men’s basketball team kicked off its season with a dose of the familiar and a newcomer’s splashy debut then turned away a final challenge for a victory.

Boogie Ellis had 24 points and eight rebounds and touted freshman Isaiah Collier had 18 points and six assists as No. 21 USC defeated Kansas State, 82-69, in the season opener for both teams on Monday night at T-Mobile Arena.

The Trojans led by 19 with 6:33 left, but that margin was trimmed to eight with 1:41 remaining before USC held on.

“We’ve got a lot of vets and people that are experienced and been through it,” Ellis said. “So we just stayed calm and came together.”

Collier scored 15 of his points in the first half, then received a standing ovation when he went to the bench after fouling out with 4:50 to left in the game.

“I thought Isaiah played a great first half, first game on the big stage here in Las Vegas. I thought it was important for us to get out to a fast start,” USC coach Andy Enfield said. “I thought Boogie and Isaiah really controlled the tempo in the first half. Isaiah got downhill and was able to get to the rim, made some great passes. … I was proud of the six assists and 7 of 9 from the field. Very efficient tonight.”

Kobe Johnson finished with 16 points for the Trojans, and Joshua Morgan had 11. USC shot 31 for 60 from the floor (51.7%).

Tyler Perry led Kansas State with 22 points. Cam Carter scored 15, and David N’Guessan had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

“This is exactly why we came here,” Wildcats coach Jerome Tang said. “This is a really good USC team. High-level players. The great thing is that we don’t have to wait for a month or two weeks or before the Big 12 to find out the things that we need to work on. It was very much exposed. … We did a couple of good things and a whole bunch of not-so-good things.”

A strong defensive team last season, the Trojans limited the Wildcats to 31% shooting (22 for 71).

USC held its opponents under 40% in 19 of 33 games last season and finished eighth in the country in field goal percentage defense at 39.3%.

It was the first time the teams met since the 2008 NCAA Tournament, when the Wildcats defeated USC, 80-67. Kansas State, which reached the Elite Eight in March, dropped to 4-2 all-time against the Trojans.

BRONNY WATCH

Bronny James took the court donning grey sweats while his teammates warmed up for the game.

And as his team played, his father – Lakers star LeBron James – revealed what the family hopes is a path to Bronny being back on the floor.

“Things are going in the right direction with Bronny’s progress,” LeBron James said Monday night in Miami, after he and the Lakers lost to the Heat. “He’s done with rehab. Every week, he gets to do more and more and more. We have a big – a big – moment at the end of the month to see how we can continue to go forward.

“If he’s cleared, we’ll be not too long away from him being back on the floor and back with his teammates and practicing with the notion of being back on the floor and playing in game situations,” LeBron James added. “Everything’s on the up and up.”

Bronny James is still on his way back from suffering a cardiac arrest during a summer workout. LeBron James said last month that his son had surgery to repair a congenital heart condition that caused the collapse.

“He’s improving,” LeBron James said. “He’s on the right path.”

There is no known timetable for Bronny James’ return to play, though there is hope that it’ll be at some point this season.

Once the Wildcats finished their warmup on the west end of the court, James sauntered to the open space, took a couple of shots near the top of the key, found his place in the corner, and took three more shots from long range before making a 3-pointer and exiting the court with the 21st-ranked Trojans.

It has long been the dream of LeBron James that one of his sons – Bronny or younger son Bryce, a rising star at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High – would play alongside him in the NBA. Bronny James would be eligible for the 2024 NBA draft if he chose that path.

LeBron James said all the doctors involved in his son’s recovery, along with those at USC, have done “a hell of a job.”

“We’re proud of his progress,” LeBron James said of his son. “We’re proud of his strength.”

LeBron James’ wife, Savannah, and son, Bryce, sat courtside for the game.

“It’s very important to us to show support to all of the kids, and obviously Bronny is not playing tonight, but we wanted to show support to the rest of the young men who have worked all summer to get ready for this point,” Savannah James told The Associated Press during halftime. “We know Bronny is anxious to play, but he will have his comeback soon and then we’ll be here to actually watch him on the floor. But we’re a USC family and we want to make sure that we’re here to support Bronny, as well as the entire team.”

Bronny James sat at the end of the USC bench with freshman forward Brandon Gardner, who was also in grey sweats. James was involved in each huddle during every timeout and stood more than he sat, cheering on teammates during the first half, clapping in tempo while yelling “DE-FENSE!” with the others on the bench.

“Bronny is a terrific basketball player, but he’s even a better person and his family has been so supportive,” USC coach Andy Enfield said after the game. “To have Savannah and his family here, that meant a lot, meant a lot to everybody. … If you watch him or know him throughout his high school career and now into college, all the limelight, he handles it so well and he’s so humble and just a terrific person to coach.”

BIG PICTURE

USC: Collier’s performance came on the heels of an impressive one by fellow freshman JuJu Watkins, who led USC’s 21st-ranked women’s team to an 83-74 victory over No. 7 Ohio State. Collier and Watkins were considered by many as the consensus No. 1 recruits for 2023.

Kansas State: The Wildcats opened their season away from home for the first time since losing 73-64 to BYU in 2002. Kansas State dropped to 12-17 when starting outside Manhattan, Kansas.

UP NEXT

USC hosts Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday.

AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.

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  USC’s JuJu Watkins, left, and Kayla Padilla celebrate after Watkins scored and drew a foul against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the second half of their game during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Trojans defeated the Buckeyes 83-74. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)u12

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  USC’s Kayla Padilla is guarded by Celeste Taylor of the Ohio State Buckeyes in the first half of their game during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  Rayah Marshall #13 and Kayla Padilla #45 of the USC Trojans react after Marshall scored off of an Ohio State Buckeyes turnover in the first half of their game during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC’s JuJu Watkins is fouled as she shoots by Rebeka Mikulasikova of the Ohio State Buckeyes in the second half of their game during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Trojans defeated the Buckeyes 83-74. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  Celeste Taylor of the Ohio State Buckeyes brings the ball up the court ahead of Taylor Bigby of the USC Trojans in the first half of their game during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  Jacy Sheldon #4, Cotie McMahon #32 and Taylor Thierry #2 of the Ohio State Buckeyes try to trap Kaitlyn Davis #24 of the USC Trojans in the first half of their game during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb gestures in the first half of a game against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Trojans defeated the Buckeyes 83-74. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  Rayah Marshall #13 and Kayla Padilla #45 of the USC Trojans react after Marshall scored off of an Ohio State Buckeyes turnover in the first half of their game during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC’s Rayah Marshall shoots against Cotie McMahon of the Ohio State Buckeyes in the second half of their game during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Trojans defeated the Buckeyes 83-74. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC freshman JuJu Watkins, left, drives against Ohio State’s Diana Collins during the second half of their season opener on Monday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Watkins had 32 points in her debut as the No. 21 Trojans defeated the seventh-ranked Buckeyes, 83-74. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC’s McKenzie Forbes drives against Celeste Taylor of the Ohio State Buckeyes in the second half of their game during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Trojans defeated the Buckeyes 83-74. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  Celeste Taylor of the Ohio State Buckeyes drives to the basket against USC’s Clarice Akunwafo during the first half of their game during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Trojans defeated the Buckeyes 83-74. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC’s Kayla Padilla drives against Diana Collins of the Ohio State Buckeyes in the second half of their game during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Trojans defeated the Buckeyes 83-74. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  Jacy Sheldon #4 of the Ohio State Buckeyes drives against Kayla Padilla #45 of the USC Trojans in the first half of their game during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff, center, reacts after a foul was called against the Buckeyes in the second half of their game against USC during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Trojans defeated the Buckeyes 83-74. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC’s Kayla Padilla, left, and Rayah Marshall react after Marshall scored off of an Ohio State Buckeyes turnover in the first half of their game during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Trojans defeated the Buckeyes 83-74. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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  USC’s JuJu Watkins, left, and Kayla Padilla celebrate after Watkins scored and drew a foul against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the second half of their game during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Trojans defeated the Buckeyes 83-74. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)u12

W.G. RAMIREZ The Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — The JuJu Watkins Era got off to a roaring start.

The former Sierra Canyon High star scored 32 points in her college debut, lifting the No. 21 USC women’s basketball team to an 83-74 victory over No. 7 Ohio State on Monday in the season opener for both teams.

“I’m lost for words right now. I’m still kind of processing everything,” Watkins said. “Whenever we get the chance to compete against a top-10 team, any team really, we’re ready, we prep the right way, we do what we need to do, and we get out on the court and we show the world what we can do.”

Watkins, perhaps the highest-regarded incoming freshman in the country, finished 11 for 18 from the floor with six rebounds and five assists.

Watkins made her first college bucket a little more than a minute in and went on to score 16 points in the first half.

Rayah Marshall had 18 points and 17 rebounds for the Trojans while McKenzie Forbes scored 11 points.

“They’re just really consistent people. They’re consistent players,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “They don’t get easily rattled.”

Jacy Sheldon led the Buckeyes with 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting, and Taylor Thierry scored 16.

After seeing their 19-point lead disappear when Ohio State outscored them 30-10 in the third quarter, the Trojans opened the fourth on a 13-4 run to seize control.

USC shot 12 for 18 in the second quarter and finished the first half shooting 18 for 35, including 4 for 11 from 3-point range.

After shooting 35.2% from the floor in the first quarter, the Buckeyes were 2 of 10 in the second quarter.

Marshall didn’t make it easy on the Buckeyes, as she had four steals in the second and converted two of them into breakaway buckets. The Trojans finished with 10 points off turnovers in the first half and outscored Ohio State 26-6 in the paint. USC also dominated the Buckeyes on the boards, outrebounding them 27-11.

“We didn’t come out with energy like we normally do and ready to go, and they did,” Sheldon said.

Las Vegas’ Aaliyah Gayles, who was shot more than a dozen times in April 2022, dressed for USC but did not play.

BIG PICTURE

USC: The Trojans’ Ivy League transfer trio of Forbes (Harvard), Kayla Padilla (Penn) and Kaitlyn Davis (Columbia) made their presence felt in their USC debuts, too, combining for 23 points on 6-of-19 shooting.

Ohio State: The Buckeyes averaged 35.3 rebounds per game last season and ranked 251st in the nation with a -2.2 rebounding margin. Monday they were outrebounded 43-28 by the Trojans.

UP NEXT

USC hosts Florida Gulf Coast on Friday.

Seriously. It warmed my heart to see, in this cold, cutthroat world of big-time college sports, Riley stick his neck out and retain embattled defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, despite a chorus of calls for his ouster after USC’s dubious defense to close last season.

It said something that he’d stick by his guy – both had been assistants to Mike Leach – until Sunday, when Riley couldn’t possibly hold that position for Grinch anymore.

Grinch was fired after USC lost to fifth-ranked Washington, 52-42, the third loss in four games for a team that entered the season with reasonable national championship aspirations.

Now USC (7-3 overall, 5-2 Pac-12) goes into Saturday’s game on the road against No. 6 Oregon unranked in the polls for the first time since 2021 – and rated 118th in the FBS in run defense and 119th in total defense. The Trojans have given up 40 or more points in five of their past six games after allowing more points to the Huskies than ever before in 86 meetings between the schools.

Washington’s 572 total yards included 316 on the ground (so many of them before contact), triple its average this season – which has been one of the worst defensively in USC history.

Still, at the start of the year, I thought, you know what? As much as sports comes down to winning and losing, the relationships forged in the fire of competition are paramount. I thought, big picture, Riley was sending a noble message to his players.

But there’s a better, bitter lesson here: When people say you should separate business and personal, they’re not talking just about bank accounts.

Football, the sport that “continuously challenges you,” as Riley put it Monday, has reinforced that.

“As much as you wish you could, it’s sometimes, it’s hard to separate professional from this basic human feelings about one another and our families,” Riley said. “(But) I knew it was a decision that was the right decision at this time and point, and it certainly didn’t make it easy, but I am that committed.”

The right decision, yes. But at the wrong time and point: Too obvious, too late.

The time to make the change was before the season – which will be, in all likelihood, the Trojans’ last with generational talent Caleb Williams at quarterback.

But Riley couldn’t do it. Even after USC gave up 533 yards and got outscored 44-7 to end the game in a 47-24 loss in the Pac-12 championship game, he couldn’t.

Even after USC melted down in Texas, giving up 16 points in the final 4:07 of the season to lose to Tulane, 46-45, in the Cotton Bowl, he couldn’t.

He said he wanted to add talent, size and depth to the defense, but he didn’t want to introduce a new scheme or another voice, not when Grinch, who followed him from Oklahoma, was part of the turnaround from 4-8 to 11-3 in their first season together in L.A.

“I don’t even feel like 50-50 at all conflicted about it,” Riley told the team’s beat writers in January. “I feel I have a clear vision of what we’re gonna be defensively.”

His vision, we all realize now, was clouded.

If it seemed then as though Riley was doing the hard thing by standing up to critics and staying the course, the harder thing – the right thing – would have been to excuse his friend.

“Sucks,” Riley said Monday. “Yep, it sucks. I’ve been very lucky, I’ve had great staff members in the time I’ve been a head coach that have supported me, Alex being one of those. … He’s a good friend, he’s got a great family, our kids are close. You know? Like, there ain’t – there ain’t nothing easy about it.”

But as deep as a coaching tree’s roots go, the wider the net cast, the better. It’s the same way that efforts at diversifying candidate pools matter so much; if you’re prioritizing your product, you welcome new ideas and fresh perspectives. If you’re prioritizing winning, it should be less about who you know, but what you know.

Something Chip Kelly got right at UCLA this season: Hiring defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, who’d spent nine seasons coaching in the NFL and none in college. The Bruins might be struggling offensively, but on defense, they’re putting their foot down, allowing just 294.3 yards per game – the 13th fewest in FBS.

USC’s opponents, meanwhile, are averaging 436 yards per game.

And now, with defensive line coach Shaun Nua and inside linebackers coach Brian Odom serving as interim co-defensive coordinators, and with games against the Ducks and Bruins looming, Riley said Monday he’s spent just 1% of his time thinking about who will replace Grinch next season.

But he knows now, probably, that he’ll have to look farther and wider for the right person. Someone, we’ll assume, who is proven, respected and someone top recruits will want to play for.

Whose professional relationship with Riley might – or might not – be formed yet.

“Nothing will trump getting the right person in here,” Riley said. “Because we’re gonna play great defense here. Like, period. It’s gonna happen. It’s gonna happen soon.”

Asked Lincoln Riley about the difficulty of firing Alex Grinch given his close relationship with him. Talked about their kids being close.

“Sometimes, it’s hard to separate professional from basic human feelings about one another and our families.” pic.twitter.com/dGXX4YG6r4

— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) November 7, 2023

Alex Grinch was one of the first, in Riley’s move from Oklahoma to Los Angeles, to hop on the plane. Their families – their kids, even – had grown close across a working relationship that became friendship, Grinch serving as Riley’s defensive coordinator since 2019 at Oklahoma. But Sunday morning rolled around and interrupted sleep didn’t wash away the ugly results from a year that in no way has lived up to preseason optimism over a revamped defense.

And Riley pulled the trigger on firing a friend, a decision he felt “was in the best interest of our program,” a decision that mercifully ended a year-plus of fanbase jabs directed at a coordinator who had become a public-facing punching bag.

“I am that committed, and we’re all that committed, to playing great defense here,” Riley said. “And whatever it takes to get that done, that’s what we’re gonna do.”

Riley spoke on Monday, in front of the largest contingent of reporters that have been present on USC’s practice field all year, with a mix of low-energy disappointment and genuine accountability. He’d expressed steadfast belief in his defense and Grinch for months, against a rapidly building collection of evidence – defensive rankings near the bottom of the FBS only sliding further – going so far in early October to criticize members of the media for suggesting a change should be made “the first second there was any adversity this year.”

“Listen – you’re going to go through the whole year, you’re going to have a tough game, you’re going to have a tough quarter,” Riley said then. “Do you respond? Do you show continued growth?”

They didn’t, the mood dour on Saturday night after a 52-point implosion, and Riley notably pointed the finger at himself on Monday after largely dodging a postgame question asking if he’d regretted how he’d handled the defense.

“I certainly am not, and our players, the rest of our staff, are certainly not laying all the blame at Alex,” Riley said. “Because the reality is, I have a role in that, the other defensive assistants have a role in that, our players have a role in that, our other staff members.”

But Grinch’s schemes, and efforts to galvanize a sinking unit, had unquestionably fallen unsuccessful. And for weeks, according to sources with knowledge of the situation, major USC donors had been upset with the defense’s performance; an unenviable position given the donors’ importance in funding NIL-related recruiting efforts.

“There was no way,” one source said, “that Grinch was going to survive this season.”

USC has allowed 42.0 points and 483.7 yards per game over its past six games, falling to 119th out of the 130 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision in yards allowed and 121st in points allowed. The Trojans, who have lost three of their past four games, were shredded for 572 yards in the 52-42 loss to No. 5 Washington on Saturday.

When asked, though, if the decision to fire Grinch came from within the football program or if there was input from the athletic department, Riley responded quickly and simply: “It was my decision.” And it seemed clear, both in the tone and content of Riley’s responses on Saturday, that he wasn’t boxed into a corner – convinced, as he said himself, the decision “was in the best interest of our program, both for this year … and for the future.”

“If we were in a situation where we didn’t have a whole lot left to play for in terms of a conference championship, having an opportunity there … might feel a little bit different,” Riley said.

Thus, there is still a swirl of questions as to USC’s immediate and long-term future, starting with an unenviable trip to Oregon on Saturday in which, theoretically, the Trojans (7-3 overall, 5-2 Pac-12) still have a chance to make the Pac-12 title game with a win.

It’s unclear what’s to come for most everyone on USC’s defensive staff. Donte Williams has had an impressive month on the local recruiting trail, but he has largely struggled to develop home-grown cornerbacks across the last two years. Shaun Nua’s defensive line got off to a fast start but has rapidly regressed in recent weeks. Brian Odom’s inside linebacker group has shown plenty of flashes but hasn’t had a shred of consistency in containing the running game.

Nua and Odom will fill in as co-interim defensive coordinators, for now, and Riley said he would be “99% focused” across the next couple of weeks on finishing out the rest of USC’s season. The goal, however, was to bring in someone who could consistently lead USC to an elite defense, the head coach said.

And with a partly clean slate, Riley fell back on the same optimism Monday that he’s preached since the fall.

“Adversity like this can also bring about some of the best opportunities in somebody’s life if you view it that way,” he said. “… We’ve got a great opportunity right here. The hell with everything else. Let’s go get in the bunker, circle the wagons for a couple of weeks, and let’s see what happens after that.

“We’re gonna play great defense here. Like, period. It’s gonna happen. It’s gonna happen soon. There’s no reason why it can’t.