USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch took his weekly turn in front of reporters Tuesday, addressing some of what didn't go well vs. Arizona -- mostly early on -- for the Trojans in their eventual 43-41 triple-overtime win last weekend.

Before Grinch faced the questions, though, head coach Lincoln Riley had a lot to say about the outside perception of the USC defense vs. what he, Grinch and those inside the building feel about the unit and how it's progressed.

"The reality is, in regulation, look, here’s the deal: We kick that field goal and win it in regulation, we’re all talking about how the defense gave up only 11 points the rest of the day and they started the entire run that got us back on the same page," Riley said. "But it’s one field goal that we don’t make that the defense has no control over, and then all everybody wants to do is look at the final score, it’s like, oh, well this and that. And it just doesn’t tell the entire story."

There is some validity to the way Riley framed that.

But that doesn't discount the way the defense started that put the Trojans in a 17-0 hole early in the second quarter, when the yardage differential was already 208-10 in Arizona's favor. (Certainly the other half of that was the fault of the USC offense).

Then, yes, the defense tightend up the rest of the half.

Jacobe Covington's interception set USC up at the 12-yard line and sparked the Trojans' first score and start to their momentum. The final two Arizona drives of the half went for a combined 9 plays and 2 punts.

After holding the Wildcats to a field goal to start the second half, the defense forced a punt, gave up a long game-tying touchdown drive to make it 28-28 and then held Arizona to a 50-yard field goal try that missed.

In overtime, the Trojans didn't have many answers defensively until they absolutely needed to -- on Calen Bullock's pass breakup on a two-point conversion in the second overtime and on Mason Cobb and Prophet Brown's tackle for loss on the lone Wildcats attempt from the 3-yard line in the third overtime, sealing the win.

There are a lot of ways to skew the storyline on the defensive performance last weekend.

What Riley and the Trojans seem most exasperated about is the bigger narrative about Grinch and this defense -- one that ranks 112th nationally in total defense at 421.3 yards allowed per game and 79th in scoring defense (27.0), which sure, was not helped by USC's botched game-winning field goal try at the end of regulation that would have saved some yards and points from overtime.

That discontent on the way the defense is perceived and talked about (and how Grinch is perceived and talked about) came out passionately first from safety Bryson Shaw after the Colorado game two weekends ago -- when USC gave up 564 yards (the worst of the Riley/Grinch era) while going up 27 points midway through the third quarter to needing to recover a late onside kick to close out a 48-41 win.

That pushback against the defensive criticism continued Saturday night from quarterback Caleb Williams, who rolled his eyes and tilted his head back after a question asked to Riley -- a non-leading, open-ended question simply asking Riley how he assessed the defense and where it's at halfway through the season.

After Riley answered Saturday night, Williams chimed in, saying "We wouldn't have won that game without defense. We were down 17-0, so this, this whole defensive thing, our brothers, the score wouldn't be 43-41 without them. So, put it simply that way."

On Tuesday, Riley was asked about Williams' reaction and in general what critics of the defense aren't seeing that he, Williams, Shaw, Grinch and others do.

"Caleb was exactly right, it’s what we’ve been trying to say. We’re not hiding from the areas that we’ve got to continue to make improvement, and there certainly are some. But this is a much-improved unit. There is no question about it," Riley said. "I mean, this is a unit that, I think, when you talk about the top-end potential, has a chance to really grow and get better fast given some of the youth, some of the new people, some of the quality depth that we have, some of the injuries that we’ve had that have prevented guys from being able to continually get snaps, but there are a lot of good things happening on this defense, man. You don’t sit there and do what we’re doing in TFLs, do what we’re doing in sacks, like, there’s so many great things.

"But here’s the deal. ... A lot of people in the media had their mind made up that the first second there was any adversity this year, it was like, ‘Oh my God, they should have done this and they should have made this change,’ and blah blah blah. And it’s not true. Like, 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. Do you respond? Do you show continued growth? And that’s going to continue to be written throughout the entire year, but there’s a lot of great things happening here, and we’ll own the things that need to get better but people need to make sure they’re seeing the other side of it as well. And that’s what we’ve been trying to say for a long time, and I think both myself and Caleb and some other players were venting a little bit of frustration with that, to be completely honest."

And there, again, are valid points in what Riley said.

USC is tied for third nationally with 22 sacks through six games and tied for first in the country with 57 tackles for loss.

Somewhere between the external and internal perception is probably the truth -- this defense does do good things, can deliver game-changing moments and has a lot of strong defensive series.

It also consistently gives up explosive plays that are either seemingly a function of missed assignments/responsibilities or bad tackling.

The Trojans have the second half of the season to decide which of those realities are more representative of this unit in the end.

"I like the job we’re doing there. I think we’re set up to play really well the second half of the season," Riley said. "And I can promise you, inside these walls, there is no expectation other than to play high-level in the second half of this year.”

As for what Grinch said Tuesday, here's the full video and transcript from his comments after practice ...

Alex Grinch transcript:

What did you not like from the defense early, what did you like later, what adjustments were made?

"Obviously, you let the ball get loose a couple of times both in the pass game and in the run game. It’s always easier to look back on it once you see it on video and you see a breakdown and, oh, it’s just blank, as we always tell the guys, it’s never just anything. It's just our careers are on the line every Saturday, players and coaches, so I think some of it as we talk to the guys is that trust factor. You just see periods of lack of trust and one of the things I talk to the guys about, and holistically between each other, obviously that’s something you’re always working on, player to player, coach to player, all that stuff, one of the things we highlighted is just the trust element in themselves. In that moment, playing my gap is all I need to do, defending my man if I got a vertical w, of if I’m responsible for the tight end on the vertical, all's I got to do, I don’t have to overthink this thing, so a lot of that is just settling in and making sure that we trust some of those things that we do on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

"A year ago, we were maybe screaming from the rooftops, saying we’re not getting it done on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Thursdays and one of the things as we kind of look at it right now is we've got to make sure that we’re doing the things on Tuesdays and Wednesday and those things will show up on Saturdays. And obviously the opponent is going make it very difficult. They're going to try to mess with your eyes, token play fakes and that’s one of the things the second level of defense struggled with a little bit, but I would highlight the trust on those things. And sometimes too, when your back is against the wall, and you would like to do it when your back is not against the wall and just say we're going to show up on a Saturday and do it from the jump, but when your back’s against the wall, what else do you got? Just trust in each other and trust in yourselves and I give a lot of credit to our guys for doing that."