Fan certainly have their opinion about how USC's defense performed in its season opener, and Trojans defensive coordinator Alex Grinch has his perspective.

Grinch, who is only available to media on Tuesdays after practice, shared his assessment of what he saw Saturday and on film breaking the game down afterward.

"It sounds like coach speak if you play the way we played and get too positive, but percentage is way tilted in the positive direction. So I'm not really a rose-colored glasses type of guy, but you can't ignore that," Grinch said. "So, no, the percentage of plays I thought we played at a high level were obviously good, and that's football. Like we told the guys, that ball makes like water -- he's going to find the crack. So where we were deficient obviously showed up. It's continued progress as we go through it. I think you build on so much of it, and I think for so many of these guys -- I think somebody told me we had 10 guys play their first snaps at USC defensively. No one wants to hear that, but it doesn't make it any less true.

"So, you know, we've got to keep coaching them up and we've got to coach it at a higher level and we've also got to give credit to the opponent. ... So, no, at the risk of sounding like a coach that's bluffing you, I'm extremely excited after Week 1 and very, very disappointed by individual plays."

In the end Saturday, USC gave up four touchdowns and 396 yards to San Jose State in that 56-28 win, but going into the fourth quarter up three touchdowns the Trojans had allowed only 94 rushing yards and 161 passing yards to that point while the Spartans tacked on 104 rushing yards in fourth quarter garbage time (with 36 of those coming on the very last play).

To Grinch's point, USC also played more players on both sides of the ball than it normally would to get an extended look at different guys and different combinations of players together.

But there were breakdowns, busts and plenty to clean up. Specifically of frustration to the coaches -- and fans -- was allowing SJSU to convert on a third-and-22 when Spartans QB Chevan Cordeiro scrambled for 28 yards, and the 28-yard touchdown pass from Cordeiro to Nick Nash at the end of the first half that looked like a breakdown in coverage.

On the third-and-22, head coach Lincoln Riley said defensive tackle Bear Alexander made the "one big mental mistake," as can be seen on film when he leaves his lane to chase the QB around the left edge, resulting in a gaping hole where he had been.

On the touchdown before the half, Grinch indicated that he may have put cornerback Domani Jackson in a bad position as it looked like he was late getting to his responsibility as safety Max Williams chased Nash from well behind down the sideline.

"That’s one of the situations, and I told Domani this, has he had enough reps of that with the ball in the air coming at him? And I gotta be honest with myself and say, you know what, that’s probably not the situation to put him in," Grinch said.

Overall, Grinch reiterated his optimism in the defense based on what he saw in the first game -- and seemed to understand that fans might not agree with him on that.

“I’m very bullish on it. I am. And I mentioned it before, I can’t overstate it, I don’t want to get – anything you say sounds like an excuse, and I don’t want to do that, and I don’t believe it is," he said. "You could say, ‘Well, if not for these seven plays, well,’ and that’s how losers talk. Right, so we can’t do that. But at the same note is, how do we feel about the defense before that play? And then when you watch that play, you say, ‘OK, what was the deficiency on it? Oh my God, how correctible that is.’ And sometimes it’s not. And sometimes it’s effort, and that wasn’t the case coming out of the game. And in some cases, it’s almost likened to a basketball coach where you kind of feel like you got the open shots but you didn't make it. But why on earth do we think we’re not going to make it the next time around?

"So continue to put the work in, continue to rep these guys and get ‘em going. Obviously, I don’t believe that that’s our best yet, and obviously extremely disappointed by some of the numbers. And we gotta go from there.”

After watching the film, what stood out to you positively and negatively?

"It sounds like coach speak if you play the way we played and get too positive, but percentage is way tilted in the positive direction. So I'm not really a rose-colored glasses type of guy, but you can't ignore that. So, no, the percentage of plays I thought we played at a high level were obviously good, and that's football. Like we told the guys, that ball makes like water -- he's going to find the crack. So where we were deficient obviously showed up. It's continued progress as we go through it. I think you build on so much of it, and I think for so many of these guys -- I think somebody told me we had 10 guys play their first snaps at USC defensively. No one wants to hear that, but it doesn't make it any less true.

"So, you know, we've got to keep coaching them up and we've got to coach it at a higher level and we've also got to give credit to the opponent. Coach Brennan and that staff did a great job. It's a high-level quarterback, and we know we're going to have that conversation every week in terms of quarterbacks that can make a bad play good and obviously spread offenses. So, no, at the risk of sounding like a coach that's bluffing you, I'm extremely excited after Week 1 and very, very disappointed by individual plays."