To test this feature, visit your live site.

Like it or not

USC is falling behind where college football is going.

Look at Michigan. They are actually rallying around Harbaugh despite knowing he cheats. Their donors don't care and have elevated their talent to playoff caliber. Ohio St has been all in for a while, too. And we all know how the SEC does business - Georgia, Bama, LSU, etc. seem to have made ungodly commitments to football.

I don't get the sense SC's donor base is all in on making football elite. Maybe that changes if the donors foot the bill for a great D coordinator and helps upgrade the coaching staff overall. I'm not holding my breath.

While I have been in the camp of its way too soon to fire Riley, I wouldn't care if it happened. College football is being reset and USC may become irrelevant for a while. Hell, we may become ucla. And they beat us too!

Given where college football is headed, it would be interesting if some SC donors forced a change. Would it make SC any better next year? No. But it would be fascinating to see SC do something wild and take a swing at another big name coach who could have SC in the 12 team playoff in 2025.

13 comments

13 Comments

firenze5

Nov 19, 2023

I believe we just started building a new football facility costing around $100 million and it also includes a new full size football field practice facility. Whatever USC's problems I seriously doubt it's a lack of support , either donors or administration.

Okiefromsocal

Nov 19, 2023

Replying to

It's proposed and not started.

Where's the NIL cash? It is a huge missing piece right now.

pistonslap

Nov 19, 2023

Replying to

I know CLR was hired to run this program his way so I doubt Cohen can/will say anything but hopefully he has a Brian Kelly or Dabo moment and realizes that things need to change if he wants to achieve the goals he outlined at the beginning.

Okiefromsocal

Nov 19, 2023

Good take. Just seems like a lot is going to have to break Riley's way to be the guy who gets SC back to elite.

As for Moss, seems like a good kid and decent QB. But it is very clear Riley is going to the portal. Moss will for sure get a look somewhere else. Not sure what Nelson will do. SC will be very thin at QB come spring once the transfer is announced.

Edited

pistonslap

Nov 19, 2023

Replying to

I don't doubt that he can make a transfer QB work but team chemistry seems to be a bit off with the program and having a guy who's been there even before Riley's arrival would go a long way in improving that.

Something I don't get though is that while CLR doesn't run a true Air Raid, one characteristic of Leach teams was that the backup QB was nearly as good as the starter and was ready to go in case #1 went down. Maybe he just needs time to get his QB room up to speed but there seems to be questions about every position going into the offseason.

Okiefromsocal

Nov 19, 2023

Replying to

Exactly. The roster has questions everywhere. And how do the lines get stronger physically and skill wise fast? It's a mess.

pistonslap

Nov 19, 2023

Replying to

I'm not sure how the offensive line will look as a whole but the guys we recruited last year look promising, as does the '24 class if it stays together. We'll probably have to hit the portal again for another year to plug up some holes while the '23 guys develop but the base ingredients look better than what we had under Helton's last few.

On defense we'll also have to get portal guys again but if we hire a good DC, I actually think that side of the ball can improve very quickly. I also think if they have our defensive guys bulk up instead of slimming down that will help as well but we had guys with some size who could have played but chose not to for whatever reason. Bear, Barrs and Sullivan should have been the 3 guys on the line nearly every snap and if they weren't taught to be so aggressive with the play calls that alone would have solved a lot of issues IMO.

Anyways I'm probably going to find other things to do for awhile to keep my blood pressure down. Here's to hoping that things start trending in the right direction very soon.

Fraud

Nov 19, 2023

SC is a woke shithole full of Chinese and Palestinians. No one gives a shit. Allahu Akfighton!

pistonslap

Nov 19, 2023

I think we should cool it with the big name coaches. Both UW and UO got guys who were more or less unproven and are much better off than we are at this point. I made a post a couple of days ago in partial jest, asking if the other names we were wanting back in 2021 would have been better hires and honestly I don't think any of them would have been markedly better. The team would probably play more complimentary football under a different coach but that also means no CW who was the driving force behind our "turnaround" so we'd still probably be in the same boat with 4 or 5 losses.

Other hot names at the time were Billy Napier and Brian Kelly, the latter of which has been more successful but even LSU doesn't seem to be happy with their defense or recruiting.

If they decide to move on from CLR and aren't willing to play the bag game, they need to get a guy who can develop and build programs. Maybe we'll keep missing out on the 4 and 5-star guys for the forseeable future but at least if our head man can show that USC can still be a place where they can get developed, eventually the ones who prize development will start to stay home even if others are offering better NIL deals. Either way I'm eating a nice serving of humble pie and at this point in time backed the wrong horse with Riley. I hope I'm wrong though.

Okiefromsocal

Nov 19, 2023

Replying to

I agree we may not need a big name coach but at least a guy with some buzz backed by results. Washington and Oregon got that.

Yes, Riley allegedly that guy too. And I don't think he is going anywhere. I just wouldn't mind it if he did move on as a change now may make USC relevant again in 2025. Riley is gonna feel the heat quickly in 2024. Jesus what an ugly season is coming with several likely blowouts.

pistonslap

Nov 19, 2023

Replying to

Right now our recruiting class is better than UW's, although it remains to be seen how things will look coming signing day. UO is a totally different story as they have the buzz and the numbers.

I think a solid DC hire will go a long way in changing the trajectory of the program but the offense needs to adjust as well. I know that CLR tailors his offense to the strength of his QB's and with the inconsistent line play over the last couple of years I can understand why he put the ball in CW's hands so much but at the same time I hope the next QB will take the easy completions and make quicker decisions to help his OL out.

I'd like to believe that Miller Moss can be that guy with a full offseason as the intended starter and an added emphasis on the run game, which is something CLR's offense did quite a bit of in the past. I also want to believe that maybe some of the offense's struggles were because of the added pressure of having to score so much and that having a more complimentary team will let both sides just go out there and play better football. We'll see what happens but there is a lot that needs to happen if Riley wants this to work out.