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The Lincoln Riley Experiment

Yes, Helton left a dumpster fire. No question. He made USC relevant again. And that's great as we head into the Big 10.

But Lincoln Riley is still an experiment and I fear he peaked at Oklahoma.

The Tulane game. The lack of toughness. The poor defense. The over reliance on having an elite QB to win every game. The penalties. The so so recruiting - especially in the trenches. Next year could be a painful season when you look at the roster. Transfers may help but it won't be enough.

Hope I'm wrong, but when the season starts at ND, I think the wheels come off. San Clemente may well be right with his 4 loss prediction. I see 2-3 but once a slide starts it's tough to stop.

Next two game weeks and games are an opportunity to fix a few things. Colorado environment will also help prepare for ND and Oregon.

But fixing a few things likely isn't enough. We still have grinch. My personal hope is that Caleb does what he did last year all over again. He could get the team to the PAC 12 championship alone if he stays upright. But that's not because Riley is some great coach. And it feels unlikely at this point.

Any way you cut it, Riley very well may not be the right coach as we head into the Big 10. His sticking with Grinch alone is a disaster. Imagine this team with a real defense. But that's on Riley.

Let's see what happens but that ASU game showed why Riley probably isn't the guy.

20 comments

20 Comments

BigBallss

Sep 25, 2023

Jesus Christ turned down the job, we had to go with Riley. Riley has gone 17-3 but hasn't turned a single bottle of water into wine. Fuck that guy. I'm kidding of course, I can tell you're a guy with very high standards. Going 17-3 beating ND and UCLA in the same season after taking over a 4-8 team isn't up to your goals. I get it. Losing to Tulane was the final straw to you. I'm going to watch the replay of the ASU game tonite but from my recollection I saw some positives. The defense is finally putting pressure on the Qb, how many sacks did we get 8? Including at least 2 sacks where we only rushed three. Defense gave up 90 yards rushing, that's an improvement from last years defense. Stop the run and you have a chance to win most games. I don't think we can go undefeated, that's really hard to do. Maybe we lose 4 games as you and Mr Sunshine predict but for now we are 4-0 and likely undefeated heading into South Bend. I will take that over what we have been used to since Pete left.

El Trojan

Sep 25, 2023

Replying to

Excellent post as usual BigBallss. Thanks. And El Doctor says DITTO! Right El Doctor?

Okiefromsocal

Sep 25, 2023

Replying to

Going undefeated is an unreasonable expectation for most teams in any year.

It doesn't change the fact that Riley didn't address grinch's defense or the need to practice with more tackling.

It well could be true that it's too early to call Riley a mismatch for SC but we will find out soon enough. He gets through ND to ucla stretch with only one loss and I will eat crow.

Onikoroshi

Sep 25, 2023

Replying to

you are really over your head here

every team practices tackling to the NCAA limits

which are strict

if someone is misses a tackle

you can't blame the scheme since they are in place to make a play

you blame execution which is on the player and is a coaching point

SC is giving up three to five big or explosive plays [20y+] per game which is average for most top 25 defenses

three is better and more like top ten

bama gave up six to Ol Miss

Pedo gave up five to IL

Ahia St gave up four to ND

Georgia three to South Carolina

only Notre Dame above is considered a decent offense

every team in the playoffs last year gave up 40 points or more at least once last year

many during the regular season

and ALL did so in the playoffs

SC still refuses to play FCS schools to pad their stats

unlike MI, GA, Pedo St, etc

if you like stats

Air Force has the best defense next to Pedo St with the Ohio Bobcats not far behind

are you telling me that Riley needs to recruit more like them?

Java

Sep 25, 2023

You and unknown are idiots if you think this is more of the same. You think sloppy seconds and clay had stanford put away at halftime? Put up 50 a game? Won every game by two td?

Yep they have problems. This team in a historically strong pac looks like losses to oregon Washington and nd. With Utah a loss with rising and a toss up presently. Same with utla. Looks like 9-3 if lucky and 8-4 likely. That's not what people had in mind but it's also based on them playing a bad game. Luckily they got a wake up call in a win.

Previous coaches got wake up calls in losses. Such a bummer usc can only win with an elite qb. That makes them just like Alabama. Clemson OHio state Notre dame and anyone else in the cfb world.

MLK Blvd

Sep 25, 2023

Replying to

Riley will never win the PAC/b1g.

Pasadena Trojan

Sep 25, 2023

Replying to

Really good points. Mostly.

Hugs was winning, barely, in a watered down Pac. His peak was prob the back door RB where he didnt even win the P12 title. With an elite QB just like every other team needs.

But is beating "Stanford" by 50 really a great take? They are not the same Program from 5 years ago either.

Lets see what happens with USC in the big games this year. Before we burn this place down

Masked Man

Sep 25, 2023

Worse commentary on this chain than MSNBC.

Okiefromsocal

Sep 25, 2023

Replying to

No argument here that Riley is a major upgrade. And perhaps this is all about grinch. But Riley owns him. And Riley also owns that we don't hit enough in practice.

ND and Utah are going to ram it down our throat and chew the clock. Caleb won't see the ball enough.

A new DC would have gottem more out of this talent. Perhaps Riley would then let us hit more in practice. We will never know.

All we know is that we are staring at several losses this year and then a brutal start to the Big 10 season.

Hopefully I'm wrong. Riley is a major upgrade but is he good enough? He wasn't at Oklahoma.

firenze5

Sep 25, 2023

Replying to

He wasn't good enough at Oklahoma. What universe are you living in. You LR critics are just nits

Onikoroshi

Sep 25, 2023

Replying to

the worst thing to do when the other team is chewing clock when you have an explosive offense

is to do the same

then you are almost guaranteed to have a one score game with eight minutes to go in the game

once teams hit CCGs and the playoffs

you need to be explosive and score more than 40 points to win

last year is a great example

so you need to score on seven of ten possesions

if you can't find points on D or special teams

good luck doing that while chewing up clock

if you go three and out once, you are aleady behind

twice or more and you will lose

MLK Blvd

Sep 25, 2023

nothing will get fixed. Riley has had 2 offseasons to fix the obvious lack of physicallity issues that were apparent under helton. Not only has he failed here, he made ZERO effort. Once again, ex qbs do not make proper OCs or HCs. They prefer to pretend that everyone gets to wear the funny off-colored uniform and that physicality is no longer part of the game. This is how you identify loser coaches.

I can already tell that usc is not hitting during the week, even during a bye. "got to protect the players." No, you are putting them at risk because they aren't used to the physicality that they are going to face on game day. You win your games in practice - big on big - not on saturday. This is the same old Kiffin-Sark-Helton-Haden bullshit that Riley beleives in. We already know how this ends, but USC has one hell of a payoff this time. Hope the woman AD has the guts to make the call when the time comes...

MLK Blvd

Sep 25, 2023

Replying to

I would expect a game similar to asu.

BigBallss

Sep 25, 2023

Replying to

Your choice was Aranda over Riley. I realize it's conjecture but what would Aranda's record be at USC thus far?

mandb

Sep 25, 2023

Replying to

"Hope the woman AD has the guts to make the call when the time comes..."

She didn't blink when it came clear that Jimmy Lake wasn't the answer at UW. And she had to convince the 'wallets' that DeBoer was the right coach when they favored a more 'name'coach.

Fraud

Sep 25, 2023

Maybe it's not the coach? Maybe it's the institution, the alumni and the fan base. Nothing on the field is more pathetic than the crowds. Plus, Go woke. Go broke. I'm sure 208 is just as disillusioned with USC as you are with him.