Does practice make perfect or does practice make permanent? If the scheme is bad, what's the upside to becoming a master of a bad scheme? And if the scheme is okay but the teachers can't make anyone proficient at it, either find better teachers or a different scheme that's easier to teach.
Background for context. I'm an Angels fan and Dodger hater. The Angels always draft ahead of the Dodgers but the Dodgers have far more players come up through their system and become productive players. The Dodgers probably do a better job of scouting in the first place, and there's no doubt they do a better job of developing. It seems to me that the longer a guy stays in the Angels system the worse he gets, and the opposite with the Dodgers.
And that brings me back to the Grinch. Is there any evidence his players get better the longer they play for him? What are the improved spots on the defense? The new guys. Maybe Grinch is like the Angels farm system.
BS... that defense didn't save shit. They're responsible for the team being in that position in the first place. So they step up and make a play once every quarter (at best). That offense can not keep bailing this team out. And last night they sucked. You're right- the Oline and play calling sucked. It's starting to crack (lol, I'm starting to crack). Totally expected when you have the 109th- 120th ranked defense. And fuck the ranking, this defense just flat out stinks, period, end of story
Not the point. Everyone knows the defense is dysfunctional and going forward that spells doom to this season. But you have to give credit where it's due, and last night it was the defense that changed the game.
Just as no offense can score every possession, no defense can suck every series. It's just never happened.
They had a good 2nd qt last night. They certainly weren't world beaters. They made some stops. Goodie. Ask anyone, and I mean anyone alive on this planet who thinks this defense is physical or are good tacklers or can make consistent stops, or are technically sound, or .......
NFW. He knows he's going to have to fire Grinch at the end of the year. Did you see the look on his face at the end of the game last night? How about his post game? He was/is absolutely miserable right now. I can only speculate what that's all about, but I'm confident a lot of it is coming to the realization that it's not a lack of personnel on D.
CLR looked lost in space after the triple OT win. People jumping up and celebrating while he wandered around looking like the shell shocked Sgt from the band of brothers intro. Something is wrong, and to me it's not too difficult to figure out.
CLR is cluster f'kd in a big way right now. Definciencies are starting to affect other areas of the team. He looks extremely concerned, even scared.
I'm not crying for him. Here's where he can earn his money. He needs to start making real decisions, obvious ones. And what about special teams? Now he has to wait until next season. And if he doesn't get a special team's coach after 1.5 of unacceptable play,,,,,, We always hear how smart/brilliant he is. Well, now we shall see.
I see 2/3 loses. 10-2, 9-3 not a Pollyanna but not a the sky is falling guy either. The defense is not as good as I would like it but not as bad as any think. Yesterday the offense put the defense in a bad position with 3 3 and outs to start the game. I think Arizona had run 29 plays to our 9 at one time. The most important play of the game was the interception to set up our first Td. Without that we lose. For the next 3 quarters, Arizona only scored one Td. Despite Arizona having 77 plays to our 58. Our defense should have collapsed. It didn't. The overtime tds are irrelevant due to the overtime rules. I believe and I could be wrong but overall the defense was pretty good yesterday.
Seriously, it looked to me like until the 3d quarter every run play was tipped off by either the formation, down and distance tendencies, or the snap cadence. Seemed like every play was directed into the teeth of the defense. Also, the running game is exponentially more effective when there's a threat of the QB keeping the ball on the mesh play or on an RPO play. That didn't show up till the second half.
Given that we are just fans, I see no reason why we can't have fun and speculate on what may happen next. My thoughts are that the Riley experiment is going to either end with an NFL job while he still has some shine or he makes or breaks the SC job in 2025.
He makes plenty of money so it's time to buckle up and do his job. These next six games will be trainwrecks in one form or the other. Hopefully he then cans grinch, recruits some better talent in key positions of need and gets to 8 or 9 wins next year. Next year will be an excuse year for him and other Big 10 coaches as they go through what will be a chaotic season.
As for who replaces him if he bails or fails, who knows. Beyond Meyer, I don't see any clear cut options but guys always come along and SC will throw money at someone decent.
Someone else said it looks like Riley isn't having much fun. I agree. Something looks off with him. I'm not suggesting he gets fired. That's just stupid. But he does need to change and earn his pay.
Enjoy Caleb because beyond that this team won't show much anytime soon.
He is not getting fired, clearly. The guy is 17-3 at USC and what 72-13 overall? Elite numbers. But from day one it has been clear he will be in the NFL soon. I am mildly surprised how quickly some fans have turned on him. Just about any college program woul love to have him. USC botches too many hires for me to have confidence in them hiring a good coach. "Someone decent " isn't going to cut it. Riley is several notches above decent and look at the board last night. Home run hire is what we are looking for. I still think Riley is just that, hopefully he sticks around to prove it. And the criticism of the defense is warranted and deserved
Proper ball control management by Offense would get easily them into the 80's....
total ypg is not a great measure defensively or offensively
ugly has a top five ypg defense and a loss
Clemson, Miami, and A&M are top ten with one to two losses
Utah, Rutgers, Florida, Fresno St., Duke, and Pitt are all top twenty with one to two losses
literally half the top ten for total defense has one or more losses
top twenty is worse with fourteen teams having one or more losses
if total defense wins championships, please explain
Edit: response to Bigballs
I don't think anyone wants to get rid of CLR
Edit: response to unk poster
BS... that defense didn't save shit. They're responsible for the team being in that position in the first place. So they step up and make a play once every quarter (at best). That offense can not keep bailing this team out. And last night they sucked. You're right- the Oline and play calling sucked. It's starting to crack (lol, I'm starting to crack). Totally expected when you have the 109th- 120th ranked defense. And fuck the ranking, this defense just flat out stinks, period, end of story
NFW. He knows he's going to have to fire Grinch at the end of the year. Did you see the look on his face at the end of the game last night? How about his post game? He was/is absolutely miserable right now. I can only speculate what that's all about, but I'm confident a lot of it is coming to the realization that it's not a lack of personnel on D.
CLR looked lost in space after the triple OT win. People jumping up and celebrating while he wandered around looking like the shell shocked Sgt from the band of brothers intro. Something is wrong, and to me it's not too difficult to figure out.
CLR is cluster f'kd in a big way right now. Definciencies are starting to affect other areas of the team. He looks extremely concerned, even scared.
I'm not crying for him. Here's where he can earn his money. He needs to start making real decisions, obvious ones. And what about special teams? Now he has to wait until next season. And if he doesn't get a special team's coach after 1.5 of unacceptable play,,,,,, We always hear how smart/brilliant he is. Well, now we shall see.
Actually the d saved the game in the second half after being hung out to dry in the first half w all the 3 n outs.
The biggest issues were the ol play and the brain dead game management.