Lincoln Riley has taken a more active role in USC’s defense. Will it stick? He’s still talking about USC being “not that far off.”
Since firing failed DC Alex Grinch and elevating Brian Odom and Shaun Nua, Riley has ‘been around a lot more’ with his defense over the past week
Luca Evans (OC Register) — LOS ANGELES — The narrative has followed Lincoln Riley for five years, from Norman to Southern California, because his defense of his defense five years ago was much the same as it was after a loss to Oregon on Saturday night.
Consider Riley’s statements in November of 2018, as reported by Oklahoma’s Fansided site, when the Sooners were coming off a narrow 48-47 victory over Oklahoma State nearly doomed by defensive issues: “We’ve got to play better, but those of us in those walls, we see the makings of what we want to be. And we’re not that far off.”
Consider Riley’s statements in November of 2023, when this USC squad was coming off a 36-27 loss to Oregon in which the Trojans were once again doomed by explosive plays on defense: “Kinda been the theme of the last several weeks, is, we’re not that far off. I mean, we’re not. And we got work to do.”
Riley is known, unequivocally, as an offensive guru. His commitment to fielding an elite defense, though, has been questioned throughout a largely successful career as a head coach – with years of shaky results and a clear focus on offensive responsibilities as a head coach.
“I’ve probably spent a little bit more time there than I did this time last year, just some of the continuity on offense and some of the offensive staff and all that,” Riley said in early November of overseeing USC’s defense this year. “I certainly spend more of my time to be ready to call the offense, so of course spend most of my time there.”
Now, this hasn’t come out of nowhere, as defensive lineman Jamil Muhammad made clear. But in the week and a half since Riley fired defensive coordinator Alex Grinch after two years of disappointing defensive results, since staffers Shaun Nua and Brian Odom have stepped up to share co-coordinator responsibilities, Riley said he’s spent more time with his defense.
“He’s been around a lot more,” Muhammad said Tuesday.
Six years after his first year as a head coach, at Oklahoma, only one Riley-led team – the 2019 Sooners – has finished better than 60th in the FBS in points allowed per game. This USC unit, after Riley said in the spring that “what was acceptable 12 months ago is not necessarily acceptable now,” has been the worst in his tenure. And Riley was adamant, in availability last week after the Grinch decision, that he and the rest of staff weren’t laying complete blame for USC’s defensive issues on Grinch, telling reporters “I have a role in that.”
And even if simply a symptom of a midseason coaching change, his increased presence on defensive concepts has been beneficial, as Nua and Muhammad both expressed at practice on Tuesday. On Monday, Muhammad said, Riley was overseeing a defensive walkthrough of the Nua-and-Odom-led tweaks to Grinch’s established scheme.
“It’s been good having him around, having an extra set of eyes and obviously a set of wisdom when it comes to just the game as a whole, even if he isn’t a defensive coach, but he is a savant of the game,” Muhammad said.
The question, then – will Riley consider working more hands-on with his USC defenses in the future, as part of his vision for the program?
“Yeah, I think going forward,” Riley said, “there’s a lot of questions to be answered there … we’ll make the changes that we’re going to make, we’ll get this group together and we’ll decide what the best course of action is in terms of a person that we bring in, how that changes roles on the current staff, roles on the future staff.
“I rode the emotional roller coaster as a [younger] coach,” Riley explained further. “Now, I stay a little more even-keeled. I know what the good is. I know what the bad is. I know what we’ve gotta do to fix it. I know what it’s going to take. I know we’re going to get it done, and you’ve gotta be able to take any situation that comes up, whether you win a close game, you make that play at the end or you don’t, there’s still a whole lot else that’s going to have to continue to improve to go where we need to go, and I know all that. I know we’re going to get there.
“It’s just one day at a time right now, put your right foot in front of the left, and keep moving,” Riley said. “You do that, you’ve got the right people, and you’re at the right place, good things are going to happen. And that’s what’s going to happen here.”
It seems, then, that the onus to rebuild USC’s defense will fall largely on his next coordinator’s shoulders. But this finish on USC’s season is an interesting thought experiment of sorts, a judgment both on the absence of Grinch and if Riley’s further-extended presence with his defense during practices yields results. A tiny pinprick did emerge from the loss to Oregon, a game that was fraught with secondary implosions: USC held the Ducks to 140 rushing yards on 31 carries, far below their season averages in rushing yards per game (202.3) and yards per carry (6.2).
“Everything,” Riley said, “should be a little cleaner this week.”
It had better be. The past four games have seen USC’s defense give up 2,133 yards, the most any Trojans defense has ever given up over a similar stretch. USC now sits in the bottom 10 nationally in both points (34.6) and yards (446.5) allowed per game as it gets ready for life with a new defensive coordinator.
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A lot of talk going on around the web that Riley will go to the portal for a QB. What I can’t understand is why? He has two 5 star guys waiting and learning his system ready to go. I think people are looking for CW2. The problem with that is it isn’t going to happen overnight, he is a generational player, they only come along so often. I am pulling for the guy that can make fast reads and unload the ball quickly. Both Moss and Nelson have that talent.
I remember that during the years USC was formidable. There was an O-line that could open holes and keep the QB on his feet. There were RBs/FBs that could gain yardage. There were receivers getting open consistently and catch the ball. You add that type of package to a good QB, you would win most or all your games. What I am saying is LR can win big time if he builds a program with sufficient depth in most all positions with talent and not have to recruit & depend on a CW to play lights out to win games… Read more »
I think we are all hoping Jam, that LR has grown up through this season and learned some deserved lessons. If only he would have listened to us at the end of last season.
I Believe In The Curse of Cade The Curse of Cade? How one play may have led to 25 years of misery for UCLA football Ben Bolch (LAT) — UCLA was bludgeoning USC at the Rose Bowl a quarter of a century ago. Ahead by three scores, taking a knee or running up the middle would have been the humane thing to do, even against those terrible Trojans. Cade McNown leaned into the huddle and relayed the play. As the clock ticked below 20 seconds, the Bruins quarterback stepped behind center and took the snap. He faked a pitch and took off… Read more »
Lincoln it’s a little late in the day to say the defense is not that far away. You were given a free pass last year in having to deal with what was left over from the Cat’s mess. But this defense has regressed from 2022. While the other PAC-12 programs improved, we are looking at more losses than last year. What really hurts is you did very little HS defensive recruiting in addition to bringing in some “disgruntled” Portal players. You can’t build a program doing this. Now you are at least two more seasons away from having a hopeful… Read more »
Kumbaya Rick begged older Bruin Randy Cross not to go to the dark side, and pick USC, but Randy insisted USC would probably win on the last drive because UCLA is going downhill (Cross actually laughingly picked UCLA to win the Pac-12 before the season started).
Domer Aaron Taylor picked USC because we have a player like Caleb Williams who cares so much.
Trojan hoops surge in AP polls; USC women in top 10 for first time since 1994 Connor Morrissette (247sports.com) — Juju Watkins scored 32 points in her collegiate debut — the most ever in a freshman debut in USC women’s basketball history. Watkins also had five assists, which led the Trojans. “I’m lost for words right now, I’m still kind of processing everything,” Watkins said after the 83-74 opener win over Ohio State. “But at the end of the day, this whole team is a bunch of ballers, so whenever we get the chance to compete against a top-10 team,… Read more »
It looks like the talk is that Ceyair, Raleek, Raesjon, MikeJack, and Korey are probable for the portal. I do think Raleek and Raesjon can be kept if USC wants them.
Allen, Simply more reason LR MUST hire a high quality DC who will bring in his own staff. I think the entire D staff is gone. LR MUST change the narrative. Prior to this season, I really think he thought he could control the narrative for his team – he learned this year that he does not. He lost that control when he brought Grinch back ( I doubt he knew the consequences or the risks when he made that call). I feel very confident that both LR and Jen Cohen realize this. It will be very expensive, but it… Read more »
Ya, get every defensive coach out of here. Let the new savior-type DC use all his powers to rope in the best defensive coaches he can assemble.
USC has sadly cultivated being a bad defensive outfit for a long time now. That’s gotta completely change. We can’t just be aiming for an improved, decent, pretty good D. LR has to understand his approach to the USC defense has been massively flawed, and if he doesn’t fix it right, it’s gonna fix him.
LR remenber has those “trained eyes,” RJJ, that the rest of us mere mortals do not have the benefit of posessing. Up on Mt. Olympus, LR no doubt saw that his fellow god-coach (in training) Alex would do just fine this season. After all, you really don’t need a defense to win in modern college football, right? LR’s trained eyes realizes that the players let down his fellow god Alex Grinch and LR himself. The players and fans should be ashamed of the blame-fingers being pointed at Lincoln Riley up there on Mt. Olympus….
I think Riley’s gonna have to change his tune Allen. A more balanced offense for Big-10 football is required. WR should be last on LR’s list those guys come automatically to SC. I believe SC will need to restore more running into there offense and possible run first vs pass first offense. This will help LR get better defensive recruits as well. I also don’t believe LR needs the best QB either. You need a capable QB. Air-raid is gonna have a tough time in the Big-10. Especially if this DC hire is not Air tight.
Watching Riley’s upcoming moves will be fodder for incredible speculation and second-guessing.
I totally agree that USC needs to run more, and with greater effect, purpose and control of the game. As much as I love watching Caleb Williams’ Hero Ball stuff when it works, I look forward to a more balanced, tougher LR offense to go along with a vastly improved and better constructed D.
We’re all gonna find out what LR’s made of, even if his overly secretive nature gets in the way of his program sometimes.
OhioSt wins a lot of Big 10 games with just better WRs. Michigan’s big run in the 90s was the same. You will be shocked how bad Big 10 skill positions are. In the Pac, you feared almost every qb.
I don’t necessarily think we should go away from air-raid. We will always have it because we are a WR factory I just think that we can afford to put our recruiting efforts on other positions of need because no matter what we can get a 5 star WR’s. Our offense is a pass first. I think in the Big-10 they incorporate Air-Raid but I feel like they run more to set up there passing. Our RB recruits are not as strong as before we will need to restore that as well as OL moving forward in the Big 10.
MarShawn Lloyd, mysterious brief injury and all, was pretty darn good this year. Wish we had the OL to run him a lot more. Tough guy to bring down and he can really get after it in traffic. Hope he has a strong game against the Bruins.
When LR says we’re not that far off I think you still have to question how serious he is about change!! It’s one thing to stay positive, but once again when you at the bottom of the PAC-12 in team defense, and teams like Arizona, and Oregon St are better than you, and Utah has beat you 3 times in the last two years, and you have given up over 2100 yards, and you’re back yard 4 and 5 star defensive recruits are going to Oregon and Utah or elsewhere I would say you are “very” far off!!!! If we… Read more »
100%. But we also have to fund our collectives. We are not anywhere near the top teams right now. Our cautious approach is putting us further behind by the day. I think Jen, who realizes the money spent at UW was worth it, will get this (collectives) going in the right direction.
If SC wants to walk the walk then they are going to have step up to the plate. Obviously SC wanted to move to the Big-10 right. What for thou? Money, tv, a better chance at a playoff berth, and recruits. I believe we have half the product for Big-10, but we are missing the biggest piece of the Big-10 which is defense. I completely follow you as far as our collectives go, but hey for the future do our collectors want to see SC in a competitive matchup against rivals which are big money makers or lob sided matchups… Read more »
They will spend for a big time DC. Proven when they gave LR 10 mil per year. Now, will Jen convince the administration to change policy on NIL for recruits? Offer in hand when they come on visits, that’s what it will take. It’s well known that the MD kids chased big NIL deals and we weren’t in on them.
I’ve said this before and I will say it again. If SC wants to compete with Oregon especially with NIL then you need to rebrand yourself and you need to accept what is and stop acting like the administration can’t afford it, acting like we are SC and we don’t need to pay players because of our history. Sounds like a Laker pitch to free agents before Lebron. Come on Jen!! If Notre Dame doesn’t have this policy then we are seriously shooting ourselves in the foot with that policy. Good luck in the Big-10 with that policy in place… Read more »
NIL deals need to be completely off campus. No university connection. Lawyer to lawyer. Recruiting staff just needs to get out a list of players to go after.
Excellent. Riley needs a lot of help. A huge DC who knows a lot more about D than Riley ever dreamed needs to come to USC’s rescue. Hopefully, this new big-name DC brings the ability to attract some new and better coaches (on the recruiting trail as well).
I like your decommitment angle as well. USC just can’t afford to pick up the pace a little with some baby steps. We need to change some hotshot preps and portal guys’ minds and get them on the USC campus asap.
The two guys that would be huge to get to
de-commit based on a hire would be Breland DL from Mater-Dei currently committed to OR, and Vilamu Asa ILB Bosco currently committed to ND.
UCLA insiders say Chip Kelly will likely be fired, has lost support of power brokers Matt Zemek (Trojans Wire) — As USC prepares to face UCLA, the big story is not the Pac-12 championship, or the Rose Bowl, or the College Football Playoff, or the New Year’s Six. It’s whether Chip Kelly will be fired by UCLA. USC’s defensive coordinator search will intensify after this game, but while Lincoln Riley looks for his most important assistant heading into the Big Ten, the Bruins are wondering if they are about to begin a new head coaching search. UCLA insiders and people who follow the program… Read more »
OUCH! I have a rule that I think is nearly 100% valid – when one coach is coaching for his job and the other is not, the coach whose job is on the line wins. The wild card is the bulk of the SC assistants are also coaching for their jobs.
What we know for sure is that some Trojan coaches have been keeping an eye out on their futures elsewhere lately while trying to coach at the same time.
It’s just a fact of coaching life.
I really do hope arrogant, dismissive Chip Kelly gets fired. It would be fun to see who the Bruins could land as his replacement, though getting a coach like Jonathan Smith from ORE ST wouldn’t be good news for USC IMO.
I guess I am one of the only ones who still thinks Riley is the right guy. I also remember what he walked in to, a roster that was terrible, A culture that was worse, and a team that had no hope of winning in any real way. Grinch was a mistake, a big one. Even with him and the worst defense we all can remember, we weren’t far off from winning every game but one. We were also close to losing three more. Get the DC hire right and we will take off. I 100% believe that.
Exactly Chris! Our program was awful when Riley took over. Last year’s success made us think the rebuild was done but the roster had holes that weren’t exposed until this year.
We’ve been able to compete thanks to our elite offense. If we had even a top 50 defense this year, we’d be at least 10-1.
I want to believe you on this, and I think the defense situation being fixed will a long way towards proving you right. I know the offensive line will improve if we recruit right. I’m sure our QB next season will have the right stuff, so fix the defense and see what happens right?
There isn’t any other team I want to follow, so if things don’t improve I’ll say wait until next coach instead of next year.
I really like last years o line class. We have a few from this year that should be good down the line as well. We are getting solid guys, but not getting the 5 star guys. Always have our hat on the table but they are not picking it up. O line is a crap shoot. But 5 star d lineman usually are no brainers. Sark and Texas got good quick because they recruited studs on DLine. Our hats are not on their tables. We need to fix that or cross our fingers in portal where guys like Bear are… Read more »
Chris, I am on board. I think LR is the right guy for the job. He is young and intelligent and competitive. And has had significant success. He also has allegedly one of the best ADs in the country. I think he clearly knows he MUST change his approach to team structure AND must also change his approach to NIL. This means he needs a high quality DC and D staff which can both coach and recruit. I really think it will happen.
What some other Trojan fans are saying about Lincoln Riley now “I’ll be honest… Lincoln Riley’s whole pre and post-game canned speeches, and lack of real information coming from him; especially as it relates to his players and coaches all just seem disingenuous. He only speaks in generalities that lack detail or substance. Feels like he is either clueless on what to say (bad) or he’s just playing all of us for brainless and meaningless idiots (worse). “I was high on him, at the hiring, less high on him after realizing how much of his OK success was due to… Read more »
After the Cotton Bowl last year, most of us were calling for Riley to fire Grinch. When he chose not to, we accepted it as it was too soon to pull the trigger and that Grinch needed time to get more players and depth and get them trained to his system. This year proved that was a bad decision as our defense which we hoped would be better has gotten even worse this year in spite of getting more talent added. Riley is a young coach who I think will grow from this experience as we’ve all made bad decisions… Read more »
We all hope Lincoln Riley improves a lot. If he doesn’t, god help him. I also realize he’s young and inexperienced in some ways we hadn’t anticipated, which has become very apparent lately. But John McKay had already won a NC by the time he was 40, then won three more for good measure, and really shouldn’t even be remotely compared with a coach like Riley, who will never come close to winning a NC at USC unless he improves in many areas. I wish Riley the absolute best at USC and expect he will get things right. While I… Read more »
The at Zona and ASU games were disconcerting last year … I was like can we just get 1 stop! Then the big belly flop at Utah with numerous chances to stop just 1 play and win the game.
The new DC cannot get here fast enough.
Am I wrong? Did we hire the best mix of Clay Helton and Lane Kiffin?
We certainly recognize coach doublespeak, as recently as two years ago, but it seems we get as much of the cagey personnel commentary to go with the “it’ll get better soon”
I understand the right to privacy with players, but would it hurt to be a little forthright with things like practice injuries or academic issues?
Suddenly there’s a lot less to like about this miracle worker than meets the trained eye.
A problem Lincoln has now is that he usually has to repeatedly defend a crappy product.
So he meanders along in the interview/presser world while saying ridiculous, repetitive, defensive bromides we have all heard a thousand times before.
Coaches like Dan Lanning aren’t always on the defensive all the time like LR is. So they sound a lot better. You don’t ever hear Duck fans complaining about what Lanning says, or how he says it.
Riley may be better than Helton or Kiffin, but he doesn’t come even close to Saban, Smart, Harbaugh, or some others out there.
Doublespeak is one thing. Stupidity is another.
Hopefully, Riley gets his act together soon, doesn’t call out all Trojan fans as “untrained” (duh, coach) anymore, and doesn’t ridiculously speak of USC being on the verge of things it isn’t even close to — unless he’s referring to quick long TD throws right past our bewildered DBs.
USC’s Recruiting Is Suffering Antonio Morales (The Athletic) — The Trojans’ recruiting class ranks 18th nationally. The average player rating for their 17-member class is 91.16. Those numbers are fine, but Lincoln Riley and USC’s stated goal is to compete for national championships. Viewing this recruiting class through that lens, the Trojans aren’t recruiting at the level necessary to be an elite program — especially as they move into the Big Ten. It’s difficult to see a major surge up the rankings late because the top 13 players in California already are committed. Four-star defensive tackle Jericho Johnson is still uncommitted, and… Read more »
As an outsider…I have no idea what is causing us to misfire regarding recruiting but……something is definitely off…….and it goes back a long way……Helton had empty classes of linemen which we are paying for now……NIL, Riley, Asst Coaches, Recruiting staff, connections to HS staff. actual man-hours spent recruiting…..I’d love someone who is connected to describe their opinion as to what needs to be done and/or the current situation.
We are way behind on NIL. Caleb gets headlines with his deals, as he should, but as a whole we are not where we need to be. Until we get that fixed we will continue to finish behind others who have stronger NIL.
USC needs some better coaches who also have the ability to make more impressive recruiting impacts, sell the USC brand better (what is that brand now, except a little soft and all about the QB?), and who also work at it harder, smarter, and more effectively than USC’s current staff. It’s very obvious that some coaches on the USC staff are lacking in pure recruiting ability compared to the other better programs now. As well expressed by The Athletic’s Antonio Morales: “Of course, NIL plays a significant role in building a better roster and recruiting, and the Oregon Ducks benefit… Read more »
We are just not seen as a lineman’s school. If you are an elite lineman, you know which schools to go to. It’s the same as, if you are an elite QB or receiver, you go to SC. We just didn’t “water the flowers” on lineman and toughness from the end of the Pete Carroll era forward. To quote Bono, “It leaves you, Baby, if you don’t care for it.”
1981 Oline left to right Mosebar, Matthews, Allen Pugh, Roy Foster. Not bad, three 1st round picks and long time NFL players.
Tony Slaton (71) and Joe Murray (74) in back ground.
Don Mosebar was such a stud. Well, they all were, but for some reason OT Mosebar, ’82 AA, always stood out to me and I admired him. Too bad he hurt his eye so badly he was forced to retire from the Raiders after becoming an All-Pro center. These were the types of kids USC used to sign out of HS. How much NIL dough could Mosebar have commanded coming out of Mt . Whitney today? Was he ever the type to make it egregiously hard to get him because of a down payment? DON MOSEBAR, OT, 6-7, 270, Visalia… Read more »
When Anthony Munoz sadly went down in the 1979 opener at Texas Tech, Mosebar stepped in as a true frosh and did a terrific job until Munoz’s miraculous return for the Rose Bowl.
That game in Lubbock was strange. SC was unanimously #1 but lost player after player before getting out with a 21-7 win.
Ronnie Lott, Charlie White and a few more starters joined Munoz on the IR for that game.
I remember Mal Florence’s headline in the Times ‘Trojans Deep in the Heart of Texas’
High school recruiting isn’t as big as it used to be with the transfer portal now. We really need to use this for offensive and defensive linemen to begin to build depth and develop players who get used to playing together.
I expect we’ll get lots of transfer portal players.
Hopefully, USC will get better transfer portal players than this last go around. LR’s and his staff’s evaluation of the portal talent-wise wasn’t all that good. We got some good ones, but also missed significantly on filling some other spots.
I think prep recruiting is still extremely important as a program builder, especially for the schools that are doing it significantly better than USC is now.
I don’t think the TP is any way to build a solid program. For the most part, they are “one and dones” or at least two years. Hard to learn a system and become a real team member in that short time frame. You don’t see Ga and Alabama relying on the TP and they repeatedly are in the hunt foe a NC. Same with Michigan and OSU. They build from within. They develop their players.
MPA90, I do not think it worked better in 2022 than in 2023; the difference was the schedule. This year we played 2 top 10 teams and probably three more top 25 team (Utah, AZ and ND). He went 0-3 last year (twice with Utah and once with Tulane); this year he went 1-4. When we went 11-1, we did not play any team that was anywhere near as good as WA or OR; I think Utah was not as good this year (but still very good) and ND was much better this year than last (and we played in… Read more »
Against USC this Saturday, Kelly is fighting for his job. Lose to the Trojans, and you’re fired Chip.
Hopefully, Riley never reaches the point where if he loses to the little gutties, he’s automatically a goner. But if Riley does somehow get beat by a bad Bruin team in the Coliseum, it won’t be pretty.
A lot of talk going on around the web that Riley will go to the portal for a QB. What I can’t understand is why? He has two 5 star guys waiting and learning his system ready to go. I think people are looking for CW2. The problem with that is it isn’t going to happen overnight, he is a generational player, they only come along so often. I am pulling for the guy that can make fast reads and unload the ball quickly. Both Moss and Nelson have that talent.
I remember that during the years USC was formidable. There was an O-line that could open holes and keep the QB on his feet. There were RBs/FBs that could gain yardage. There were receivers getting open consistently and catch the ball. You add that type of package to a good QB, you would win most or all your games. What I am saying is LR can win big time if he builds a program with sufficient depth in most all positions with talent and not have to recruit & depend on a CW to play lights out to win games… Read more »
I think we are all hoping Jam, that LR has grown up through this season and learned some deserved lessons. If only he would have listened to us at the end of last season.
I Believe In The Curse of Cade The Curse of Cade? How one play may have led to 25 years of misery for UCLA football Ben Bolch (LAT) — UCLA was bludgeoning USC at the Rose Bowl a quarter of a century ago. Ahead by three scores, taking a knee or running up the middle would have been the humane thing to do, even against those terrible Trojans. Cade McNown leaned into the huddle and relayed the play. As the clock ticked below 20 seconds, the Bruins quarterback stepped behind center and took the snap. He faked a pitch and took off… Read more »
Typical little guttie bs.
Lincoln it’s a little late in the day to say the defense is not that far away. You were given a free pass last year in having to deal with what was left over from the Cat’s mess. But this defense has regressed from 2022. While the other PAC-12 programs improved, we are looking at more losses than last year. What really hurts is you did very little HS defensive recruiting in addition to bringing in some “disgruntled” Portal players. You can’t build a program doing this. Now you are at least two more seasons away from having a hopeful… Read more »
CBS Sports Network’s Inside College Football’s USC/UCLA picks
1 Rick Neuheisel — UCLA
2 Randy Cross — USC
3 Brian Jones — USC
4 Aaron Taylor — USC
Would Neuheisel say anything else. USC blew him out of his SUCLA gig.
Kumbaya Rick begged older Bruin Randy Cross not to go to the dark side, and pick USC, but Randy insisted USC would probably win on the last drive because UCLA is going downhill (Cross actually laughingly picked UCLA to win the Pac-12 before the season started).
Domer Aaron Taylor picked USC because we have a player like Caleb Williams who cares so much.
Wow. Even Randy Cross picked SC….
Randy must believe in the Curse of Cade like I do!
Trojan hoops surge in AP polls; USC women in top 10 for first time since 1994 Connor Morrissette (247sports.com) — Juju Watkins scored 32 points in her collegiate debut — the most ever in a freshman debut in USC women’s basketball history. Watkins also had five assists, which led the Trojans. “I’m lost for words right now, I’m still kind of processing everything,” Watkins said after the 83-74 opener win over Ohio State. “But at the end of the day, this whole team is a bunch of ballers, so whenever we get the chance to compete against a top-10 team,… Read more »
She’s the real deal. Good enough to carry us if needed. New generation who plays like a really skilled guard but has the size of a front court player.
She’s also an immediate magnet for other Trojan stars
In JuJu’s wake, USC just signed outstanding 5-star 6-1 Calif wing Kennedy Smith and dynamic New York POY PG Kayleigh Heckel.
Good work Lindsay! Building a great program.
It looks like the talk is that Ceyair, Raleek, Raesjon, MikeJack, and Korey are probable for the portal. I do think Raleek and Raesjon can be kept if USC wants them.
I think Raesjon will stay.
https://x.com/raleek2/status/1723433820127707579?s=20
i think we will see a bunch in the portal after this week. Gentry, Benton, Singer are others I think will be gone.
More from the Trojan Madding Crowd
“Lincoln Riley runs football like Gavin Newsome runs Cali. All smiles and cheers while Rome is burning.
“I’m tired of has been ‘coaches,’ who act like we should be grateful to have them on campus.
“Sorry, sonny, we are SC, not Oklahoma.
“Who’s gonna want to come to SC, when the recruitment is just for high-octane offense and for flamed-out defense?
“SC admin wake up and smell the coffee, get the best coaches!”
Allen, Simply more reason LR MUST hire a high quality DC who will bring in his own staff. I think the entire D staff is gone. LR MUST change the narrative. Prior to this season, I really think he thought he could control the narrative for his team – he learned this year that he does not. He lost that control when he brought Grinch back ( I doubt he knew the consequences or the risks when he made that call). I feel very confident that both LR and Jen Cohen realize this. It will be very expensive, but it… Read more »
Ya, get every defensive coach out of here. Let the new savior-type DC use all his powers to rope in the best defensive coaches he can assemble.
USC has sadly cultivated being a bad defensive outfit for a long time now. That’s gotta completely change. We can’t just be aiming for an improved, decent, pretty good D. LR has to understand his approach to the USC defense has been massively flawed, and if he doesn’t fix it right, it’s gonna fix him.
LR remenber has those “trained eyes,” RJJ, that the rest of us mere mortals do not have the benefit of posessing. Up on Mt. Olympus, LR no doubt saw that his fellow god-coach (in training) Alex would do just fine this season. After all, you really don’t need a defense to win in modern college football, right? LR’s trained eyes realizes that the players let down his fellow god Alex Grinch and LR himself. The players and fans should be ashamed of the blame-fingers being pointed at Lincoln Riley up there on Mt. Olympus….
I think Riley’s gonna have to change his tune Allen. A more balanced offense for Big-10 football is required. WR should be last on LR’s list those guys come automatically to SC. I believe SC will need to restore more running into there offense and possible run first vs pass first offense. This will help LR get better defensive recruits as well. I also don’t believe LR needs the best QB either. You need a capable QB. Air-raid is gonna have a tough time in the Big-10. Especially if this DC hire is not Air tight.
Watching Riley’s upcoming moves will be fodder for incredible speculation and second-guessing.
I totally agree that USC needs to run more, and with greater effect, purpose and control of the game. As much as I love watching Caleb Williams’ Hero Ball stuff when it works, I look forward to a more balanced, tougher LR offense to go along with a vastly improved and better constructed D.
We’re all gonna find out what LR’s made of, even if his overly secretive nature gets in the way of his program sometimes.
OhioSt wins a lot of Big 10 games with just better WRs. Michigan’s big run in the 90s was the same. You will be shocked how bad Big 10 skill positions are. In the Pac, you feared almost every qb.
I don’t necessarily think we should go away from air-raid. We will always have it because we are a WR factory I just think that we can afford to put our recruiting efforts on other positions of need because no matter what we can get a 5 star WR’s. Our offense is a pass first. I think in the Big-10 they incorporate Air-Raid but I feel like they run more to set up there passing. Our RB recruits are not as strong as before we will need to restore that as well as OL moving forward in the Big 10.
MarShawn Lloyd, mysterious brief injury and all, was pretty darn good this year. Wish we had the OL to run him a lot more. Tough guy to bring down and he can really get after it in traffic. Hope he has a strong game against the Bruins.
Lincoln Riley and Gavin Newsom in the same sentence? Awful, just awfu!
But point well taken.l
https://babylonbee.com/news/communist-dictator-meets-with-president-xi
When LR says we’re not that far off I think you still have to question how serious he is about change!! It’s one thing to stay positive, but once again when you at the bottom of the PAC-12 in team defense, and teams like Arizona, and Oregon St are better than you, and Utah has beat you 3 times in the last two years, and you have given up over 2100 yards, and you’re back yard 4 and 5 star defensive recruits are going to Oregon and Utah or elsewhere I would say you are “very” far off!!!! If we… Read more »
100%. But we also have to fund our collectives. We are not anywhere near the top teams right now. Our cautious approach is putting us further behind by the day. I think Jen, who realizes the money spent at UW was worth it, will get this (collectives) going in the right direction.
If SC wants to walk the walk then they are going to have step up to the plate. Obviously SC wanted to move to the Big-10 right. What for thou? Money, tv, a better chance at a playoff berth, and recruits. I believe we have half the product for Big-10, but we are missing the biggest piece of the Big-10 which is defense. I completely follow you as far as our collectives go, but hey for the future do our collectors want to see SC in a competitive matchup against rivals which are big money makers or lob sided matchups… Read more »
They will spend for a big time DC. Proven when they gave LR 10 mil per year. Now, will Jen convince the administration to change policy on NIL for recruits? Offer in hand when they come on visits, that’s what it will take. It’s well known that the MD kids chased big NIL deals and we weren’t in on them.
I’ve said this before and I will say it again. If SC wants to compete with Oregon especially with NIL then you need to rebrand yourself and you need to accept what is and stop acting like the administration can’t afford it, acting like we are SC and we don’t need to pay players because of our history. Sounds like a Laker pitch to free agents before Lebron. Come on Jen!! If Notre Dame doesn’t have this policy then we are seriously shooting ourselves in the foot with that policy. Good luck in the Big-10 with that policy in place… Read more »
NIL deals need to be completely off campus. No university connection. Lawyer to lawyer. Recruiting staff just needs to get out a list of players to go after.
Excellent. Riley needs a lot of help. A huge DC who knows a lot more about D than Riley ever dreamed needs to come to USC’s rescue. Hopefully, this new big-name DC brings the ability to attract some new and better coaches (on the recruiting trail as well).
I like your decommitment angle as well. USC just can’t afford to pick up the pace a little with some baby steps. We need to change some hotshot preps and portal guys’ minds and get them on the USC campus asap.
The two guys that would be huge to get to
de-commit based on a hire would be Breland DL from Mater-Dei currently committed to OR, and Vilamu Asa ILB Bosco currently committed to ND.
Absolutely. Or these teams will continue to hammer us while USC is always on “the verge” of whatever. ✌
UCLA insiders say Chip Kelly will likely be fired, has lost support of power brokers Matt Zemek (Trojans Wire) — As USC prepares to face UCLA, the big story is not the Pac-12 championship, or the Rose Bowl, or the College Football Playoff, or the New Year’s Six. It’s whether Chip Kelly will be fired by UCLA. USC’s defensive coordinator search will intensify after this game, but while Lincoln Riley looks for his most important assistant heading into the Big Ten, the Bruins are wondering if they are about to begin a new head coaching search. UCLA insiders and people who follow the program… Read more »
OUCH! I have a rule that I think is nearly 100% valid – when one coach is coaching for his job and the other is not, the coach whose job is on the line wins. The wild card is the bulk of the SC assistants are also coaching for their jobs.
What we know for sure is that some Trojan coaches have been keeping an eye out on their futures elsewhere lately while trying to coach at the same time.
It’s just a fact of coaching life.
I really do hope arrogant, dismissive Chip Kelly gets fired. It would be fun to see who the Bruins could land as his replacement, though getting a coach like Jonathan Smith from ORE ST wouldn’t be good news for USC IMO.
I guess I am one of the only ones who still thinks Riley is the right guy. I also remember what he walked in to, a roster that was terrible, A culture that was worse, and a team that had no hope of winning in any real way. Grinch was a mistake, a big one. Even with him and the worst defense we all can remember, we weren’t far off from winning every game but one. We were also close to losing three more. Get the DC hire right and we will take off. I 100% believe that.
Exactly Chris! Our program was awful when Riley took over. Last year’s success made us think the rebuild was done but the roster had holes that weren’t exposed until this year.
We’ve been able to compete thanks to our elite offense. If we had even a top 50 defense this year, we’d be at least 10-1.
I want to believe you on this, and I think the defense situation being fixed will a long way towards proving you right. I know the offensive line will improve if we recruit right. I’m sure our QB next season will have the right stuff, so fix the defense and see what happens right?
There isn’t any other team I want to follow, so if things don’t improve I’ll say wait until next coach instead of next year.
I really like last years o line class. We have a few from this year that should be good down the line as well. We are getting solid guys, but not getting the 5 star guys. Always have our hat on the table but they are not picking it up. O line is a crap shoot. But 5 star d lineman usually are no brainers. Sark and Texas got good quick because they recruited studs on DLine. Our hats are not on their tables. We need to fix that or cross our fingers in portal where guys like Bear are… Read more »
Chris, I am on board. I think LR is the right guy for the job. He is young and intelligent and competitive. And has had significant success. He also has allegedly one of the best ADs in the country. I think he clearly knows he MUST change his approach to team structure AND must also change his approach to NIL. This means he needs a high quality DC and D staff which can both coach and recruit. I really think it will happen.
It is hard to find really good coaches that are also good recruiters. If USC can pull that off then we can get turned around.
What some other Trojan fans are saying about Lincoln Riley now “I’ll be honest… Lincoln Riley’s whole pre and post-game canned speeches, and lack of real information coming from him; especially as it relates to his players and coaches all just seem disingenuous. He only speaks in generalities that lack detail or substance. Feels like he is either clueless on what to say (bad) or he’s just playing all of us for brainless and meaningless idiots (worse). “I was high on him, at the hiring, less high on him after realizing how much of his OK success was due to… Read more »
After the Cotton Bowl last year, most of us were calling for Riley to fire Grinch. When he chose not to, we accepted it as it was too soon to pull the trigger and that Grinch needed time to get more players and depth and get them trained to his system. This year proved that was a bad decision as our defense which we hoped would be better has gotten even worse this year in spite of getting more talent added. Riley is a young coach who I think will grow from this experience as we’ve all made bad decisions… Read more »
We all hope Lincoln Riley improves a lot. If he doesn’t, god help him. I also realize he’s young and inexperienced in some ways we hadn’t anticipated, which has become very apparent lately. But John McKay had already won a NC by the time he was 40, then won three more for good measure, and really shouldn’t even be remotely compared with a coach like Riley, who will never come close to winning a NC at USC unless he improves in many areas. I wish Riley the absolute best at USC and expect he will get things right. While I… Read more »
Keep in mind we may not have signals next season as the helmet technology is going to get started in college ball this bowl season.
It’s about time for helmet tech to hit college.
They make commercials about the helmet for the deaf QB with the little clear screen that gives him the play. really cool….
The at Zona and ASU games were disconcerting last year … I was like can we just get 1 stop! Then the big belly flop at Utah with numerous chances to stop just 1 play and win the game.
The new DC cannot get here fast enough.
Am I wrong? Did we hire the best mix of Clay Helton and Lane Kiffin?
We certainly recognize coach doublespeak, as recently as two years ago, but it seems we get as much of the cagey personnel commentary to go with the “it’ll get better soon”
I understand the right to privacy with players, but would it hurt to be a little forthright with things like practice injuries or academic issues?
Suddenly there’s a lot less to like about this miracle worker than meets the trained eye.
A problem Lincoln has now is that he usually has to repeatedly defend a crappy product.
So he meanders along in the interview/presser world while saying ridiculous, repetitive, defensive bromides we have all heard a thousand times before.
Coaches like Dan Lanning aren’t always on the defensive all the time like LR is. So they sound a lot better. You don’t ever hear Duck fans complaining about what Lanning says, or how he says it.
And, of course, we have UN-trained eyes, RT….😎
All coaches use doublespeak including Saban and Smart. Riley is much better than Helton or Kiffin any day.
Riley may be better than Helton or Kiffin, but he doesn’t come even close to Saban, Smart, Harbaugh, or some others out there.
Doublespeak is one thing. Stupidity is another.
Hopefully, Riley gets his act together soon, doesn’t call out all Trojan fans as “untrained” (duh, coach) anymore, and doesn’t ridiculously speak of USC being on the verge of things it isn’t even close to — unless he’s referring to quick long TD throws right past our bewildered DBs.
USC’s Recruiting Is Suffering Antonio Morales (The Athletic) — The Trojans’ recruiting class ranks 18th nationally. The average player rating for their 17-member class is 91.16. Those numbers are fine, but Lincoln Riley and USC’s stated goal is to compete for national championships. Viewing this recruiting class through that lens, the Trojans aren’t recruiting at the level necessary to be an elite program — especially as they move into the Big Ten. It’s difficult to see a major surge up the rankings late because the top 13 players in California already are committed. Four-star defensive tackle Jericho Johnson is still uncommitted, and… Read more »
As an outsider…I have no idea what is causing us to misfire regarding recruiting but……something is definitely off…….and it goes back a long way……Helton had empty classes of linemen which we are paying for now……NIL, Riley, Asst Coaches, Recruiting staff, connections to HS staff. actual man-hours spent recruiting…..I’d love someone who is connected to describe their opinion as to what needs to be done and/or the current situation.
We are way behind on NIL. Caleb gets headlines with his deals, as he should, but as a whole we are not where we need to be. Until we get that fixed we will continue to finish behind others who have stronger NIL.
USC needs some better coaches who also have the ability to make more impressive recruiting impacts, sell the USC brand better (what is that brand now, except a little soft and all about the QB?), and who also work at it harder, smarter, and more effectively than USC’s current staff. It’s very obvious that some coaches on the USC staff are lacking in pure recruiting ability compared to the other better programs now. As well expressed by The Athletic’s Antonio Morales: “Of course, NIL plays a significant role in building a better roster and recruiting, and the Oregon Ducks benefit… Read more »
We are just not seen as a lineman’s school. If you are an elite lineman, you know which schools to go to. It’s the same as, if you are an elite QB or receiver, you go to SC. We just didn’t “water the flowers” on lineman and toughness from the end of the Pete Carroll era forward. To quote Bono, “It leaves you, Baby, if you don’t care for it.”
Back in the days when USC was a “big man on big man with quick feet” school
1981 Oline left to right Mosebar, Matthews, Allen Pugh, Roy Foster. Not bad, three 1st round picks and long time NFL players.
Tony Slaton (71) and Joe Murray (74) in back ground.
Don Mosebar was such a stud. Well, they all were, but for some reason OT Mosebar, ’82 AA, always stood out to me and I admired him. Too bad he hurt his eye so badly he was forced to retire from the Raiders after becoming an All-Pro center. These were the types of kids USC used to sign out of HS. How much NIL dough could Mosebar have commanded coming out of Mt . Whitney today? Was he ever the type to make it egregiously hard to get him because of a down payment? DON MOSEBAR, OT, 6-7, 270, Visalia… Read more »
When Anthony Munoz sadly went down in the 1979 opener at Texas Tech, Mosebar stepped in as a true frosh and did a terrific job until Munoz’s miraculous return for the Rose Bowl.
That game in Lubbock was strange. SC was unanimously #1 but lost player after player before getting out with a 21-7 win.
Ronnie Lott, Charlie White and a few more starters joined Munoz on the IR for that game.
I remember Mal Florence’s headline in the Times ‘Trojans Deep in the Heart of Texas’
High school recruiting isn’t as big as it used to be with the transfer portal now. We really need to use this for offensive and defensive linemen to begin to build depth and develop players who get used to playing together.
I expect we’ll get lots of transfer portal players.
Hopefully, USC will get better transfer portal players than this last go around. LR’s and his staff’s evaluation of the portal talent-wise wasn’t all that good. We got some good ones, but also missed significantly on filling some other spots.
I think prep recruiting is still extremely important as a program builder, especially for the schools that are doing it significantly better than USC is now.
I don’t think the TP is any way to build a solid program. For the most part, they are “one and dones” or at least two years. Hard to learn a system and become a real team member in that short time frame. You don’t see Ga and Alabama relying on the TP and they repeatedly are in the hunt foe a NC. Same with Michigan and OSU. They build from within. They develop their players.
I agree that the TP should be used to add depth and build around the edges.
We need to follow the GA, Alabama, Michigan, and OSU models.
LR is trying to do that but used the TP to get instant results. That worked last year but this year has been a crap shoot.
Thanks to all for the posts. Since Riley is probably going to be around for a few years I sure hope something productive gets done.
MPA90, I do not think it worked better in 2022 than in 2023; the difference was the schedule. This year we played 2 top 10 teams and probably three more top 25 team (Utah, AZ and ND). He went 0-3 last year (twice with Utah and once with Tulane); this year he went 1-4. When we went 11-1, we did not play any team that was anywhere near as good as WA or OR; I think Utah was not as good this year (but still very good) and ND was much better this year than last (and we played in… Read more »
Against USC this Saturday, Kelly is fighting for his job. Lose to the Trojans, and you’re fired Chip.
Hopefully, Riley never reaches the point where if he loses to the little gutties, he’s automatically a goner. But if Riley does somehow get beat by a bad Bruin team in the Coliseum, it won’t be pretty.