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1) Will USC rue the day it left the Pac-12?
2) How many regular-season games will USC win?
3) Which schools are more likely to join USC in the Big Ten?
4) How do you feel about Lincoln Riley's recruiting, both portal and prep, so far?
5. How do you feel about Mike Bohn?
6) Which team will win the Pac-12 this season?
7) This season, Clay Helton will...
8) Did UCLA make the right decision to desert CAL and follow USC to the Big Ten?
9) What will Notre Dame do?
10) Will Caleb Williams Win the Heisman at USC?
USC football’s record against every current Big Ten school (75-30-3 overall)
Illinois: 11-2 (84.6%)
Indiana: 4-0 (100%)
Iowa: 7-3 (70%)
Michigan: 6-4 (60%)
Michigan State: 4-4 (50%)
Minnesota: 6-1-1 (81.2%)
Nebraska: 4-0-1 (90%)
Northwestern: 5-0 (100%)
Ohio State: 13-10-1 (56.2%)
Penn State: 6-4 (60%)
Purdue: 3-1 (75%)
Wisconsin: 6-1 (85.7%)
Evan Desai (reignoftroy.com)
Oh we got these guys, piece of cake! HA 🙄!
I wonder, outside of OHIO ST and MICH, who will become USC’s #3 in-conference rival, WIS, PSU, IOWA, NEB, or MICH ST. Tough call. Somebody different?
I truly love beating Penn St, but then I love beating tOSU and really love beating Mich.
USC football has added UNLV to its 2027 home schedule, AD Mike Bohn announced today (July 15).
usctrojans.com
Kind of surprising, no?
Vince Young: Arch Manning to Redshirt
Texas legend Vince Young is ‘hearing’ that Longhorns’ super prized QB recruit will sit his first year: ‘It’s going to be good for him.’
bleacherreport.com
That makes sense. The reason is Ewers. He was the #1 rated QB in his class (he played for Carroll Southlake, TX – where half of my grandkids go to school), left early for tOSU for NIL money (he made $1 Million), got beat out by Stroud, and then transferred to UT. He will start this year and probably next. Then, Arch takes over.
You have to admit though — the nation’s #1 2023 QB prospect, with the Manning name no less, already being relegated to redshirt status in July, is a shock, and frankly looks a little weak. Why not wait until this season to put that label on him? Auto-redshirts are usually 2 or 3-stars. This will put pressure on the recruiting services to think twice about keeping Arch Manning as the nation’s #1 2023 prospect. I’m no longer buying it. Since when is the #1 prep prospect, who also happens to be a QB, an automatic redshirt at TEXAS? The recruiting… Read more »
I always wonder why the best Qb is on the best team. Does having an nfl caliber line increase your Heisman odds? One person that shows how a line affects their quality as a Qb was JT Daniels. Hope he has a line this year. Is Young that good or is it that Bama is that good, same for tOSU and Stroud.
Spencer Rattler is #15
DTR is #16
Jaxson Dart is #17
Stetson Bennett is #25
sportingnews.com
I would have thought this would have been significantly higher across the board. I wouldn’t drop 100-200K at private schools to earn 70-80K a year. Trade schools would fare very well against this list and you get paid to go there. I’m old school and think that way “you need an education!” But maybe this model is broken. I wouldn’t drop USC, Stanford, Duke, etc tuition to earn 80K a year. That makes no sense.
I notice the fine print says salary 10 years after began going whether graduated or not and received some federal aid. I would think the numbers for those who earned a degree would be higher. Notice also, no Oregon schools made the list but SDSU did. You are right Chris, probably $40-50K/year less to go to a public school versus private. And do you plan to go to Wall Street or go study Indigenous Bolivian Folk Dance!
It would be interesting if we all told what our USC degrees were.
Did not attend USC undergraduate, degree was in Math. SC degree is in law.
USC BA Psychology ’74, Loyola JD ’77
“Double Trojan” here …
Undergrad – BA – Communications Arts & Sciences, 1991
JD 1999 (took a few years to work before law school).
I took 8 years myself from freshman at SDSU to USC grad.
The first thing the Pac-12 should do now is lock in SDS. There’s absolutely no reason why the deserving Aztecs shouldn’t play with the current P12 members as full-on conference affiliates.
I know the reasons for the objections. I just don’t agree with them, or think they make any sense at this precarious fulcrum point of CFB, with brutal cannibalization the dominant way of life.
USC MS Physical Therapy ’83.
The cost back then was not as bad as today especially for just 2 years grad school. Some parent support and grant money made my loan debt manageable.
Chris, it hit me the same way. Private universities are simply for the very wealthy and those others that will receive significant money for attendance. (SC, ND and Vandy as well as the Ivys are running about $85k a year for undergraduate tuition, books, living, etc.) FYI, I have a grandkid starting college in next month and one starting next year. I declined to help out because of the exorbitant tuition at private schools. May help out for graduate school, but as I have five (5) grandkids I felt I had to let the families choose based on what they… Read more »
Would we (most of us at least) still choose USC in today’s world?
My 2026 psychology major degree isn’t going to get me much, except to some grad school, which is why so many of us really went to law school in the first place. And without scholarship money, you’re in the hole big time.
I’m glad and lucky I had to make my choices in the late sixties.
Once ND figures out what they will do (could be tomorrow, next month, or sometime in 2025), Cal and Stanford will be accepted into the B10. If they apply. Currently, ND gets $15M from its NBC deal, which expires in 2025. I can’t see NBC paying $50M, $70M or more just for ND games against Navy, BC, 5 ACC teams. Nine of USC’s football games will be spoken for by then. Back to Cal and Stanford. The B10 is more an academic/research consortium than an athletic conference, The Academic Alliance and Research Consortium generate @ $1B in research revenue annually… Read more »
There is a side you have shown which most all of the sports writers bypassed entirely. Great job Scioto, I never realized there was so much money involved in university research. Who knew Johns Hopkins was in the B1G. I would love to see Stan and Cal rescued simply so we can beat them year after year. WA would be a great add, and I agree with you about OR. If it wasn’t for Nike, they would be no better than OR. St.
It’ll be interesting to see if what you say actually pans out. Appreciate your definitiveness! 42.5% of our poll responders think no one else from the Pac-12 will join up. 33% think ORE and UW will eventually come. Only 19.8% think STAN and CAL will come. A whopping 53.27% think ND will find its way to the Big Ten, but not for 3-5 years. By then, the game of CFB will look a lot different. I’m eager to see what the Pac-12 does over the next year to protect itself. I like George Kliavkoff a lot. USC supposedly ambushed him… Read more »
Guilty. Easy to be definitive on the Internet, But the B10 takes athletics seriously (Ohio State’s athletic program pays for itself), athletics attracts student applicants, but research drives the bus. Clemson, Oklahoma, Alabama would never be accepted into the B10.
Can never trust a Bolshevik. She has at least gotten out of the way while Caruso and Bohn weaved their magic….
Very good perspective. Is the BIG conference all about sports, hmm, maybe not? USC is foremost a Health Care Institution, Academics second, Athletics is far down on the revenue pie (though football and men’s basketball pay for the rest of the AD).
Yet USC left for the Big Ten because of football and money, and nothing else.
Big time football and basketball are the glitz that motivates pride in the institution. Like the fancy paint job and cool wheels on a car. What’s under ther hood is what really counts but the cosmetics get the looks.
Totally true. I went to USC because I grew up in a USC-centric place, and I always had a pull toward the school because of what I saw at age 10 on TV when USC beat WIS 42-37 in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1963.
I was going to UCSB in 1974 when I came home for Thanksgiving and attended the USC vs. Notre Dame game. Growing up Irish Catholic I was a Notre Dame fan until the second half of that game. I became a born again Trojan and started USC in September 1976. We lost to Missouri and went on to win 11-straight. I was hooked!
What a story! What a great first post! Was that the greatest 3rd Q in USC history by a mile.
UCSB always had a fun rugby tourney in my day (’74 grad).
Similar experience. Love that game!!!
And Ohio State is also, like all the other B10 universities, foremost a health care and medical research institution.
https://twitter.com/USC_Hoops/status/1546932159474126848
Men’s Basketball | July 12, 2022 Story Links EVENT INFO The USC men’s basketball team will face Colorado State at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Jerry Colangelo Classic to be held at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz. on Dec. 21, it was announced today (July 12). It is the fourth annual Jerry Colangelo Classic and USC defeated Georgia Tech 67-53 at the 2021 event. “We are excited to participate in the Hall of Fame Jerry Colangelo Classic for a second consecutive season,” said USC men’s basketball head coach Andy Enfield. “It is a terrific, well-run event which provides a… Read more »
ORE and ORE ST stand to lose a lot if USC’s departure leads to the dissolution or reformation of the Pac-12. ORE could end up in a 3rd tier conference, ORE ST worse. Back in Dec, 2000, Mike Garrett spent an excruciating 18 days searching for a vastly superior replacement for hapless jukebox fanatic Paul Hackett, coming off a head-shaking 5-7 year. Before hiring #4 choice Pete Carroll, Much of those 18 days were spent by Garrett trying to steal Dennis Erickson from ORE ST and Mike Bellotti from the Ducks, with Mike Riley being held hostage by Dean Spanos… Read more »
Allen, my guess is Washington State and UW are in the same boat. Given how important SC was to this conference, it is amazing the way they treated SC. When Pat Haden asked about being compensated for that value, he was laughed at. I think the move to the B10 was brilliant, it forced the rest of the Pac to face the consequences for its actions – accountability is rare in the academic world. The academics running the Pac for the last decade just got a dose of it. And, I do not blame Nikias for this – Nikias was… Read more »
CAL athletics is broke, just like UCLA. If they had any money, they wouldn’t be whining about having to shut down a bunch of primarily non-revenue women’s sports (which USC has apparently been paying for). Nikias was a complete money-raising disgrace, and his ineptitude was a major reason USC had to sit still with The Cat for way too long. Now he’s a lifetime BOT with a pretty little campus office because he knows where all the bodies are (I guess). Obviously, USC, my beloved school, is totally bizarre to me in some ways. Rick Caruso saved the day for… Read more »
Cal isn’t the only PAC-12 school hurting financially. I believe the majority of the conference schools are in financial difficulty of their sports programs. There are some who plainly blame Larry Scott for the shape this conference is in today. I don’t buy that at all. I blame the majority of PAC-12 presidents for letting Scott get away with all the damage & failures he has caused and specifically UCLA Chancellor Gene Block who chaired the PAC-12 Oversight Committee watching Scott do all this.
There’s a lot of guilty parties. Scott was bad as the evil point man, and got stupendously rich fleecing the arrogant lamb-like Pac-12 presidents while holed up in his ridiculously wasteful 75,000-square-foot SF digs. What could go wrong?
ESPN says Donte is a high prospect for HC position:https://247sports.com/college/usc/Article/ESPN-names-USCs-Donte-Williams-one-to-watch-for-future-D1-head-coaching-jobs-USC-Trojans-football–190082670/
Not so sure I agree.
Like Coach Wonderlic—couldn’t get hired at his Alma Mater (TEN) when they had several candidates turn them down in Knoxville.
Steve, That is funny. Donte is an elite recruiter, so far a mediocre DB coach and was a disaster as a HC. With the recruiting world changing drastically (no one has any idea how this new world of NIL is going to work out), the type of recruiting that Donte engages in may or may not succeed. If he fails to develop as a DB coach, I would be love to see another school steal him for the staff. In fact, if Donte still considers himself a HC prospect, I would welcome him leaving.
I know Donte didn’t get what anyone would call a fair shot at being a HC. But nothing I saw gave me the faintest idea that he should be the HC of any team I cared about. He may be a great recruiter. Good for him. That’s just not enough. If LR were to replace Donte any time, I’d wish Donte well and wouldn’t be worried for a second about how to replace him. JMHO.
My responses to the poll reflect the following opinions. Although something had to be done, unless some of the other pac 12 teams join the Big10, I don’t see this move positively. Hopefully we can get at least two more from the west coast in. If we don’t start landing some linemen, we are going to find out about basic football the hard way in two years. I suspect we will land some good ones next year and transfers might help. As for this year, I just don’t see superior play on either line, so, we’ll win some and lose… Read more »
USC will have a formidable O line this season. They were pretty good last year, now with new coaching and new schemes things will change. Do not base your outlook on anything Clay Helton produced. Yes the big guys will come, I am sure it has to do with NIL and what they can get. USC needs to get in the game in that regard.
When USC had championship teams (Robinson, Carroll), it was able to keep the best SoCal talent at home. Granted, it’s more difficult today given NIL, transfer portal, facilities arms race and the plethora of televised games, but USC shouldn’t have too many problems recruiting quality offensive linemen when it joins the B1G Ten. IMO, a bigger challenge facing USC & UCLA will be the weather. There is no way for the Trojans and Bruins to replicate (during practice) the adverse weather conditions they will often be facing on game day during road trips to the Midwest in late fall. That… Read more »
Per Scott Schrader (WeAreSC) — Super Friendswood, Texas Edge Braylan Shelby says his decision will come in early August or at least before his SR season begins next month. LR still has to prove he can win a 2023 prep battle against a huge brand school for an elite DL.
Just returned from a trip. In my absence, Mike Bohn proved I need to doubly apologize for my doubting him and Folt. This move to the B10 is pure genius. It is amazing just how much change has occurred in the last 8 months for SC football particularly and SC sports in general. What I love the most is having the rest of the Pac wake up to just how important SC was to the conference. To be honest, the conference, as a whole, failed to realize the importance of SC to its success and seemed during the Larry Scott… Read more »
Right on RJ, and the people that supported Larry Scott should be run out of town also. They let it happen. They deserve whatever happens now.
Do you think Max Nikias wasn’t a big-time Larry Scott supporter as well? I have no idea, but I seriously doubt Nikias ever spent any time trying to help USC’s position with the Pac-12. Nikias only cared about raising money and keeping some of USC’s budding scandals under wraps.
The Pac-12 is in so much trouble. Good point about how much the Pac-12 had to totally rely on USC football for any kind of clout or media presence. USC is so much like ND in that way, our #1 rival IMO, over UCLA.
No question about that Allen. ucla being in L.A. is like the brother you have that if he wasn’t your brother you would probably never have anything to do with him. ND on the other hand is simply someone you enjoy not liking.
When I started following USC in 1962, I was only 10, and they were very suddenly a national championship team, captained by Marv Marinovich and Ben Wilson. Tough guys and it seemed like USC was a tough team that focused nationally, not regionally. Our first five games that year included wins over DUKE (good at the time), SMU, IOWA and ILL. I wasn’t focused on USC vs 4-6 UCLA (coached by the forgettable Bill Barnes). ND became the guys USC really HAD to beat, especially after 51-0 in ’66. Plus when USC “Shermanized” ND at the Coliseum 17-14 in ’63,… Read more »
The Pac-12 and the Big 12 could partially combine to make a pretty good conference, filled with teams that don’t move the needle (sorry BAY and ORE, but you don’t). I doubt the Pac-12 is helped much by combining with another more dominant conference. Just a little more money with a lot more problems. I think the Pac-12 should swallow all of its misguided pride, and bring in SDS, FRESNO ST, BOISE ST and someone else and see if they can hold it together. Programs like UTAH, ORE and UW are gonna be really bummed, but they just aren’t as… Read more »
I don’t know how it should work but some realigning between the ACC, Big12, Pac10 and maybe Mountain West makes sense. Add ND to the mix depending who wants them. When you try to shuffle teams around it gets complicated to get even numbers. Then you have to go further down the food chain to add teams to even it out. Falling dominoes that never stops. The ACC has 14 teams now, do they kick somebody to another conference to get ND in? In the end I don’t see any way any of them will match the SEC/Big10.
ND can move whenever and wherever it wants. IMO, it’ll be to the Big Ten, years from now. Despite all the recent bedlam, it could be that nothing happens for quite a while, since ND seems to be the fulcrum for all.
ND is going to do whatever they do, who cares. There is some great talent within the three conference to come up with a decent conference to match up with the SEC and B1G. It is as easy to create a new conference than to keep changing conference members. A guy like Sosna could do it. This whole thing about people going to different conferences boils down to the haves and have nots. The have nots are going to go to lesser conferences in time anyway.
Cal sports may be broke but the university has a 5 billion endowment. They just don’t care about sports, especially football
It’s hard to care about a sport when your team almost always stinks. Go Bears! Beat the SJS Spartans. It was fun while it lasted, eh? Good riddance. It couldn’t happen to a worse group of fans. The always poorly run Bears still owe $1B in stadium debt and capital program commitments. Per Bear Insider — “Without a seat at College Football’s biggest table, there’s an almost near certainty of CAL needing to cut many of its current sports. Though the largest implication may well be the material and long-term loss of alumni support for the University as a whole. Season ticket holders, ESP… Read more »
Cal is a long way for its Aaron Rodgers day, eh?
But even Aaron couldn’t get it done in 2004 at the Coliseum when he had his shot. Heartbreaker for the Bears indeed, after they had beaten us the year before in triple OT.
Love that game’s ending. Vividly remember hearing it in the car while driving up to Palmdale. Each play seemed to take forever, almost like the announcers were holding their breath and not speaking.
LAT (Gary Klein) — The late Keith Jackson and Hall of Fame QB Dan Fouts broadcast the game for ABC. CAL dominated the game statistically, outgaining USC 424 yards to 205, with Rodgers starting off 23 for 23. But the Trojans made a dramatic defensive stand for a 23-17 victory. USC players were confident but perplexed. “He had laser accuracy,” DT Shaun Cody said. “They were dinkin’ and dunkin’ us the whole game.” “We were in the huddle and I remember one of the defensive linemen turned around and he was like, ‘What the hell are you guys doing back… Read more »
Best game I have attended in person. It was amazing. My seats were on the 5 yard line on the shade side of the closed end. Final series was right in front of me. Still remember Cody’s sack and the receiver stumbling on the 4th down. Tedford returns this year with another hot shot QB. He probably still remembers that game!
Allen, my advice to the Pac would be to stand pat for a year to develop a clear approach as a conference to the future. George K needs time to build a consensus on what the future vision of the Pac sans SC and UCLA is and should be. If Cal and Stanford are not going to be competitive in football in the NIL era (and I think that is a given), what impact does that have on the Pac’s future? Oregon State and Washington State may want to be competitive in the new world of NIL, but simply lack… Read more »
Rick Neuheisel (good guitar player, very marginal singer/lyricist) — “The Pac-12 on ‘verge of extinction right now is sad for me.”
Neuheisel lost to USC 50-0 in the Coliseum on Nov. 26, 2011. One of my personal highlights as a USC fan was piling it on against these demoralized, all-white-clad little gutties.
“Slick Rick” was fired two days later but was allowed to coach his 6-6 Bruins in the Pac-12 championship game (10-2 USC was ineligible) against ORE, which he lost 49-31.
Former USC RB Markese Stepp (originally out of Indianapolis Cathedral) entered the NCAA transfer portal again, looking for another fresh start. and wants to leave NEB, where the injury-prone power back rushed for a paltry 177 yds last season.
Stepp is a true mystery to me. As a true frosh, he was a good a power back as I have seen at SC since Lendale White. He got hurt in the AZ game and then disappeared.
I never really put Stepp into anywhere near the Lendale White category. I thought he showed promise early. He was clearly a load. But after his injuries, I began to write him off when he failed to come back strong. I also didn’t figure he would do well at NEB, and he immediately flopped in Lincoln big-time, where Scott Frost tends to lose RBs to the Portal frequently. It takes a lot to make a great RB, who isn’t just a flash in the pan. I doubt Stepp will emerge as a big-timer at his next stop either. Really sticking… Read more »
As good as Nick Saban is, he should be crucified for complaining about the potential loss of “competitive balance” because of CFB’s realignment. This is coming from a guy who has lived perfectly well off rules allowing him to dominate his sport (the ESPN-funded SEC has won 12 of the last 16 NCs). Then, looking at Saban’s schedule this year, I see ALA opening with UTAH ST in Tuscaloosa. Two weeks later he takes on the vaunted ULM Warhawks, also at home. Then, on Nov. 19, the AUSTIN PEAY Governors roll into Tuscaloosa for their demolition. Throw in a game… Read more »
And you didn’t mention Alabama’s stringent academic requirements for student-athletes getting accepted in. I’ve heard you have to impress the admission committee with the coloring book you submit. The critical challenge here is how you color “iron”.
Now that USC will be in the B10, that Nov 19 game against the Governors, like last year’s Mercer game and every third Saturday in November game prior to the Auburn game since St. Nick arrived, is required to be called “chickenshit Saturday.”
Brett McMurphy @Brett_McMurphy
New Big 12 commish Brett Yormark said league is “exploring all (realignment) options. I have received a lot of phone calls & a lot of interest. … Nothing is imminent.”
The best defense is a good offense fending off perceptions of hidden panic. When you haven’t a clue of what your future ability to remain competitive at the highest level of CFB will be, you stand at a podium with a straight face and surprise no one with your statement.
“Nothing is imminent” seems to be the overwhelming catchphrase circulating through college football.
It doesn’t seem like the next move is near, but it sure is gonna be interesting whenever it happens.
This story about former Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby threatening ESPN with involvement of Texas & Oklahoma moving to the SEC is interesting. Wonder how this will play out?
This is a very old story, actually a year old:
By The Athletic Staff
July 29, 2021 Updated 12:51 PM PDT
“Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby alleges tampering by ESPN in cease and desist”
My take — ESPN has nothing to worry about.
ESPN should start to worry about Fox, they are coming on hard and fast. ESPN is not the power it once was.
It’s always harder to stay on top than to get there. Go Fox!
If only Fox didn’t have that one female announcer calling games. UGH!!
USC was so far ahead of the game it is laughable. The entire Power Five is now trying to play catch up. One of the most brilliant moves I have ever seen, even better than the LR hire. Both were incredible in that NOBODY saw it coming. I love it.
I think slowing down and creating a clear approach makes a ton of sense. Right now, the SEC is paying its players significant guaranteed dollars. IMO, you cannot work out how to proceed until you decide how your conference is going to handle the new world of NIL and transfers. The conferences should start aligning around a common vision as to that issue and then live with it. IMO, you cannot have a Stanford and a Texas A&M in the same conference. They do not share a common vision of how to approach the business end of sports.
Ari Wasserman (The Athletic) Question — USC has completely lost momentum on the recruiting trail and seems to have failed to close with a number of elite prospects following their big June 17-19 official visit weekend. Are you at all concerned for the Trojans? I am. Wasserman — “Four-star offensive tackle Lucas Simmons of Clearwater (Fla.) Academy International, the No. 109 overall player and the No. 13 offensive tackle in the 2023 class, committed to Florida State on Monday. That’s a huge pickup for the Seminoles, of course, but it was also the latest example of something that USC is clearly… Read more »
I wonder if the structure of USC NIL is a problem. If a big ugly is told you will have opportunities to cash in at USC or he is shown a check with the right number of zeros with his name on it from a Florida school, who will he choose?
Targeting super Florida OLs is a good way to get your teeth kicked in when you have to beat the entire SEC, just for starters. I think LR is experiencing some recruiting turbulence and it’ll be interesting to see how he publicly rides out some important decisions still to come.
Recruiting has become so mysterious and dynamic. I never know what to expect, and while USC’s got a few anxious fans out there, almost 90% are at least “generally satisfied” with LR’s portal and prep recruiting per our TDB poll.
I expect the OL to be vastly improved from last year with the upgrades in talent they did get and improved coaching. Getting a 5 star OL or two would have been a super human result for this year. In 2 years the OL will be loaded.
So true, and SC needs to get some people into the game like the way others are doing. LR cannot do it, but “representatives of USC NIL” can.
I know it’s a couple of years off, but when we are regularly playing in the Midwest, thanks to our new Big 10 home we will start drawing more of the big midwestern lineman.
Right now, we are still suffering from our poor reputation of soft O-Line performance (thanks Jar-Jar Cat). Until Riley and his O-line staff prove that SC can coach up kids to be NFL draft choices in the trenches, we are going to miss out on that big beef we need up front.
Field of Dreams doc, when LR builds it they will come. USC will pull in the needed NIL $$$$ and a lot of them will come. USC has a hands off approach to NIL from what I understand while places like TAM use the head coach to promote their NIL offers. USC needs a few outspoken boosters who can represent the NIL to the players is all they need.
Perhaps. It is certainly an entirely new world in College Football. The old ways of prognosticating just don’t work anymore.
I believe there is merit to Wasserman’s article that some of us have been concerned about. That is the recruiting of linemen or the lack of it. It is early in the recruiting process however, enough so that winning games and moving up in the National rankings this coming season can put some rethinking in recruits minds where they will sign in December. My question right now is, what’s happened to Riley’s pathway into Texas where you can find lots of linemen? Has TAM & Texas locked up all the top big boys there? There are some top linemen in… Read more »
USC’s gonna have to pay for its recent on-the-field total ineptitude. And it’s also paying for its lack of a massive NIL sponsor-type who is willing to just buy players, which is one of the reasons USC has been losing some big recruiting battles lately. The lack of superior prep linemen in the west is a real problem. LR will eventually deal with all these problems, but it can’t all happen right this minute, though some Trojan fans obviously think USC should be in the playoffs in Lincoln’s first year. Nothing wrong with great expectations, as long as there is… Read more »
The Pac12 was quite comfortable maintaining the status quo, being looked at as the weakest Power 5 conference with schools running in the red to participate. I will always believe that the people who run the universities should not be academics. They should be good business people. The existing leadership would just let this conference continue to spiral down, even if USC were to win and be a power house. Now they are faced with having to make business decisions they are probably not able or willing to make. These are the people that let Scott run the conference into… Read more »
Double thumbs-up. 👍 👍
As far as the UCLA decision to desert older bro CAL, things look bleak for Bears: Here come the UC Regents: Governing board to discuss UCLA’s move to the Big Ten, “litigation” cited The Bruins’ departure is on the July 21 agenda Jon Wilner (OC Register) — “The repercussions in Berkeley could be momentous. “A source close to CAL athletics said chancellor Carol Christ was “blindsided” by the news of UCLA’s departure. “Largely because their athletic department supports 30 sports teams — one of the highest totals in the country — the Bears typically run a significant deficit. Only football… Read more »
I am reminded of a quote from Margaret Thatcher (longest serving PM of Britain), “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” Well Cal Bear Commies, you are about to run out of your free hand out from USC. Funny how the UC schools can’t run a profit in athletics but so many other schools do. Give it to UCLA that some people there still think profit is not evil.
A perfect example of how the left can screw anything up.
The problem is the next generation thinks they have great ideas, till they fail again and again.
It is a shame it has to come down to this. But it all boils down to the mismanagement of Larry Scott. With the LA area, SF area, Oregon, Az, and Wash the media market should have been at least twice as profitable as it was. The SEC hasn’t got the big media markets but have been leading in income. They are just better managed. Also the lack of support for USC during the sanctions. The problem was a very small one but was magnified by the NCAA. Now a recruit get MILLIONS just for signing. Reggie Bush himself did… Read more »
Aren’t past drug offenses being cancelled now that drug laws have been relaxed? What was illegal for Reggie then is now a small compensation package today. Give the Heisman back, let it go NCAA/Downtown Athletic Club.
The NCAA was never interested in being fair with Reggie or USC. We all learned that the hard way. CAL and STAN were laughing in our faces.
I sure look forward to playing the Bears and the Cardinal this season. By the time the Bears come into the Coliseum on Nov. 5, USC should be rolling along nicely. CAL plays us after taking on ORE in Berkeley.
Now that it’s basically a done deal, the UC Regents should view UCLA’s departure for the B1G Ten as a positive. The financial woes of the UCLA athletic department should be mitigated within a few years after it joins the B1G Ten (barring unbelievable incompetence in Westwood). And, once UCLA has joined its new conference, it can advocate on behalf of Cal. USC and UCLA should be very interested in having a few more west coast teams in the B1G Ten — why not recommend a couple of schools that are located in a large market, would be easy travel,… Read more »
Is it too early to talk semantics? If (or more likely when) USC wins the PAC 12, will the media call it a Cinderella season? I’m not sure I like that analogy. Cinderella spends most of her life under the control of a wicked stepmother. She has one night of dancing where she meets a guy. Along the way she loses a shoe, her coach turns into a pumpkin (we’ve had one turn into a bumpkin) and finally marries the guy who brings back her footwear. I would prefer something like; Bohn-afied resurgence or return to normal, but I’m open… Read more »
I don’t think big, bad USC plays the Cinderella role very well (except for maybe that miracle-minded ’69 team led by the Wild Bunch).
Athlon Sports CFB mag predicts UTAH over ORE for the Pac-12 title.
Phil Steele projects UTAH over USC, and also picks the Trojans as the nation’s #1 Most Improved Team over UF, TEXAS, NEB and LOUIS. Clay Helton’s Eagles didn’t make the list.
It’s amazing to me that after many years of demoralizing dysfunctional USC football, all it took was the addition of one single very popular new HC, and over 85% of pollsters think the Trojans will immed win either 9 or 10 reg season games in LR’s first season.
A popular new HC yes! Plus one heck of a use of the transfer portal to bring in the players to win 9/10 games. I’m ready for FOOTBALL Quoting a inspiring great athlete of another sport “Let’s play two”
The upgrade in talent and coaching combined with a weak Pac12 and schedule, there are 3 tough games this season.
Only 53 days to Kick Off! 🏈😎✌
I think 9 wins is a really good season for Lincoln Riley given the massive turnover on the roster and a few tough games on the schedule.
Coach Riley will move the needle big time, and return USC to the playoff’s
HOWEVER, after a seismic start of the off season, the ‘laws’ of Nature/Football have set in.. We have to be patient and turn to the ghost of the football Jedi Al Davis. Follow his wise words “Just win…baby” Win and the big guys OL/DL will come. Until then lets look forward to milling the Rice
USC and Pac12, a divorce that had to happen, you don’t want to but you must. ND is supposed to be very good, Utah and UCLA could be tough, 10 wins. Oregon and UDUB most likely but wouldn’t be surprised at none. LR not landing marquee OL yet otherwise huge talent upgrade from a year ago. Bohn, juggling chainsaws while tap dancing. USC after losing to Utah in SLC, wins the rematch for the CC. GSU will get a couple more wins than last year, 5-7. UCLA, dump your partner or go bankrupt, not much of a choice. ND feels… Read more »
“Bohn, juggling chainsaws while tap-dancing” is an all-timer! ✌
while on a 12 inch wide plank six stories in the air….