Five things to watch for in Lincoln Riley’s debut vs Rice
A transformed Trojan offense?
Over the last nine months, we’ve heard a lot about Lincoln Riley’s brilliant offensive mind. Finally, on Saturday, we can evaluate what that means in practice at USC.
There’s good reason to expect fireworks. Riley added a Heisman Trophy contender at quarterback and a Biletnikoff Award winner at receiver. He revamped USC’s backfield and threw in three more starting wideouts from the portal for good measure. If everything clicks, USC’s offense has the talent to be one of the best in college football.
At every stop in his career, Riley has tailored his offenses to the talent at his disposal. In seven years at Oklahoma, the Sooners never finished worse than eighth nationally in scoring. He’ll have new wrinkles ready to deploy Saturday, leaving plenty to unpack in the weeks to come.
Backfield Shuffle
When Travis Dye and Austin Jones announced their transfers to USC within one day of each other, a two-pronged Trojans backfield seemed assured. But how that split works Saturday is still unclear. Both were listed as starters in USC’s initial depth chart.
Jones is built more for power, while Dye already has proved himself as a prolific all-purpose threat. Both are capable of playing three downs. Don’t be surprised to see them on the field together, mirroring what Riley did with two top backs in his early days at Oklahoma.
Riley said he could play all four of USC’s top backs Saturday. The wild card is dynamic freshman Raleek Brown, who seems sure to force his way onto the field sooner rather than later.
A Deep Connection
No college wideout was more dangerous on deep balls last season than Jordan Addison. Addison scored 10 touchdowns on 40 targets from 20 yards or deeper for Pittsburgh. There’s no reason to think USC won’t use him in a similar fashion.
Already, Addison says he and quarterback Caleb Williams have a strong connection down the field.
“His accuracy with the deep passes, if you’re putting it on the outside shoulder, it’s gonna come on the outside shoulder,” Addison said. “Wherever he wants to put the ball, it’s gonna be there.”
Williams completed just 37.5% of his deep passes as a freshman last season, according to Pro Football Focus. A dominant downfield weapon such as Addison could take that part of his game to a new level.
Searching For Sacks
USC’s lack of a pass rush was a serious problem last season, and that was with Drake Jackson, a second-round pick in the NFL draft, coming off the edge.
This season, it’s even less proven. Auburn transfer Romello Height looks the part at rush end, but he had just three tackles for loss and no sacks last season with the Tigers.
USC desperately needs former top recruit Korey Foreman to make a leap in his development. But his progress was slowed by injuries in spring and fall camp. If he has a slow start, it would slow USC’s pass rush in the process.
New Captain In the Middle
USC’s staff has been resolute in its belief that Lee will be a difference-maker in the middle of its defense. His debut will be among the most telling of USC’s transfers Saturday.
latimes.com
________
12 teams in the playoff going back to 2014. USC made it twice. Read here:
https://247sports.com/LongFormArticle/College-Football-Playoff-12-team-playoff-expansion-what-past-seasons-would-look-like-166392857/#166392857_1
Good high school game tonight, Mater Dei / Corona Centennial. Wish they televised them like they used to.
CFP Board Votes to Expand College Football Playoff to 12 Teams in 2026
“The College Football Playoff field will expand to 12 teams.
“Per ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the CFP board of managers approved the 12-team format in a vote Friday that is expected to be enacted for the 2026 season.
“The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach noted the vote was unanimous among the 11 managers…”
bleacherreport.com
I thought there was some talk of trying to go in 2024? Is that out the window?
Per Nicole Auerbach (The Athletic) — “There are a lot of details left to work out to see if it can be implemented before 2026.”
Pac-12 Fan Alert!
TCU at CU tonight at 7 pm PT.
ESPN
Those promoting PAC-12 football conveniently/purposely omit its preseason & bowl game records that are, pretty poor, and want listeners to tune into season records. With the exception of Oregon, this conference should be embarrassed that it can’t hold their own with other Power 5conference teams. And frankly, are losing to MWC teams more times than not if you look at that record. Of course, our administrations are shameless in holding their “entitled” hands out for TV money. No one was more elated than me when we heard USC was leaving this conference of pretenders!
6-7, 395-pound 3-star Maximus Gibbs (Bellflower St. John Bosco) has decided to play for Deion Sanders at JAX ST
Perfect fit for Gibbs. Hope he does well.
Southern fried food and sweet iced tea should be just what old Max needs to get that weight under control..
I prefer anticipation over expectation. One day before game 1, I have massive anticipation and modest expectations. I expect a more talented team, that executes much better with few mistakes/penalties, and able to get at least 8 wins. I anticipate an offense that blows out most of their opponents before they know what hit them. I would not be surprised by 10-11 wins but don’t expect that. With each game my expectations will grow. This team will be fun to watch grow over the first half of the season. The phrase, “Wait till you see this team in November” is… Read more »
You and I will have to part ways here GT. Tomorrow for me is all about pure expectation, not just anticipation (which I have every year regardless of our coach), and if USC doesn’t fully demolish 35-pt dog lowlife RICE in the L.A. heat, I’ll be very surprised. I also expect USC to whip up on declining and not-as-physical STAN in Palo Alto the following Saturday. What I don’t expect to see is USC beat UTAH and ND in the reg season. But I think this USC team might pull off a win against either of those teams based on… Read more »
Allen you and I are not far off. I expect at least 8 wins. I guess I should also expect most if not all of those 8 games LR’s offense will bow them out, including Rice and Stanford. The other 4 games will be tough ones including Utah and ND. My expectations for those games may grow as they get closer. Tomorrow will good looks at both those teams and Oregon. I have anticipation of SC running the table but don’t expect it. Can’t wait.
The pure length and depth of SC football’s recent run of good news is something I’ve never witnessed before GT. Nothing ever even remotely like this for me, especially thrown in with the complicated, changing nature and total monetization of all of CFB. Everything about USC football seems so intense now, yet also light and fun because of so many objective reasons to be confident. We’ve all been through a lot as Trojan fans. Maybe we should give ourselves a break for being so wildly optimistic, and maybe overly so. But I say swing with it all the way. Times… Read more »
Tomorrow is Opening Day! Everybody is undefeated and has shot at the NC. Trojans all the way!😎✌
True, and I think that by the time we play ND, we will be hitting on all cylinders. I “expect” USC to beat both ND and UCLA. There, I said it, just after a big gulp of cardinal Kool-Aid. It really just comes down to if our defense can do better against our opponents’ offenses than their defenses can do against our offense. And I’m taking our offense every time. I think our defense will be good enough to not get in any wild shootout. So, if we don’t stumble early, and don’t have any key injuries, I think we’ll… Read more »
You wonder just how much offense LR will show in this opener. Will he put on a display that will have upcoming defenses trying to figure out what will be coming at them or will he go low key and not show their capabilities just yet. Either way I am sure we will see lots of points on the board. I for one am not worried about the defense like many are. I see a new team going out not at all related to what we had before. We have leaders, a will to win, and a good work ethic… Read more »