Lincoln Riley knows how to take USC from October loss to College Football Playoff
Ryan Kartje (LA Times) — In each of his first three seasons as Oklahoma’s coach, Lincoln Riley entered October with an unblemished record and a top-10 ranking … only to drop a game unexpectedly.
In 2017, it was Iowa State that upset the third-ranked Sooners. A year later, Texas knocked No. 7 Oklahoma off its throne with a game-winning field goal. A year after that, Riley’s Sooners were once again upended in October, this time by Kansas State.
Each of the three defeats at the time appeared to doom any hope of Oklahoma making the College Football Playoff. But in all three cases, Riley’s team didn’t lose another game for the rest of the regular season. All three ended up earning places in the Playoff.
It’s no wonder then, as USC enters its bye week, that no one, least of all Riley, is panicking after the Trojans suffered their first loss of the season last Saturday at Utah.
“You get tested in a different way when you lose one, especially the way that one played out,” Riley said. “Everything I’ve seen from this team up to this point leads me to believe that we’ll handle it in a way that brings us closer together and makes us even better. We have to go do it. Feeling that and thinking you’re capable is one thing. Going and doing it is another.”
A soft schedule out of the bye certainly helps. USC’s next three opponents (Arizona, California and Colorado) are a combined 7-12. After traveling to Tucson for their next matchup, the Trojans also don’t have to leave Los Angeles for the rest of the regular season.
Those favorable circumstances won’t matter much if USC can’t find answers this week to its issues on defense, where the Trojans were trounced Saturday for 562 yards, the fifth-most yards they’ve given up in a game over the past decade.
“I don’t think we need to abandon ship or anything like that,” linebacker Shane Lee said. “I just think we need to tighten the hatches and bear down and really continue to dig into the details and focus in.”
Poor tackling is an especially pertinent concern. According to Pro Football Focus, USC missed 18 tackles against Utah, eight more than in any other game this season. Lee, who played through a hand injury, missed five.
Riley said USC wouldn’t hold back tackling in practice this week, despite entering the bye with both sides of the ball banged up.
“There’s no balance,” Riley said. “We have to clean it up.”
He’s cleaned up similar messes before. The question now, as USC faces its first bit of adversity, is whether this team might follow a similar path from its own mid-October slip-up.
“There’s no time to sulk,” Lee said. “You have to pick yourself up and get back to work. That’s what it’s about. There are other games to play. It’s not the end of the season, not by any stretch of the imagination.”
Addison, Gentry OK
Its top wideout left with a leg injury. Its lead inside linebacker was carted off the field with an injured ankle. Both were relegated to crutches late in last Saturday’s loss.
But Jordan Addison (3) and Eric Gentry appear to have escaped without serious injuries and are “day to day,” Riley said Tuesday. The news constituted a major sigh of relief for USC, which would’ve had difficulty replacing either player.
Addison leads USC in receptions (39), receiving yards (585) and receiving touchdowns (7), while Gentry leads the Trojans in tackles (52). Whether either will be ready to go when USC returns from its bye, though, remains to be seen.
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B/R (picks -6 ORE over UCLA) — “We are approaching Halloween, and UCLA has played exactly one true road game thus far. Oh, and that trip was to lovely Boulder, Colorado, to take on a very bad football team. “That is a polite way of pointing out how difficult this game might be for a team that hasn’t seen an environment anything close to what it will see on Saturday afternoon. There is a lot to like about UCLA, especially quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and running back Zach Charbonnet. The defense has also played better than expected. “But this road trip… Read more »
Question (The Athletic) — How much will the impending loss of USC and UCLA from the Pac-12 impact recruiting at the remaining schools in that conference? Seems like the Pac-12 has been struggling in the recruiting wars even before the defections. Ari Wasserman — “The first thing your brain may do when you ponder the potential recruiting consequences of USC and UCLA’s decision to join the Big Ten is consider geography. That’s what mine did because, well, we’ve been conditioned to think about recruiting that way for the past 20 years. “Though geography is important — proximity to a school is always going to… Read more »
The Pac should have considered long ago what the ramifications would be if USC left. It has been kicked around for a long time and they just ignored it and continued to stab USC in the back whenever they could. Nobody here gives a dang about ucla or where they go, but fortunately for them SC decided to bolt this BS conference and rode along on the Trojan coattails. If the other Pac schools cannot recruit then they need to consider creating for themselves a better position, like joining in with the Big12, or perhaps scaling down and going along… Read more »
When I was in my early 20s I had an interview which I thought would lead to good job. I got dressed and went out the front door to find my car, the first new car I ever owned was gone. I wanted to cry, I felt violated I called the police. I was told over the phone that they would add it to their list, but they would probably not be of any help. I borrowed my dad’s car and went to the interview. I was offered the job on the spot. In a way I can relate to… Read more »
So Fox Network is gonna televise the ORE vs UCLA game in the NY Metro area ….. Probably gonna give that game an on-and-off look see during the afternoon on Saturday …..Fight On !!!!!
Should be a great game on Fox. 12:30 PT. I know the Bruins are 6.5-point dogs in Eugene (this spread seems way too big for me) for this ESPN Game Day pre-game special, but I can easily see the Bruins winning this one and sailing into the USC game undefeated, where the biggest CFB game in Los Angeles many years will rule the day.
Sadly, I’m creeping to the point where I believe UCLA will beat ORE straight up in Eugene. USC can then totally ruin the Bruin season on Nov. 19.
Turn the tables on the LA schools playing Utah and what have you got? The Bruins were fortunate the schedule gave them the home game.
The Utes are a different team playing at home. Would UCLA have beaten Utah in SLC? Would the Trojans have won playing at home versus Utah? No guarantees but I think USC would be unbeaten if they were the home team. Pure hindsight of course.
USC could have easily beat this UTAH team were it not for a porous D, horrible refs, and bad late-clock management. USC fans emphasize the bad calls, Trojan rivals pin it on the D, and LR’s nonsensical failure to save time for a last-possession score can only mean he never considered Whittingham’s two-point winner, but even that makes no sense. Strange for such a smart coach, but nobody’s perfect.
However, USC made Dalton Kincaid look like a combo of Gronk, Tony Gonzalez, and Todd Christensen. I’ve never seen a receiver completely wipe out USC like Kincaid (except J.J. Stokes), who was frequently wide-open, or sitting in an open spot just waiting to catch an easy throw.
i think there will be lots of 1 loss teams this year. In my opinion Clemson won’t lose, Ohio St won’t lose, but everyone else will. If, and it’s a big if, we don’t lose again, will our 1 point loss on the road hold up? I don’t know, but it’s fun to talk about right now. What a quick turnaround and massive change from a decade of “no shot” football. Thank you Lincoln Riley
Each of the three defeats at the time appeared to doom any hope of Oklahoma making the College Football Playoff. But in all three cases, Riley’s team didn’t lose another game for the rest of the regular season. All three ended up earning places in the Playoff.
“You get tested in a different way when you lose one, especially the way that one played out,” Riley said. “Everything I’ve seen from this team up to this point leads me to believe that we’ll handle it in a way that brings us closer together and makes us even better. We have to go do it. Feeling that and thinking you’re capable is one thing. Going and doing it is another.”
But Jordan Addison (3) and Eric Gentry appear to have escaped without serious injuries and are “day to day,” Riley said Tuesday. The news constituted a major sigh of relief for USC, which would’ve had difficulty replacing either player.
B/R (picks -6 ORE over UCLA) — “We are approaching Halloween, and UCLA has played exactly one true road game thus far. Oh, and that trip was to lovely Boulder, Colorado, to take on a very bad football team. “That is a polite way of pointing out how difficult this game might be for a team that hasn’t seen an environment anything close to what it will see on Saturday afternoon. There is a lot to like about UCLA, especially quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and running back Zach Charbonnet. The defense has also played better than expected. “But this road trip… Read more »
For anyone wanting to know how USC stands stat wise here is a link:
https://247sports.com/college/usc/Article/Stat-Pack-Where-USC-football-stands-statistically-following-Week-7-195746744/
Question (The Athletic) — How much will the impending loss of USC and UCLA from the Pac-12 impact recruiting at the remaining schools in that conference? Seems like the Pac-12 has been struggling in the recruiting wars even before the defections. Ari Wasserman — “The first thing your brain may do when you ponder the potential recruiting consequences of USC and UCLA’s decision to join the Big Ten is consider geography. That’s what mine did because, well, we’ve been conditioned to think about recruiting that way for the past 20 years. “Though geography is important — proximity to a school is always going to… Read more »
The Pac should have considered long ago what the ramifications would be if USC left. It has been kicked around for a long time and they just ignored it and continued to stab USC in the back whenever they could. Nobody here gives a dang about ucla or where they go, but fortunately for them SC decided to bolt this BS conference and rode along on the Trojan coattails. If the other Pac schools cannot recruit then they need to consider creating for themselves a better position, like joining in with the Big12, or perhaps scaling down and going along… Read more »
When I was in my early 20s I had an interview which I thought would lead to good job. I got dressed and went out the front door to find my car, the first new car I ever owned was gone. I wanted to cry, I felt violated I called the police. I was told over the phone that they would add it to their list, but they would probably not be of any help. I borrowed my dad’s car and went to the interview. I was offered the job on the spot. In a way I can relate to… Read more »
So Fox Network is gonna televise the ORE vs UCLA game in the NY Metro area ….. Probably gonna give that game an on-and-off look see during the afternoon on Saturday …..Fight On !!!!!
Should be a great game on Fox. 12:30 PT. I know the Bruins are 6.5-point dogs in Eugene (this spread seems way too big for me) for this ESPN Game Day pre-game special, but I can easily see the Bruins winning this one and sailing into the USC game undefeated, where the biggest CFB game in Los Angeles many years will rule the day.
Sadly, I’m creeping to the point where I believe UCLA will beat ORE straight up in Eugene. USC can then totally ruin the Bruin season on Nov. 19.
Turn the tables on the LA schools playing Utah and what have you got? The Bruins were fortunate the schedule gave them the home game.
The Utes are a different team playing at home. Would UCLA have beaten Utah in SLC? Would the Trojans have won playing at home versus Utah? No guarantees but I think USC would be unbeaten if they were the home team. Pure hindsight of course.
USC could have easily beat this UTAH team were it not for a porous D, horrible refs, and bad late-clock management. USC fans emphasize the bad calls, Trojan rivals pin it on the D, and LR’s nonsensical failure to save time for a last-possession score can only mean he never considered Whittingham’s two-point winner, but even that makes no sense. Strange for such a smart coach, but nobody’s perfect.
The refs still stole it. They sucked.
However, USC made Dalton Kincaid look like a combo of Gronk, Tony Gonzalez, and Todd Christensen. I’ve never seen a receiver completely wipe out USC like Kincaid (except J.J. Stokes), who was frequently wide-open, or sitting in an open spot just waiting to catch an easy throw.
The way the D played I struggle saying the refs stole it. But they certainly gave UT every advantage they could.
Joel Klatt’s Top 10 (only teams with elite QBs need apply)
1 OHIO ST
2 TENN
3 GA (Stetson Bennett is arguably the least impressive QB in this top 10 group, even though he has already won a NC)
4 MICH
5 CLEM
6 ALA
7 UCLA
8 OLE MISS (go Jaxson Dart!)
9 TCU
10 UTAH
Almost: USC, TEXAS, ORE, SYRA, OKS
i think there will be lots of 1 loss teams this year. In my opinion Clemson won’t lose, Ohio St won’t lose, but everyone else will. If, and it’s a big if, we don’t lose again, will our 1 point loss on the road hold up? I don’t know, but it’s fun to talk about right now. What a quick turnaround and massive change from a decade of “no shot” football. Thank you Lincoln Riley