Former Houston coach Dana Holgorsen, who once coached alongside Lincoln Riley at Texas Tech, will make his debut as Nebraska’s new OC against USC on Saturday. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / AP)
Ryan Kartje (LA Times) — The two coaches spent enough hours together, tossing around Air Raid ideas on the same Texas Tech staff from 2004 to 2007, to understand each other’s tendencies at a pretty deep level. But after all those years and all the games their teams have played since, Lincoln Riley is less sure than ever what to expect from Dana Holgorsen on Saturday when USC faces Nebraska.
That’s because two weeks ago, Holgorsen wasn’t even on Nebraska’s staff. The longtime coach was working as an offensive assistant at Texas Christian after being fired as Houston’s coach. In the first week of November, Holgorsen joined Matt Rhule’s staff at Nebraska in a similar role.
One loss to UCLA later, Holgorsen climbed the ladder to coordinator.
“Coach Rhule obviously has a lot of trust in him, and I’d understand why,” Riley said. “If you’re going to do it, you’ve got to do it with somebody that has the experience and success level that Dana’s had.”
The sudden switch is the sign of a struggling offense. The Cornhuskers haven’t scored more than 20 points since late September. But the uncertainty is still enough to keep USC’s defensive coordinator busy.
“It adds some time at night,” D’Anton Lynn said. “But you have to cover all of your Ps and Qs. … You have to go off what you see on tape, obviously watching some Houston stuff. What were they good at? What did they do there that they already do at Nebraska? Then, what were his staples in a span of two weeks that he could incorporate?”
USC, at least, should be qualified to anticipate those moves. Not only did Riley work with Holgorsen, but also cornerbacks coach Doug Belk was his defensive coordinator last season at Houston.
Most of their goals have fallen well out of reach, lost amid the Trojans’ nightmarish October. But the prospect of reaching bowl eligibility, players assured everyone this week, still is important to them.
“We really want to play more games with each other,” safety Akili Arnold said.
“We’re really motivated as a team,” freshman linebacker Desman Stephens said.
For Lynn, the extra practices that come with bowl eligibility would mean extra time to develop his young defense.
“Seeing the growth of some of the kids who just started to play,” Lynn said, “I want to keep that going as long as possible.”
Riley said the staff began emphasizing bowl eligibility after USC’s most recent loss to Washington. But he wasn’t exactly effusive about the benefits of a bowl. The development aspect of the process, he said, has been “minimized a little bit” by a shifting bowl practice schedule that allows for less time in December.
“I’m not saying there’s still not some value there,” Riley said Thursday, “but I think the bigger thing for us is we’ve obviously been on the cusp all year and the team has hung in there, has obviously fought their tails off, and I just think it’s important to the group to really finish the right way and continue to lift this program up.”
That’ll require winning two of their last three to finish 6-6, with Nebraska, UCLA and No. 7 Notre Dame still on tap. Making a bowl presumably would require a win over Nebraska this week and a rivalry victory over UCLA at the Rose Bowl next week. Notre Dame hasn’t lost since it was upset by Northern Illinois in early September.
Raiola ready
There were different points in his years-long recruiting pursuit of Dylan Raiola that Riley thought the top 2024 quarterback prospect — and onetime No. 1 player overall — would commit to USC. But the moment, he says, was never quite right. Their paths never quite aligned.
“It just was never, I think, completely the perfect thing for either side,” Riley said.
Raiola committed first to Ohio State, then Nebraska. USC didn’t sign a quarterback in this year’s class, instead adding Jayden Maiava as a transfer.
Maiava is USC’s first Polynesian starting quarterback in school history. “I think it inspires a lot of Polynesian kids to play QB,” said Arnold, who is also of Polynesian descent, “and not shy away from being that guy.”
Both schools have had their share of growing pains at the position this year. Raiola, also a Polynesian, has been especially erratic in recent weeks, throwing six interceptions to just one touchdown in his last four games. But after laboring through a back injury in a loss to UCLA, Raiola will be fully healthy against USC, Rhule said.
In spite of the freshman mistakes, Lynn has seen enough on film to know what Raiola can do.
“He can make just about every throw,” Lynn said. “He has some very, very impressive throws for a true freshman. He does a great job seeing the field. When he scrambles to extend plays, his eyes are always downfield.”
Still banged up
With a full week to get healthy, the hope had been that USC would have its secondary at full strength against Nebraska.
But while Riley remains “hopeful” that USC will have cornerback Jacobe Covington and safety Kamari Ramsey back “in some capacity,” it doesn’t sound like the Trojans will be as healthy as they hoped on the back end.
“We’re definitely in a better place. Certainly no harm in saying that,” Riley said. “We’re going to keep ramping them up and hope to have them in some capacity. Obviously any capacity would be a boost for us.”
USC has struggled to stop passing attacks of late, even when its secondary has been healthy. The Trojans have given up 337 yards passing per game in their last four, despite facing just one passing offense (Maryland) that ranks in the top 25 nationally.
latimes.com
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Boring, bad fight. Tyson hardly threw any punches and fought like he was 78, not 58.
Jake Paul could have knocked him out easy based on my common man observation, but he carried him. He literally fought like he didn’t want to hurt Tyson (whom I was rooting for until I realized he had no business being in the ring).
After the fight while still in the ring, Tyson actually had the temerity to assert he thought he might have even more fights in him. It was one of the most absurd statements I have ever observed in sport.
UW just pulled a USC move vs the Bruins. They screwed up a kickoff and ended up on the one yd line. At least they avoided a safety!
USC has done a very good job with the portal and an avg job of recruiting, recruiting has to improve but the only way to do that is compete, hasn’t happened, arguable Deshaun Foster has done a much better job compared to Riley, Lets hope Jerry Jones wants a hand picked HC and is willing to share the buyout. I didn’t know until recently Chip Kelley paid to leave across town and become Ohio St OC.
Lincoln definitely has his flaws and he’s learning on the job at the expense of the fan base. But in my humble opinion, the time for changing coaches is over. USC needs to stick with him unless the wheels completely fall off. They’re wobbling, but they’re still on…✌️
You know things are bad when you feel sorry for the head coach of your favorite team. I feel sorry for Lincoln Riley, who’s still “wobbling” along as you say. National news articles, podcasts and videos abound about his potential dismissal.
USC is stuck with him. Things can still get a lot worse if USC loses two out of the next three and brings in a subpar recruiting class, reflecting a further weakening of the program.
I’m not sure if we’ve hit bottom yet. Hope so.
Allen, I think the play and outcome of the next 3 games could determine whether Riley has hit bottom. I think we have. This Qb change could make LR back into the genius USC hired in 2022. It was overdue. Another point of stubborness Riley has to deal with.
I think you are being overly charitable to Riley. I think we have lost at least one wheel, and it’s only a matter of time before more wheels follow suit.
How do you explain SLR? A guy who has gone as far as he has in football and making a boat load of money. How do you explain making such poor fundamental decisions? He’s doing it on purpose! Well here goes, a conspiracy theory for your enjoyment. SLR has said he can’t see himself coaching beyond 50. That’s a guy that doesn’t care about goals, accomplishments, championships. He already has an exit plan and here it is. He and his wife are sick of LA, the media and football. They would like nothing better than to get outta town with as much money as they can, move… Read more »
You know……who killed JFK…….but……sometimes you wonder…….it’s just so many dumb moves and so lazy and so disconnected that he is either on drugs, does not care, cares but is in over his head or maybe Golden is on to it. I do not know other to say this guy is not it. If the contract allows us to wiggle out due to sanctions…..the sooner the better. The key is doing the due diligence to find a replacement. I respect Sark’s ability and rehabilitation but hiring him at that point in his career was simply lazy. He was drinking heavily and… Read more »
I’ll add an addendum. If he cared about the future of football he would be at local high schools to promote the sport if nothing else. Did he go to the Oaks Christian game last week to talk Hayden Lowe out of his commit? The kid flips to a team clear across the country 4 days later.
I expressed my opinion to the fantastic TDB a long time ago that Lincoln Riley was not viewed as a strong recruiter. He never has been.
OU recruited itself under the pre-built big brand/NC structure of Bob Stoops. Lincoln just climbed on board and produced Heisman QBs. That’ll win a lot of Brownie points for you.
LR isn’t a very relatable person to many people. No charisma. Always a little detached, holding back, easily aggravated. He’s still got a few supporters out there, and always will, but, he never commands an audience or attention, whether in a crowd, or one-on-one.
Allen The man is as exciting as a dry cheese sandwich on white bread. No butter, no mayo, no nothing. Now if he had a personality, say as Pete or Dabo, and the season was going badly like this one (OK f…ing terrible) he be out there trying to still sell the product, working hard to improve it. This nebbish is hiding, closing practice and basically pissing off the fans and USC supporters in high places. If the powers to be really want to get rid of him maybe they should reach out to George Lucas. I’m sure he has… Read more »
In this case has Riley done everything he could to make USC successful?……..no. He demonstratively has failed to do critical things that most coaches know are necessary to be successful. Lots of things. Even things as simple as hiring a special teams coach. It’s as if a Doctor, who makes 20 million per year, has a patient that is dying from dehydration and the patient’s family is feeling sorry for the doctor who failed to provide water. Maybe he will start to hydrate the patient…….maybe he does not mean it…….maybe during the last operation he could have done some things… Read more »
Fun reading on a Friday evening with a slow UCLA-Washington game playing in the background. The main hole I see is in your intentional NCAA violations angle. If that qualifies for “fire with cause”, then your “get outa town with as much money as possible” result does not follow. That would be his only blunder, the rest is solid.
Other than that, high entertainment value, GT.
That is what this whole blog is about……we’re all having some fun……when it gets too serious……time to walk away. It’s all up to Jen anyway.
Very true. And that’s one of the hidden benefits of this season, aka silver linings. USC’s not good this year, so you can’t really take ’em that seriously. Frankly, some other CFB teams are more fun to watch. Just have fun here, waiting for something good to finally happen. If it does, it’s all gravy. Losing to Notre Dame again, which I expect to do, isn’t that much of a big deal now. With this team, there’s not that much of an expectation for me anymore. What will happen, will happen, or as they say too much nowadays, it is… Read more »
I am 66. I hope USC becomes perennially relevant in the national stage of CFB again before I take the long dirt nap!😎
Hah, hah, hah…
ATL I’m 70. Ain’t looking good for me either
That is plausible. Especially about being sick of LA. I spent the first half of my life there yet I go out of my way to not return for a visit. If one considers traffic, poor governance, etc., SoCali is not the beautiful life i had there until my mid twenties. The last half dozen years I was there,the negative change began to be noticed by me. For a small town Texas boy like riley, the crazy LA life is incredibly crazy. The money helps, but I would not be surprised if the Rileys want to get out of southern… Read more »
Is football, football? Someone has gone to the trouble of explaining the possible advantages of demoting or firing Lincoln Riley. One scenario has Riley demoted (for NCAA violations) and elevating Matt Entz to head coach. Entz has head coaching experience and a defensive mindset has always been desirable in winning coaches.
So is coaching North Dakota State the same as coaching at USC?
Is the difference in divisions enough to make this idea a stretch?
Does that mean SLR is reinstated in a year and Entz is interim HC? Hard to have Riley still there and have Entz or Lynn able to put his stamp on the program. Riley goes soon if Cohen and donors want it and can negotiate down Riley’s buy out. The demotion threat maybe could be a negotiating tool, not sure.
It is a S T R E T C H.