No. 7 USC’s rematch with No. 4 UConn puts spotlight on JuJu Watkins
Watkins will be tested against the Huskies and Paige Bueckers, who ended the Trojans’ NCAA Tournament run last April
USC guard JuJu Watkins shoots over UConn’s Paige Bueckers in their Elite Eight NCAA tourney game on April 1, 2024, in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
No. 7 USC (10-1) at No. 4 UConn (9-1), Saturday, 5 p.m. PT, XL Center, Hartford, Conn,FOX (Ch. 11)
Luca Evans (OC Register) — LOS ANGELES — The day after JuJu Watkins’ first college basketball season ended, her tears long dried but the pain still burning, longtime trainer Phil Handy texted the USC sensation to keep her head held high.
The Trojans’ cardinal-carpet NCAA Tournament run had ended at the start of April at the hands of a Connecticut program that represented everything Watkins and these Trojans wanted to be. She was hounded off the ball and there was only so much the freshman could do, taking over a third of her program’s shots from the floor in a 29-point losing effort. And Watkins broke down at the postgame podium, struggling to choke out words to properly describe what the year had meant to her.
Remember this feeling, Handy remembered writing the next day, part of a longer message. Remember what it feels like, and let it fuel you to come back better.
“She just shared that, ‘Man, it hurt,’” Handy recalled, speaking with the Southern California News Group on Thursday. “She’s like, that’s one of the worst feelings she’s ever had after losing a game.”
There was one certainty after that loss that the entirety of USC’s locker room knew: Watkins would come back motivated, and better, in 2024-25. The secret of how, exactly, is a concept at the core of Watkins’ ability to hit her own ceiling, a concept she has been working through with Handy since they first began working together entering her high school years.
“There are times, yes, when great players, you’ve got to take the game over,” Handy said. “And then there are times when great players have to continue to rely on their teammates.”
“And she’s, she’s figuring that out, man.”
On Saturday, against the program that left her brokenhearted eight months ago, Watkins has as good a chance as any to showcase her development on a massive stage. No. 7 USC’s rematch with No. 4 UConn (9-1) on Saturday night is the very definition of prime time, with Watkins going head-to-head again with Huskies senior star Paige Bueckers. It is FOX’s only women’s basketball game of the season that will have an NFL game as a lead-in, as FOX Vice President of Collegiate Sports Derek Crocker told the Southern California News Group.
But USC (10-1) has come reloaded, with Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen feasting down low and Oregon State transfer guard Talia Von Oelhoffen finding her role on the perimeter. And a year after a masterfully coached UConn program knocked USC out of the Elite Eight by keying defensive attention on Watkins, Watkins’ ability to read the floor and trust teammates will be paramount in any attempt at retribution.
“We know how good JuJu is, but also, other people kind of finding their rhythm and playing off of her … that’s something I think we’ve continued to grow with,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb told reporters on Thursday. “But that’s how teams become great.”
Two weeks after that April loss to UConn, Watkins sat with her family for lunch with Handy, the former Lakers assistant coach. They sketched out a plan for her offseason direction. Paramount, as Handy said, was continuing to drill her understanding of how to attack defenses; her “basketball IQ catching up to her skill level,” he put it.
“She’s always been super open to it, very aggressive with it,” Handy said, “and just understands that that’s where her game is going to have to really take the most growth.”
She has shown more poise as a sophomore. Her efficiency is up, shooting 45% from the floor after 40% her freshman year. Her assists are up, from 3.3 per game to 3.7. Her turnovers are down, from 4.1 to 3.2. But Watkins has still been prone to forcing the issue, as any transcendent scorer sometimes is, Notre Dame limiting her to 24 points on 10-of-25 shooting in a sobering early-season loss.
“You can definitely see in moments, when we turn over, things start to go wrong, she can get in a mode of – just go score,” Von Oelhoffen said in a wide-ranging conversation with the Southern California News Group a couple of weeks ago. “Because she, so, that’s how she impacts the game. And she’s great at it. But I think as she matures, and we start to trust each other more, just knowing that she does have help and we’re there.”
Watkins’ grasp of that Saturday will be fascinating to watch, particularly against the hyper-efficient Bueckers. The UConn senior guard’s precision has been eye-popping: She’s averaging 20.6 points per game, shooting 58% from the floor and 44% from 3-point range. She’s had a star running mate in freshman forward Sarah Strong, a 6-foot-2 inside-out threat who has averaged 17.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists while shooting 56%.
USC will need all hands on deck to counter. Iriafen’s matchup with Strong in the frontcourt will be fascinating. With freshman Kennedy Smith out after having an unspecified surgery a month ago, Von Oelhoffen will likely be tasked with checking Bueckers for long stretches. And Watkins will have to capably balance her own looks with her capacity to create for others.
“Just making sure that she knows that, while it may seem like the weight of the world is on her shoulders – it’s not,” Von Oelhoffen said in early December. “We’re there for her.”
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How long can it be before we see USC in some solid gold, cardinal or black uniforms?
ND wore all white against us and they put names on the back of their playoff game jerseys. OHIO ST is in all scarlet tonight. The examples of these variations are becoming endless.
One thing that has definitely been a great idea in the new 12-team playoff format is the playing of these games at the home stadiums of the higher-seeded teams. College football has always had the advantage of its passion and pageantry. No other sport in America has ever matched that. Watching these initial playoffs at Notre Dame, Penn State and Texas has been fantastic despite the lopsided contests (which can be corrected by seeding and team selection), though CLEM still has a longshot chance at TEXAS, losing 38-24 having just been stopped on the one yd line with seven mins… Read more »
Imagine in some fantasy world… USC has a first round playoff game at the Coliseum followed by a quarterfinal game at The Rose Bowl! The USC haters would be lighting their hair on fire?
Can Lincoln Riley somehow fix the beleaguered, downtrodden state of USC football? The TDB will be debating this hot topic every day until the 2025 season starts.
Isn’t that debate over? The only debate now is when can Jen Cohen pull the trigger on a new hire. LR would be gone already if he didn’t cost so much to fire.
I have no idea what Jen Cohen thinks of this Lincoln Riley issue, or if she has any idea of how she would get the enormous payoff money to send him off while she’s also still fundraising $50 plus mil more for Riley’s new football facility under construction. USC is also spending a lot of NIL money to still give Riley what he wants right now. LR’s still holding all the cards. New coaches are being hired. Who would come who didn’t think LR had at least some sort of a future at USC? LR will go down fighting. He’s… Read more »
Bring in the Bulk Baby! Credit Coach Henny… Luca Evans (OC Register) — LOS ANGELES — Earlier this week, 350-pound Jamaal Jarrett was all but convinced he’d sign with Arkansas. The big-bodied Georgia transfer wanted to stay in the SEC, after all. He’d visited Fayetteville on Tuesday, and came back telling agent Bobby McRae he planned to take the rest of his visits – USC, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and more – but would probably be a Razorback. I just felt so comfortable there, the defensive tackle told his agent. Then he came to Southern California and met Eric Henderson.… Read more »
Let’s see how well Jah Jarrat ends up doing. Because he has a big body doesn’t mean he will be good. There’s a lot of players out there who look like Tarzan and play like Jane. Not too long ago we got a former 5 star from Alabama(Ishmael Sophsher) and he hardly ever got on the field.
Georgia DL Transfer Jamaal “Jah” Jarrett Commits to USC Scott Schrader (WeAreSC) — Georgia defensive line transfer Jamaal “Jah” Jarrett announced his commitment to USC on Saturday morning after visiting USC on Wednesday.
USC also gained a huge commitment from Keeshawn Silver earlier this week.
Jarrett was a four-star prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, the nation’s No. 183 overall recruit and No. 21 defensive lineman. But he was seen as more of a developmental prospect by Georgia due to his size as a recruit, listed at 6-foot-5, 380 pounds.
True. As usual with LR, too little too late. We might be good down the line. USC’s just gonna have to take its lumps and it isn’t fun getting shredded by the CFB media on a daily basis. Plus, we’re losing our own fan base to a limited extent which has become sadly disheartened by so many USC football program mistakes over the last 15 years. The list is long and embarrassing. But LR made this bed for USC and he’s gonna have to live with it. As parcelman007 pointed out, we have no idea if 380-lb Jarrett (USC says… Read more »
Why would good, starting O-linemen want to leave their programs for the portal? They are like key treasures to a team’s success — and every team needs a lot of them and they’re getting paid whatever the market rate is for them. Since USC isn’t a winning program right now, we can’t attract guys who want a chance to play for a program that can get them the ring, or at least a great bowl and stronger NFL prep. Unfortunately, USC is also not considered a program that develops and improves its players. Quite the contrary. That’s one of the… Read more »
SC played well all year last year. They were the best 6-6 team in the nation. But it is about culture and establishing a championship mentality. Championship teams don’t lose those close games. It doesn’t do you any good to be the best 6-6 team in the country if you are just 6-6.
Sorry, but the “best 6-6 team in the country” doesn’t do much for me. Instead, it sounds pitiful to me, assuming it’s even true, which is debatable.
The Trojans often stunk when the game was on the line and we lost to crap teams like MARYD and MINN. We barely beat horrible UCLA. Poor under-siege Miller Moss was lucky he wasn’t hurt. I definitely don’t agree that we played well all last year. Not in my eyes.
“Woulda, shoulda, coulda” — the eternal mantra of all those who lost. PSU came all the way across the country to beat USC in OT. The Trojans totally folded and looked pitiful in OT. I think we went backward if memory serves. We deserved to lose and looked bad doing it. I never thought USC was going to beat ND, even though once again we were at home. ND was beating us 35-21 at the end of the 3rd Q. We’re not a comeback team and I never thought we would overcome that big disadvantage and win. We ended up… Read more »
Once a moron always a moron…..We can call it a Riley.
Franklin up by 14 due to some stupid plays by SMU
At home
8 left in the first half
Best part of his team the defense
goes for it on the his own 20 yard line and fails.
His defense bails him out with an interception.
If somebody mentions hiring Franklin shoot him
College Game Day analysts unanimously got it right. USC football play will mirror the lackadaisical demeanor of LR. That quote posted by Allen Wallace summed it up. No whatever the score, LR gets chauffeured back to Mount Palos Verdes Estates, behind two gates.
Too bad the Trojans have to play a great matchup on a day with 3 college football playoff games and 2 NFL games. I have my DVR set for the playoffs and WBB.
Allen, thanks for the posts from Cowherd and Weber. They got my brain twisting, trying to connect the dots. Josh Henson wasn’t fired, he left to be OC at a rebuilding Purdue. I will guess Henson was tired of being OC in name only at USC and tired of contrarian game plans. This season’s stars on offense have left for much the same reason. They are tired of trying to perform and win in fundamentally flawed game plans, play calling and clock management. What keeps going around in my head is why? Why does LR keep doing this? He knows… Read more »
I think it’s called being a “bad fit.” Two horrible words for any coach. We could all write a small book about it and how varying factors weave in and out. There’s too much talk going around about Lincoln Riley and staff not quite embracing the challenge of the USC brand enough. Seems like the perception by many CFB observers is there’s just not enough committed buy-in to USC football’s tradition and expectations nowadays, either by the coaches or the players. This had led to USC fan apathy and discord as well. It’s a mess. And Weber’s column really blew… Read more »
“Bad Fit”. He’s a Bad Fit any where except 7 on 7 summer leagues. I guess arrogant and stubborn fits best. Sticking with a pass happy offense that is finesse over power. Sticking with coaches that aren’t effective. Blame lack of execution by your players instead of poor play calling by yourself. Sticking with some bias against California HS coaches and kids. Maybe in a year or two we will have hope again with a new coach. Until then, we have a talented, well coached WBB team and the next superstar.
No one knows what’s in LR’s head and he is smart enough never to tell anyone because it would be revealing what he doesn’t know versus what he does. And my guess he only knows Air Raid and little else. If he brings in an OC who changes the offense then you have your answer. His ego image may not allow this. He has to be a nervous wreck inside knowing the walls are caving in on him. He has to pull another rabbit out of the hat hoping next season the games won’t show his incompetence again. But unless… Read more »
ESPN GameDay Crew Predictions — It’s Unanimous! Desmond Howard — A&M Nick Saban — A&M Pat McAfee — A&M Guest Host (A.J. Hawk) — A&M Lee Corso — A&M Kirk Herbstreit — A&M It’s all about “too much influx going on at USC at the moment. It’s hard to think they really have a shot at winning this game. Too many guys opting out at USC. Too many skill guys won’t be there for USC. There’s just too much going on there with Branch leaving and all. A&M wants it more. Lincoln Riley has only been 2-7 in the postseason.… Read more »
Oh, that was yours? My bad, I wasn’t trying to poke at you, I was thinking you did a copy/paste from an article that had quoted what was said on CGD, and the article used V2T translation. Far be it for me to be the grammar and spelling police…I make more than my fair share of typos.
I’m glad you corrected me. I was just furiously typing as I was watching GameDay. I do that a lot here, which I add to by taking iPhone pictures of the TV. What a production, eh! 😂
Well……the big guys are firing at the coach. He deserves it. Let’s hope he takes a shower, improves and fights on. IMO if he would put everything into getting a couple high quality OL transfers….the roster looks reasonable. Needs depth. It will be young in a lot of spots so I’am not expecting miracles. It’s important to remember that the recruiting classes we moan about would be worshipped at most BIG programs. Not Oregon level but definitely above average. With good coaching they could win most games. I will state this…..unlike Helton…..the overall talent level of the team is improving……but… Read more »
Wait till next year. Allen was saying that all this year. Now all the talent on offense is gone. Driven away by a dysfunctional head coach. Now we have to have hope for 2026. All the talk of just get this player or that player reminds me of my old Infiniti. If I got a new paint job it would be a sharp looking car. Trouble was it needed $3500 engine repair and was only worth $3000. Lipstick on a pig. Silk purse – sow’s ear. Chicken soup – chicken s**t.
Just trying to bring some balance to the coverage. As you recall I was the first person on this site to call for his head. Nothing stated above should be interpreted as an endorsement of Riley.
I believed and continue to believe that the best thing USC can do is admit the error and move on…..but I also believe we are stuck with him for 25 and may be 26.
Let’s hope he improves.
Luca does a much better job at his task of covering USC football than some of the USC coaches do at theirs.
Thank god for Luca Evans who has the guts to actually ask questions that many Trojan fans would like to know the answers to instead of the rote routine pablum we usually hear about USC.
Dan Weber’s Just Sayin’: We know what it takes at USC, now we have to figure out how to get there from here… Weber (USCFootball.com) — In Kentucky, we say “Horses for courses.” Not every thoroughbred is meant to run and win every sort of race over every sort of ground. You have to have them in the right place. Running the right race. College football is a little like that. A place like USC is Churchill Downs the first Saturday in May. No bigger stage. But only if you’ve got the right horse for the mile-and-a-quarter course. Most coaches do not have… Read more »
Dan Weber’s post is right on target in what is wrong with the direction of this football program and actually LR has yet to understand the benefits and the landmines associated with USC football and LA-SoCal. Oh he says he understands but his actions say different in a decidedly stubborn way. What his biggest mistake has been from the very beginning is turning his back on a recruiting Mecca here in California. I believe it was a purposely biased decision because only a fool would not understand how USC football had prospered for over 100 years as few other programs… Read more »
Lincoln Riley and USC are down and spiraling Colin Cowherd — “Everybody is selling their stock on Lincoln Riley.” Joel Klatt — “When you lose Duce, and you lose Kyron Hudson, they’ve got a major problem. You can explain it away all you want. No, no, no. They’ve got a major problem on their hands. “The fact is, is that if you were to sit here three and four years ago, five years ago, before NIL really became a thing, and you were to say that at some point in college football’s future, you were to have unlimited free agency, unlimited NIL, so… Read more »
How long can it be before we see USC in some solid gold, cardinal or black uniforms?
ND wore all white against us and they put names on the back of their playoff game jerseys. OHIO ST is in all scarlet tonight. The examples of these variations are becoming endless.
The times they are a changin’.
One thing that has definitely been a great idea in the new 12-team playoff format is the playing of these games at the home stadiums of the higher-seeded teams. College football has always had the advantage of its passion and pageantry. No other sport in America has ever matched that. Watching these initial playoffs at Notre Dame, Penn State and Texas has been fantastic despite the lopsided contests (which can be corrected by seeding and team selection), though CLEM still has a longshot chance at TEXAS, losing 38-24 having just been stopped on the one yd line with seven mins… Read more »
Imagine in some fantasy world… USC has a first round playoff game at the Coliseum followed by a quarterfinal game at The Rose Bowl! The USC haters would be lighting their hair on fire?
With the right coach, it could happen.
Can Lincoln Riley somehow fix the beleaguered, downtrodden state of USC football? The TDB will be debating this hot topic every day until the 2025 season starts.
Isn’t that debate over? The only debate now is when can Jen Cohen pull the trigger on a new hire. LR would be gone already if he didn’t cost so much to fire.
I have no idea what Jen Cohen thinks of this Lincoln Riley issue, or if she has any idea of how she would get the enormous payoff money to send him off while she’s also still fundraising $50 plus mil more for Riley’s new football facility under construction. USC is also spending a lot of NIL money to still give Riley what he wants right now. LR’s still holding all the cards. New coaches are being hired. Who would come who didn’t think LR had at least some sort of a future at USC? LR will go down fighting. He’s… Read more »
Bring in the Bulk Baby! Credit Coach Henny… Luca Evans (OC Register) — LOS ANGELES — Earlier this week, 350-pound Jamaal Jarrett was all but convinced he’d sign with Arkansas. The big-bodied Georgia transfer wanted to stay in the SEC, after all. He’d visited Fayetteville on Tuesday, and came back telling agent Bobby McRae he planned to take the rest of his visits – USC, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and more – but would probably be a Razorback. I just felt so comfortable there, the defensive tackle told his agent. Then he came to Southern California and met Eric Henderson.… Read more »
Compare the resume of Eric Henderson with that of Josh Henson and Zach Hansen. Is it any wonder that the DL is getting beefed up and the OL isn’t?
TEXAS is slaughtering CLEM 20-7 with seven minutes to go in the 2nd Q. Sark’s Horns have scored 21 straight points and are a running juggernaut.
Let’s see how well Jah Jarrat ends up doing. Because he has a big body doesn’t mean he will be good. There’s a lot of players out there who look like Tarzan and play like Jane. Not too long ago we got a former 5 star from Alabama(Ishmael Sophsher) and he hardly ever got on the field.
Georgia DL Transfer Jamaal “Jah” Jarrett Commits to USC
Scott Schrader (WeAreSC) — Georgia defensive line transfer Jamaal “Jah” Jarrett announced his commitment to USC on Saturday morning after visiting USC on Wednesday.
USC also gained a huge commitment from Keeshawn Silver earlier this week.
Jarrett was a four-star prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, the nation’s No. 183 overall recruit and No. 21 defensive lineman. But he was seen as more of a developmental prospect by Georgia due to his size as a recruit, listed at 6-foot-5, 380 pounds.
on3.com
In principle, at the moment I am in favor of trading wide receivers for linemen. Hope it works out.
True. As usual with LR, too little too late. We might be good down the line. USC’s just gonna have to take its lumps and it isn’t fun getting shredded by the CFB media on a daily basis. Plus, we’re losing our own fan base to a limited extent which has become sadly disheartened by so many USC football program mistakes over the last 15 years. The list is long and embarrassing. But LR made this bed for USC and he’s gonna have to live with it. As parcelman007 pointed out, we have no idea if 380-lb Jarrett (USC says… Read more »
SC is stocking up on good D-Linemen but striking out at O-Linemen in the portal.
Why would good, starting O-linemen want to leave their programs for the portal? They are like key treasures to a team’s success — and every team needs a lot of them and they’re getting paid whatever the market rate is for them. Since USC isn’t a winning program right now, we can’t attract guys who want a chance to play for a program that can get them the ring, or at least a great bowl and stronger NFL prep. Unfortunately, USC is also not considered a program that develops and improves its players. Quite the contrary. That’s one of the… Read more »
SC played well all year last year. They were the best 6-6 team in the nation. But it is about culture and establishing a championship mentality. Championship teams don’t lose those close games. It doesn’t do you any good to be the best 6-6 team in the country if you are just 6-6.
Sorry, but the “best 6-6 team in the country” doesn’t do much for me. Instead, it sounds pitiful to me, assuming it’s even true, which is debatable.
The Trojans often stunk when the game was on the line and we lost to crap teams like MARYD and MINN. We barely beat horrible UCLA. Poor under-siege Miller Moss was lucky he wasn’t hurt. I definitely don’t agree that we played well all last year. Not in my eyes.
We weren’t consistent. We should have beat PSU and we gave the game to ND
“Woulda, shoulda, coulda” — the eternal mantra of all those who lost. PSU came all the way across the country to beat USC in OT. The Trojans totally folded and looked pitiful in OT. I think we went backward if memory serves. We deserved to lose and looked bad doing it. I never thought USC was going to beat ND, even though once again we were at home. ND was beating us 35-21 at the end of the 3rd Q. We’re not a comeback team and I never thought we would overcome that big disadvantage and win. We ended up… Read more »
It’s the B1G and the SEC, as we knew all along…
Agree ✌️
And SMU looking like a pretender against PSU. Blue bloods rising to the top. So much for my upset weekend wish.
Once a moron always a moron…..We can call it a Riley.
Franklin up by 14 due to some stupid plays by SMU
At home
8 left in the first half
Best part of his team the defense
goes for it on the his own 20 yard line and fails.
His defense bails him out with an interception.
If somebody mentions hiring Franklin shoot him
PSU leads SMU 14-0 in the 2nd Q on two pick-sixes. Brings back bad Domer memories for me.
College Game Day analysts unanimously got it right. USC football play will mirror the lackadaisical demeanor of LR. That quote posted by Allen Wallace summed it up. No whatever the score, LR gets chauffeured back to Mount Palos Verdes Estates, behind two gates.
Too bad the Trojans have to play a great matchup on a day with 3 college football playoff games and 2 NFL games. I have my DVR set for the playoffs and WBB.
Allen, thanks for the posts from Cowherd and Weber. They got my brain twisting, trying to connect the dots. Josh Henson wasn’t fired, he left to be OC at a rebuilding Purdue. I will guess Henson was tired of being OC in name only at USC and tired of contrarian game plans. This season’s stars on offense have left for much the same reason. They are tired of trying to perform and win in fundamentally flawed game plans, play calling and clock management. What keeps going around in my head is why? Why does LR keep doing this? He knows… Read more »
I think it’s called being a “bad fit.” Two horrible words for any coach. We could all write a small book about it and how varying factors weave in and out. There’s too much talk going around about Lincoln Riley and staff not quite embracing the challenge of the USC brand enough. Seems like the perception by many CFB observers is there’s just not enough committed buy-in to USC football’s tradition and expectations nowadays, either by the coaches or the players. This had led to USC fan apathy and discord as well. It’s a mess. And Weber’s column really blew… Read more »
“Bad Fit”. He’s a Bad Fit any where except 7 on 7 summer leagues. I guess arrogant and stubborn fits best. Sticking with a pass happy offense that is finesse over power. Sticking with coaches that aren’t effective. Blame lack of execution by your players instead of poor play calling by yourself. Sticking with some bias against California HS coaches and kids. Maybe in a year or two we will have hope again with a new coach. Until then, we have a talented, well coached WBB team and the next superstar.
No one knows what’s in LR’s head and he is smart enough never to tell anyone because it would be revealing what he doesn’t know versus what he does. And my guess he only knows Air Raid and little else. If he brings in an OC who changes the offense then you have your answer. His ego image may not allow this. He has to be a nervous wreck inside knowing the walls are caving in on him. He has to pull another rabbit out of the hat hoping next season the games won’t show his incompetence again. But unless… Read more »
ESPN GameDay Crew Predictions — It’s Unanimous! Desmond Howard — A&M Nick Saban — A&M Pat McAfee — A&M Guest Host (A.J. Hawk) — A&M Lee Corso — A&M Kirk Herbstreit — A&M It’s all about “too much influx going on at USC at the moment. It’s hard to think they really have a shot at winning this game. Too many guys opting out at USC. Too many skill guys won’t be there for USC. There’s just too much going on there with Branch leaving and all. A&M wants it more. Lincoln Riley has only been 2-7 in the postseason.… Read more »
Lost in translation of speech to text, “too much influx” is the exact opposite of what’s going on. Probably meant “too much in (a state of) flux”.
My mistake. I should have written “in flux” with a space. Good catch!
Oh, that was yours? My bad, I wasn’t trying to poke at you, I was thinking you did a copy/paste from an article that had quoted what was said on CGD, and the article used V2T translation. Far be it for me to be the grammar and spelling police…I make more than my fair share of typos.
I’m glad you corrected me. I was just furiously typing as I was watching GameDay. I do that a lot here, which I add to by taking iPhone pictures of the TV. What a production, eh! 😂
Well……the big guys are firing at the coach. He deserves it. Let’s hope he takes a shower, improves and fights on. IMO if he would put everything into getting a couple high quality OL transfers….the roster looks reasonable. Needs depth. It will be young in a lot of spots so I’am not expecting miracles. It’s important to remember that the recruiting classes we moan about would be worshipped at most BIG programs. Not Oregon level but definitely above average. With good coaching they could win most games. I will state this…..unlike Helton…..the overall talent level of the team is improving……but… Read more »
Wait till next year. Allen was saying that all this year. Now all the talent on offense is gone. Driven away by a dysfunctional head coach. Now we have to have hope for 2026. All the talk of just get this player or that player reminds me of my old Infiniti. If I got a new paint job it would be a sharp looking car. Trouble was it needed $3500 engine repair and was only worth $3000. Lipstick on a pig. Silk purse – sow’s ear. Chicken soup – chicken s**t.
Hope you got rid of your Infiniti before it became too much of a money drain.
That’s kind of like a bad coach’s buyout number. 😂 😂
I traded it in this past February. I only got $1500 but felt glad to unload it. Coach’s buy out! Perfect!
It sounds like you certainly got your money’s worth if you drove that sucker down to the $1500 auto auction trade-in range. Congrats.
Hope your replacement does as well for you.
Just trying to bring some balance to the coverage. As you recall I was the first person on this site to call for his head. Nothing stated above should be interpreted as an endorsement of Riley.
I believed and continue to believe that the best thing USC can do is admit the error and move on…..but I also believe we are stuck with him for 25 and may be 26.
Let’s hope he improves.
For sure. The maddening thing is any decent coach could take off with this program and players.
Yep!….we should have been 10-2 or better this year. Probably another mess next year based solely on that dummy.
What’s the story with Eric Henderson in a tiff with a reporter? I can’t find any details other than he wrote a tweet and then took it down.
Luca pissed him off with an interview with a player after practice asking him 3 times if he was going to transfer.
Luca does a much better job at his task of covering USC football than some of the USC coaches do at theirs.
Thank god for Luca Evans who has the guts to actually ask questions that many Trojan fans would like to know the answers to instead of the rote routine pablum we usually hear about USC.
Dan Weber’s Just Sayin’: We know what it takes at USC, now we have to figure out how to get there from here… Weber (USCFootball.com) — In Kentucky, we say “Horses for courses.” Not every thoroughbred is meant to run and win every sort of race over every sort of ground. You have to have them in the right place. Running the right race. College football is a little like that. A place like USC is Churchill Downs the first Saturday in May. No bigger stage. But only if you’ve got the right horse for the mile-and-a-quarter course. Most coaches do not have… Read more »
Dan Weber’s post is right on target in what is wrong with the direction of this football program and actually LR has yet to understand the benefits and the landmines associated with USC football and LA-SoCal. Oh he says he understands but his actions say different in a decidedly stubborn way. What his biggest mistake has been from the very beginning is turning his back on a recruiting Mecca here in California. I believe it was a purposely biased decision because only a fool would not understand how USC football had prospered for over 100 years as few other programs… Read more »
Lincoln Riley and USC are down and spiraling Colin Cowherd — “Everybody is selling their stock on Lincoln Riley.” Joel Klatt — “When you lose Duce, and you lose Kyron Hudson, they’ve got a major problem. You can explain it away all you want. No, no, no. They’ve got a major problem on their hands. “The fact is, is that if you were to sit here three and four years ago, five years ago, before NIL really became a thing, and you were to say that at some point in college football’s future, you were to have unlimited free agency, unlimited NIL, so… Read more »