Column: Make room on the hot seat for Lincoln Riley because his USC honeymoon is officially over
Lincoln Riley looks at the replay board during a 38-20 loss to rival UCLA at the Coliseum on Saturday. The Trojans ended the regular season losing five of their last six games. (Gina Ferazzi / LAT)
Bill Plaschke (LA Times) — Memo to Chip Kelly, the UCLA coach on the hot seat.
Chip Kelly celebrates after a 38-20 victory over USC at the Coliseum on Saturday. (Wally Skalij / LAT)
Scoot over.
Make room for Lincoln Riley.
The two men met Saturday in the crosstown rivalry, yet only one of their teams showed up.
Only one of their teams really cared about its biggest game of the season. Only one of their teams played with desperation, fought with fury, competed with heart.
It was the struggling team with the embattled leader who could be fired next week, not the privileged team with the glamorous boss who seemingly was just getting started.
It was the anonymous team that has spent years in the shadows, not the starry team with the buzz, the pedigree and a quarterback who last season won the Heisman Trophy.
It was UCLA 38, USC 20, in a game that wasn’t that close with a message that couldn’t be more clear.
Lincoln Riley, your honeymoon is over.
This awful loss is on you. This disappointing season is on you. The pulsating heat from a fan base that doesn’t accept mediocrity is now squarely on you.
Two seasons after arriving in town as a celebrated acquisition who was going to return the Trojans to greatness, Riley couldn’t even convince his team to play hard or smart against the most important opponent on its schedule.
Since going 11-1 to start his USC career, Riley is 7-7. Sink your teeth into that. Anybody have a number for Clay Helton?
Since tutoring Caleb Williams to a Heisman, Riley has basically ruined Williams’ encore season with a terrible defense, an underutilized running attack, and a series of big-game embarrassments.
Blown out at Notre Dame. Stunned by Utah. Rolled by Washington. Dominated by Oregon. And now this, giving up 38 points to a Bruins offense that combined for 17 points in the previous two weeks against Arizona and Arizona State.
Caleb Williams gets a hug from USC backup QB Miller Moss during the final moments of a 38-20 loss to UCLA.
Caleb Williams leaps out of the pocket to avoid UCLA defensive linemen Gabriel Murphy (11) and Laiatu Latu during Saturday’s loss.
Kudos, certainly, to UCLA’s Kelly for summoning his team’s best game at its most important moment. It was written here last week that Kelly’s mediocre resume should lead to his firing, and nothing here changed that opinion, but give him credit for fighting to the end.
Meanwhile, after this debacle, some folks are thinking maybe Riley’s tenure should be just as tenuous.
Not quite, but close.
After USC plays in some shell of a bowl game that will be little more than a money grab with a swag bag, Riley will be faced with large and difficult questions entering his third season.
There is rapidly decreasing faith that he can answer them.
Williams is eligible for another season, but he’s going to the NFL, so Riley will need to create another star quarterback out of a little bit of Miller Moss, a little bit of Malachi Nelson, and a whole bunch of nothing. Good luck getting a top transfer to join this mess.
Riley will also need to construct a running game that was inconsistent all season before bottoming out against the Bruins with three net yards. Three! Seriously. Three!
Then there is his biggest challenge, a defense that he allowed to humiliate his program this season because of his loyalty to coordinator and close pal Alex Grinch. Well, Grinch was fired and guess what? The Trojans still allowed the Bruins to roll them for 199 rushing yards in a game that felt finished after UCLA took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
There’s so many challenges awaiting, it is fair to wonder if Riley is up for them all. He’s great with quarterbacks but with everyone else? Not so much. Does he have the ability to radically alter his philosophy and expand his expertise? Does he have the bandwidth? Does he have the motivation?
There is some thought that maybe this is the perfect time for Riley to make the long-predicted leap to the NFL, especially since a losing team such as the Chicago Bears could be in the market not only to make Williams the first pick, but to hire Riley to join him.
Of course, there is also the thought that this season has seriously damaged his immediate NFL hopes. When he left his first job at Oklahoma to rebuild USC, it was his first chance to show he could direct a program that would rise from the ashes. It was his first chance to show he was a complete head coach, not just a quarterback whisperer. So far, in this regard, he has miserably failed.
Whether or not he leaves, Riley is certainly wearing out his welcome here, and he knows it.
After Saturday’s game, he threw himself on his Trojans sword and literally swore he would be better. It was if he were speaking directly to an increasingly dubious Trojans family, trying to keep them from giving up on him.
For some, it might already be too late.
“Extremely disappointing to finish this way. … I know our guys are disappointed, coaches are disappointed, I’m disappointed, I know our fans are disappointed and they should be,” Riley said.
“There’s no excuses. It’s below what we expect here, it’s below the standard, and I’ve got to do a much better job. I own all that and I’m going to fight my ass off in every single way to make sure this thing gets to where it’s supposed to be.”
After a game in which USC committed three turnovers and gave up four sacks while UCLA’s defensive line consistently pressured Williams, Riley was asked if he could have done more during this final regular-season stretch of five losses in six games.
He said yes. Good thing, because his coaching performance screamed yes.
“To not give yourself a chance like today, it’s unacceptable,” Riley said. “So I’ve got to be better. There’s no way to look at this and say I did any kind of a good job and got the result that we did in the second half of the season. So I’ve got to be better in every single way possible.”
Agreed, in every way possible.
One of the umpteenth ways Riley could be better is in making his players, some of whom are paid handsomely, to be more accountable.
After Saturday’s game, for the third time this season, Williams didn’t speak to reporters. He threw for 384 yards and a touchdown with an interception, but he will remembered here for refusing to publicly support his crestfallen teammates and accept any responsibility after what could be his last game as a Trojan.
It was another missed educational opportunity for the college athlete. It was another blown call by the coach. It was another reason there is reason to wonder if Lincoln Riley is truly the right man for this job.
Heads up, Chip Kelly.
Company’s coming.
latimes.com
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Word on the street … Jim Leonard or Geoff Collins DC. Both seen good.
Collins did well in SEC.
I bet I know exactly where you got that from ’88. Still seems pretty vague to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if we all end up a little surprised by this new DC pick.
A year from now I hope it’s pleasantly surprised.
Whoever it is, I’m confident we’ll all be happy, as long as Lincoln Riley is kept as far away from any contributions to the next Trojan D as possible.
LR can barely call plays lately, and his savior Heisman QB seems to be in a funk half the time as things stand, so LR’s sticking to the offensive side of the ball would be a big bonus as far as I’m concerned.
I brought up Jim Leonhard’s name 2 weeks ago. He would be a great fit because he teaches, he has B10 experience as a player and a coach and an NFL pedigree.
I think the Board is to be congratulated on the below discussion. I think it is first class. To be honest, I think UCLA blowing LR out in Caleb’s final game was a benefit to the program; it did not matter if SC went 8-4 or 7-5. First, the rout exposed the rot. LR simply cannot cover over this big a stench. Nor can he engage in denial as to the cause. It is now clear that the 2024 season will be a rebuilding year. Second, no way UCLA fires Chip now. And, it is very much in SC’s best… Read more »
As I said earlier here, McKay had actually won a NC at USC before 51-0 came along. LR has already fallen flat on his face again, since throwing away the Cotton Bowl game to TUL. Mentioning the two coaches in the same sentence strikes me as gratuitous to one, and demeaning to the other.
If we hire a DC this week, is he able to coach during bowl prep? Having a month of practices to get a jump on things would be great. Is there any sort of rule that would not allow this? Just curious.
Chris, Do not know. But I think that would be a mistake. The new DC will probably need to bring in an entirely new staff. And, I do not think you want to rush that important a hire. This hire will determine the next three years of the program.
The new DC needs to get hired before recruiting windows open. So I’m sure it will be in the next two weeks.
I think just to maintain continuity, (like there is any) the new DC starts after the bowl. They only have a certain amount of practices for the bowl anyway, like 12 or 15. It would be great to announce the DC prior to early signing or the opening of the portal. Staff changes would be great to have onboard also but that doesn’t always work out.
steve,
i do not really care at all about the bowl game. I just think it would be great to not waste those practices on more horrible development of the defense.
What I read a lot about bowl practice is it is a time to let the young guys get the work working together. Could there be more horrible defense?🤣 Without a bowl, those practices are lost.
If Riley is ignorant of anything, he is letting this program get “soft” not playing 11-man football. The culture of this team, it’s mindset must get back to Trojan physical football. It must! He is guilty as much as the Cat was in not coaching-developing his linemen. The Cat changed the offense to air raid. LR is air raid. And by the way this program has been playing, not much has changed. That is the real story here.
One of my biggest complaints about Helton was how we would get manhandled by teams with strong offensive and defensive lines like we did against Alabama in 2016 and Ohio State in 2017.
Riley needs to build the offensive and defensive lines through recruiting. The transfer portal can be used to fill a hole but you need to recruit talent and depth from the high school ranks.
None of here saw this coming. I think the Board consensus was 10-2. Well, we got 7-5. And, look at next year. We play LSU, MI, ND, Penn State, UCLA and WA. This year against a similar schedule (ND, Utah, WA, OR, UCLA and AZ), SC went 1-5. In his first year, LR played only three teams of this quality: Utah, ND and UCLA. He went 2-2. I think we need to adjust our expectations for next year, even assuming LR starts fixing the major problems in his approach to the structure of a team. IF LR does NOT make… Read more »
Basically, LR has to start completely over at USC. He built up a lot of well-deserved goodwill in 2022, only to spectacularly throw all that into the trash in 2023. USC might be pretty good in 2025. Who knows? It all depends on how smart LR plays it going forward. 2024’s gonna be a tough, total rebuild year. Hopefully, LR can do what he’s never been good at, nor had to do before — rebuild a team. It was given to him on a silver platter at OU. At USC, LR just recently found out he didn’t know what he… Read more »
Allen, My guess is he was shocked by what happened this year. And, you are correct – LR has never had to do what needs to done. I think he is smart and after getting routed by both UCLA and ND, he should now be humbled. He should now realize that he made a ton of mistakes and needs help. He will need help rebuilding first the talent acquisition process (without talent, this team is going nowhere). This will require budgeting and professional management. Running an elite collegiate program in the NIL era is like running an NFL team. I… Read more »
At least LR doesn’t have to control my expectations, which are about 6-6 in 2024. He’s already done a great job of that. 😂 😂
I agree. Our expectations for next year should be 6-6 and anything better than that will be gravy. My guess is the fan base will not be so realistic.
USC’s fan base is largely turned off by Lincoln Riley and his soon-to-be totally fractured, resume-building staff.
The TDB is actually much kinder to LR than many other USC places.
I’m still in Riley’s camp. Last year’s success was probably not a good thing because it hid how much work was needed to build the roster and overhaul the program. If we had gone 7-5 this year and 11-1 this year things would be different. I give Riley at least a couple more years to prove himself and get things going in the right direction. Remember it took Harbaugh time to build Michigan. Heck he didn’t beat Ohio State for his first 4 years and the teams he had were okay but nothing special. Everyone needs to just chill for… Read more »
Riley’s obviously got a lot to learn. That would be the understatement of the decade.
Harbaugh’s a much better coach than Riley and it’s not even close. Harbaugh actually pushed Pete Carroll around big-time on the field more than once.
Riley can’t kick anyone decent around. He’s even marginal against bottom-feeder programs lately. Poor guy. Hopefully, he gets his act together and finds a great DC who is willing to work for him and his “tire fire” at USC. Nothing’s guaranteed at this stage, obviously.
I think he did t know what he wasn’t doing. Now he and the whole world know.
Here we go again, this reminds me of the Helton days. We should probably go into next season with no expectations simply based on where we are right now. As the offseason progresses we can have pleasant surprises along the way gently raising our hopes to some degrees. It is a fact Riley has been very humbled by this season, if the man coming out of this is changed we will see improvements. If not, then the question needs to be asked is he worth keeping.
Steveg, I think we all need to accept that SC is two,maybe three years away from being able to compete for the CFB playoffs. Next year we are a 6-6 team and do not “buy the Koolaid” that will be sold in the off season. The ceiling for next year’s team is 8-4. SC needs to rebuild to be competitive in the B1G.
8-4 … would take that and run
“Has been” or “never has been”. He hasn’t been to the mountain top yet, so hasn’t earned the privilege of being a “has been” yet.
The list of embarrassments for Lincoln Riley at USC is long and relentless, and he must eventually confront that fact Matt Zemek (Trojans Wire) — We mention these failures of Lincoln Riley not to repeat refrains or mantras, but to make the program aware of how badly it failed and how fully it must rethink all of its methods in the pursuit of transformation next season in the B1G. 1 7-5 2 WASTED CALEB WILLIAMS’ SEASON 3 GOT OBLITERATED BY UCLA IN A BLOWOUT TO A COACH ON A SUPER HOT SEAT 4 BOWED DOWN TO 3-LOSS NOTRE DAME BY… Read more »
WOW The most…ALWAYS gonna be positive USC guy on the planet Ryan Abraham of USCFOOTBALL.COM Just said on his podcast “This season was a disaster !!!!! ” and now he said ALL Coach Assistants have ZERO Job Security .
He’s a tad late in making that comment. probably had to support Riley to get access (well, at least a peak inside the gate). I noted that he also supported Helton for far to long.
In one-half season, Riley went from coaching phenom to toxic boss. I have never witnessed such a rapid fall from coaching grace. Top assistants would have been chomping at the bit to work at USC just 7 weeks ago, and now we will be lucky to pull in assistants of any higher caliber than Clay Helton could hire on the back end of his tenure. And how about the ding to Kingsbury’s reputation? Will somebody explain to me why Caleb’s style and the play calling was never adjusted to get the ball out faster with the o-line he had? Ever?… Read more »
Rock — I think your point about Lincoln Riley’s lost cache is what intrigues me a lot immediately going forward.
Now that so many cracks in his arsenal have been revealed, maybe some better asst coach options think of LR as more of a sinking ship as opposed to just a dinged buoy.
Gonna be an insanely interesting month for USC football as we sit on the sidelines licking our wounds.
Good thing the late great Marv Goux is not around to witness this mess; the Santa Barbara product was “tough as nails”, and stressed/taught excellent blocking and tackling skills. Skilled position players are important, but the basics are equally important, if not more so.There’s plenty of blame to go around, but the missed block by Lake McRee late in the game denying a critical 4th down conversion sticks out in my mind.
Yes, Mr. Trojan would have been spitting mad watching these last two years of a defense that couldn’t tackle and gave up in the 4th quarter.
Everyone piling on LR and USC. I am still in the camp that he is the right guy. Get the DC hire right. Push Jen to let us approach NIL the right way. We haven’t sniffed elite in a long time, it will take him some time to get us there. Florida St is reaping the reward of their patience with a good coach, we will too.
Jen hardly controls SC’s NIL program. That’s for the President, and the Board. SC has become quite adverse to any more scandals.
That is correct. But she can provide the administrative staff to set budgets and needs. Nike provides that support to Oregon. I am convinced the reason Oregon is so strong a program is in large part due to being run like an NFL team. It has professional staff provided and I am certain works on a budget, including for talent acquisition (and evaluation). I am also certain all other major programs have similar set ups. SC does not and that must be changed going forward. Jen can provide that vision and leadership to set up such a system. SC cannot… Read more »
I’d also take Dan Lanning in a heartbeat over Lincoln Riley.
So would most of the country, I’m sure, so it’s not exactly a ground-breaking statement.
Not so certain. He walked into a well-oiled and financed machine. He was very wise to announce he is staying there. He reminds me of Riley when he took over OU. I would much rather take a guy who has built a program the right way, like Finkell. He struggled at WI, but I would look for him to build WI the right way. I think he is a superior version of Utah’s Whittingham. LR has never done this before. I really hate that SC hired another OTJ learning HC, but it is what it is.
Lincoln Riley is no longer even viewed as anything close to an “elite coach” anymore. Mentioning his name draws eye rolls, head shakes, perplexed looks, smirks, frowns, or a little laughter. I’ve never seen a CFB coach lose so much credibility, so fast. The question now has become where does LR end up within the good to mediocre to disappointing range? If you still think Riley is “elite”, more power to you. He needs all the support he can get at this low stage of his career. But nothing whatsoever about Lanning reminds me of Riley, and I have no… Read more »
I agree that Lanning is a superior coach at this time to LR. But, unfortunately, that is not saying much. LR did an awful job this year. My point is that Lanning may be great and may not. Remember Mario Christobal succeeded at OR and has bombed at Miami. The stadium for the Miami/Louisville game was empty. I think we all need to realize that OR is way ahead of SC as an elite football organization. I have all the confidence in the world that SC can close that gap.
Lanning’s one of the elite coaches in the Pac-12. I’m sold.
That’s a guy who takes no prisoners. He could get hired at 20 other places tomorrow.
I think USC would be hard-pressed to find another school that wants what Lincoln Riley brings, which is a great QB, and not much else.
i have no doubt about Lanning, but he was handed the keys to a built Ferrari and he is driving the heck out of it. Lincoln was handed some of the parts to a Ferrari and is trying to find a way to build it.
also, Lanning is an arrogant jerk. Once uncle Phil is not propping up the program, they will come back to earth. I hate 0regon and their pompous fans.
Actually, John McKay could be an “arrogant jerk” (even some on his own staff wouldn’t let him off so lightly) when he wanted, as has been well-documented in comments he made to his own team and many opponents, or coaches he didn’t care for.
Lincoln Riley stunk up the joint in 2023 because he didn’t really understand how to rebuild USC. Now he finally knows that just having a Heisman QB isn’t nearly enough.
I’ll take an arrogant jerk any day of the week over an inept fool like LR’s been much of this season.
McKay could be an absolute Irish prick. You knew who was in charge. I believe it was Richard Wood, who said if you saw him anywhere away from the practice field, you went the other way.
Also, an assistant, I believe Craig Fertig, paraphrased the old Humphrey Bogart tail that Errol Flynn used to tell ‘the problem with Bogart is when he drinks, he thinks he is Bogart’.
Fertig, a frequent, Julie’s Trojan Barrel companion, would say ‘problem with McKay when he was drinking, he became worse than McKay’.
It will be interesting for both Udub and Lanning without the 6 year qbs.
Were I a prep or portal QB, I’d love to play for either DeBoer or Lanning.
I’d also take either over LR at this stage, and bet I’m in the majority with Trojan fans on that one, at least based on what I’ve heard from SC friends, and seen on the Internet.
Lanning mocking LR with the 7on7 crack … well what are you going to do about it LR
Sure, but let’s remember that Lanning is in an ideal situation at Oregon. He even mentioned this when he was asked if he were interested in the ATM position.
At least Lanning tells the truth when he talks. I don’t believe anything Lincoln says publicly, which is usually a long-winded way of saying absolutely nothing.
Interesting points. Oregon has a dominant donor that influences (directs?) the BOT. Phil’s focus is Oregon Athletics and ensures they are properly funded and directed. I think SC is quite different and is more protective of their academic standing and any athletic program or heritage. I believe they understand the mission of a University, in contrast to Oregon. I also believe that the move to the B1G will prove to be a mistake, and that remaining in the PAC 12 was a far better option, given the USC’s BOT. Anyway, we shall see how this all turns out. I am… Read more »
ORE just has a vastly superior football program to USC’s now.
Even Colin Cowherd calls USC a “tire fire, a mess.”
The good news is that at least USC has hit a bottom. I don’t see how we can sink any lower than we are now. Clarity is a big advantage over the misguided, uninformed optimism most of us Trojan fans were basking in leading up to this season.
She does have influence on how we get collectives to operate. Right now, we are not playing by the same rules as the elite teams. It’s hurting us in recruiting
LR accomplished the goal (maybe his main goal) of winning a Heisman for CW and USC. He had a shot at a second. Now it is time to settle in to the job of building a great football program. The silver lining in all this is Jen Cohen now is in position to be LR’s boss. Starting next year USC will be one of 34 best funded college football programs. They will essentially be part of the NFL minor leagues. Well paid players and coaches. What does Cohen need to do? She needs the okay from her bosses, Folt and… Read more »
AP Top 25 poll
1 Georgia (61)
2 Ohio State (1)
3 Michigan
4 Washington
5 Florida State
6 Oregon
7 Texas
8 Alabama
9 Louisville
10 Missouri
11 Penn State
12 Ole Miss
13 Oklahoma
14 LSU
15 Oregon State
16 Arizona
17 Notre Dame
18 Tulane
19 Kansas State
20 Iowa
21 Oklahoma State
22 Liberty
23 Toledo
24 James Madison
25 Tennessee
Others receiving votes: Utah 69, NC State 66, UNLV 56, SMU 49, North Carolina 26, Clemson 20, Kansas 7, Fresno St. 6, New Mexico St. 3, UCLA 1, Miami (Ohio) 1, Texas A&M 1
Gotta say it …….This 2023 USC Football team has to be nominated for “Most Overrated USC Team ever “……Maybe not the winner of that ….But Nominated FOR SURE…..SMH!
Jamar Sekona, 300lb DL, becomes the first Trojan to enter the transfer portal.
First of many.
If he wasn’t playing on this Dline … well
This is really an easy fix, 4 things must happen. 1. Riley has to check his ego at the door and run the ball, If Lloyd comes back with a committed run game, he could be a Heisman candidate. 2. Fix the O and D lines, 3. Hire a top notch hard nosed D coordinator and make him asst HC. 4 Fire Donte Williams, The DB play and lack of discipline is horrible and gets worse weekly.
I agree…add a special teams coach, take a long hard look at our recruiting and work at building some connections to the trojan family and High school coaches.
Riley might need to give up a little bonus cash to get the best people……I don’t see him doing this but there is only so much cash and his salary compared to result is out of wack.
That’s an easy fix? The current team reputation is a weak, has-been program moving into a much tougher conference. Going to be not easy to fix the lines. Hiring a DC might be not difficult, but not easy either. That’s why SC got Riley and not someone with more experience and success.
If you were a top DC in college football, would you relocate to be under Riley? LR is all about the O. LR’s ego is tied to the O. What latitude and authority would he give to a DC? Would he change his approach to practice to accommodate a DC? How will NIL money be allocated? How many current players will defect to the TP?
TDB Football Contest
Current Standings as of 11/18/2023:
1. Bus83 29000
2. DubPar22 22000
3. Illinois 15000
4. Steveg 10000
5. TrojanRJJ 2000
6. Troy5543 0
7. GoldenTrojan 0
For a full game by game account please click on the link to go directly to the post.
https://trojandailyblog.com/tdb-contest-week-12-2023/
The transfer portal king has died. Traditional recruitment must reign again. Players need a stake in the pride of beating our crosstown rivals. Plaschke just gave Riley the middle finger in Scott Wolf gloves, and took Caleb Williams with him. One of the problems I see with his supposition that the players were paid handsomely to play, is that only a few make any money at USC. Gone are the days where opposing fans jingle their keys at the team when they take the field. Mike Bohn didn’t embrace the NIL mindset for fear of the NCAA dropping another hammer… Read more »
Oregon
Florida St
Washington
even UCLA and Zona
were all portal
I bet Plashke is the happiest man in Los Angeles. What a thrill for him to get to write a column that ridicules Lincoln Riley. So now we move on into what could be an interesting off season. The bowl practices will be beneficial for the young guys, the game means nothing, and we can salute Caleb for playing like a true trojan, fighting on till the end. May the portal be fruitful, and a quality signature on a DC contract.