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Lincoln Riley to USC

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mdmost

mdmost 43980

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Me and mdleast are going to the USC-UCLA game at the Rose Bowl in 3 weeks. Both teams might be under .500. UCLA for sure unless they can beat Iowa and Wasington. USC has Nebraska so maybe? 

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NYBevo
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He probably got sick of hearing Boomer Sooner

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oSuJeff97
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The vast majority of people who have a negative view of Southern California are dumb fucking rednecks who have never been there. There’s a reason everything is so expensive there. It’s a gorgeous

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gmr548

gmr548 16695

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2 hours ago, bschoolprof said:

I haven't watched USC much at all this year, but I'm guessing their demise is due to:

 

1) poor defense (always been Riley's weakness)

2) opposing defenses have adjusted to his offense and he has no answer

3) No all-world QB to save the day

I was at the UW-USC game yesterday and would attribute it mostly to number 3. The defense wasn't great or anything but they kept UW in the 20's despite being -3 in the turnover margin. USC started a little slow but moved the ball well. Outganied UW by a healthy margin. I thought their QB missed several open WRs for big plays in the first half (they probably should have emphasized the running game sooner) and of course there were the three INTs. One was a tip if I recall - shit happens - but the other two were not good.

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jdhorn92

jdhorn92 1594

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Riley strikes me as an un-serious head football coach, good for him I guess.   I hate OU as much as anyone, but when you leave OU for LA and USC, that tells me it  was a money grab and lifestyle (for all its issues, Southern California offers a lot) and not about legacy and performing at the highest level.  I get that USC is a blue blood and he figured he'd spend 100% of his time in the West when he made the move...but a grinder, a serious coach stays at OU to continue what had been a solid multi-year run.  He's young, he's a finesse guy and he does not have what it takes to be elite.  Look at Kirby, Sark to a degree, Oregon's coach, even Day, Franklin (I know I know big games) ,but Riley looks like the pussy compared to those guys.

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Zepol87

Zepol87 9341

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2 hours ago, mdmost said:

Me and mdleast are going to the USC-UCLA game at the Rose Bowl in 3 weeks. Both teams might be under .500. UCLA for sure unless they can beat Iowa and Wasington. USC has Nebraska so maybe? 

I’ll be there as well. Pregame?? 

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Pimphand

Pimphand 6369

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22 minutes ago, nnm said:

 

Going to be interesting to see if Missouri pulls up their skirt for the Sooners the way they have historically this weekend.  If they can maybe not do that then there's a very real possibility of year one in SEC going 1-7 for OU which would be absolutely fucking amazing.

I care far less about USC but they will proably win the N is for nowledge & crosstown slapfight games and be bowl eligible baby!

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BurntEyes

BurntEyes 6302

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4 minutes ago, Pimphand said:

Going to be interesting to see if Missouri pulls up their skirt for the Sooners the way they have historically this weekend.  If they can maybe not do that then there's a very real possibility of year one in SEC going 1-7 for OU which would be absolutely fucking amazing.

I care far less about USC but they will proably win the N is for nowledge & crosstown slapfight games and be bowl eligible baby!

I dunno about the kNowledge v Rubbers game going the way of Trojan Man. I think corn could very well pull that off. Not that I am or ever will pull for them.

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Pimphand

Pimphand 6369

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6 minutes ago, BurntEyes said:

I dunno about the kNowledge v Rubbers game going the way of Trojan Man. I think corn could very well pull that off. Not that I am or ever will pull for them.

Corn lost to UCLA at home. Losing in LA to condom seems likely to me

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Blotto

Blotto 24013

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On 11/3/2024 at 7:43 AM, NoRagrets said:

If he does get fired, I wouldn’t mind him joining our staff as OC. He and Sark together would be insane. 

image.gif.dcae043fc371e386922aa5ebed75dfc4.gif

What's wrong with you? Sark owns the offense. He wants to own the offense. Why would you want that bitch-made,  belly-tatted twat in Austin?

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nnm

nnm 37904

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18 minutes ago, Blotto said:

image.gif.dcae043fc371e386922aa5ebed75dfc4.gif

What's wrong with you? Sark owns the offense. He wants to own the offense. Why would you want that bitch-made,  belly-tatted twat in Austin?

The brisket.  He would bring his brisket prowess to Austin.  

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6th Street

6th Street 6688

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Riley built his reputation on 4 NFL QBs in Mayfield, Murray, Hurts, and CW. Malachi Nelson being a colossal bust was a huge setback. Assuming SC and Michigan will pay whatever it takes to buy themselves back into relevance with a portal QB this offseason.

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ajax

ajax 2675

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1 hour ago, 6th Street said:

Malachi Nelson being a colossal bust was a huge setback.

Maddux Madsen is only a RS soph. Nelson may never see any real playing time in Boise cause Madsen's not going to the league.

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BurgleBro

BurgleBro 982

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When the Caleb Williams moment happened back in 2021 I knew in my fucking SOUL that was the very very last drop of QB miracle magic both Riley and those boomer bumfucks had left in the chamber.  

They were both due for the biggest mean regression and this season is proof that's happening for both brisket boy and the stoops brigade.

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 55863

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Lulz:

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Indiana is now in position to reach the Big Ten title game and, likely a playoff bid, despite finishing 3-9 last year, starting a QB who transferred from the MAC and a head coach who brought a handful of starters from a Sun Belt team, which begs the question of why Big Ten football looks so hard for Lincoln Riley.

 

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satyanash

satyanash 15590

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  From December 2021...

(Ari Wasserman) ‘USC is sexy again’: The Lincoln Riley hire and the awakening of a sleeping giant

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Eric Nelson, a senior pastor at Calvary Chapel Westgrove in Southern California, gave a sermon Sunday about forgiveness. Shortly after, he gathered around family and friends in the church’s foyer to discuss the big news. Lincoln Riley was leaving Oklahoma for USC. “When we got the news,” Nelson said, “we were as shocked as everyone.”

This doesn’t happen in college football. Sure, coaches leave jobs all the time. They get fired or take more money for bigger opportunities elsewhere. Movement is constant. The carousel never stops. But rarely do they do what Riley did — leave one powerhouse program for another. You may be able to come up with a few — like when Jimbo Fisher left Florida State for Texas A&M — but Riley’s jump from OU to USC is the most significant college football hire as it pertains to the national recruiting landscape since Ohio State landed Urban Meyer in 2012. “Everything is different now,” Nelson said.

Eric Nelson isn’t some random USC fan who was trying to unwind from a heavy sermon by talking some college ball. His son is five-star 2023 quarterback Malachi Nelson, the No. 2 overall player in the class behind fellow QB Arch Manning. And Nelson spurned USC and his endless list of other offers to commit to Riley at Oklahoma in July. He wanted to leave beautiful Southern California for Norman to play for one of the best young offensive minds in the sport, a coach who has a track record of turning five-star quarterbacks into NFL millionaires.

The Trojans have that coach now. They are sexy again, arguably for the first time since Pete Carroll roamed the sidelines in the early 2000s. One hire — the right hire — changed everything.

One of Riley’s first moves as USC’s coach Sunday night: a phone call to Nelson. Shortly after that call, Nelson announced he was no longer committed to Oklahoma. Later Sunday night, the Sooners also lost commitments from two other 2023 prospects: five-star receiver Brandon Inniss of Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) American Heritage and four-star running back Treyaun Webb of Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian Academy. Then, on Monday morning, two Class of 2022 four-star prospects (center Demetrius Hunter and defensive lineman Derrick Moore) announced they were no longer committed to OU.

Oklahoma’s 2023 class, which had been dominating in Southern California, still has commitments from two of Nelson’s teammates at Los Alamitos High — five-star athlete Makai Lemon and four-star receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. On Sunday night, Moore tweeted that he remained committed to Oklahoma, but the damage has already been done to the Sooners’ 2023 class that at one point included five top-55 players.

And the Sooners’ 2022 class is obviously at risk as well. Hunter and Moore have already decommitted. On Sunday, five-star running back Raleek Brown of Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei made it clear he might be looking elsewhere.

“Obviously Coach Riley is one of the most successful college coaches from the last few years,” Eric Nelson said. “What he has been able to do from an offensive standpoint to get guys into the league and develop, I think this move — not just for us personally, but for the whole nation — is going to draw attention because of the pillar and figurehead that coach Riley is.”

Riley’s move surprised a lot of people, but when you break it down, it was a brilliant business decision for the 38-year-old coach. He is now in Southern California, one of the most fertile recruiting territories in the country; he has a reputation and track record that will help him land talent in record numbers; and he’s in a very winnable conference. Oklahoma and Texas will soon make the move to the SEC, but Riley is getting out and will make a new life for himself with a clearer path to the College Football Playoff and fewer run-ins with Nick Saban standing in the way. And you can bet USC backed up the Brinks truck to get him.

You have to hand it to USC. Months after firing Clay Helton, the school poached one of the most respected coaches in the game from another national power. USC wanted to prove that it’s back? Pulling Riley is a ground-shaking statement that immediately changes the perception and the ceiling of the program.

“If he can recruit California the way he did from Oklahoma, imagine what he can do from South Central (L.A.),” said Terry Bullock, the recruiting coordinator and linebackers coach at California powerhouse St. John Bosco. “USC needed to get a guy with a big name that is going to bring some credibility because it’s a circus over there. … It’s going to be very beneficial for SC, and it really sucks for Oklahoma.”

Recruiting is about being cool. There are cool programs that hoard the most talent, schools such as Alabama, Georgia, Clemson and Ohio State. USC, despite not being in that realm (at the time), did a great job in the 2021 class by landing top-tier California talent. The Trojans signed five-star defensive end Korey Foreman of Corona Centennial, four-star linebacker Raesjon Davis of Santa Ana Mater Dei, four-star quarterback Miller Moss of Mission Hills Bishop Alemany and four-star cornerback Ceyair Wright of Los Angeles Loyola. That’s a ton of talent.

But if USC wants to win a national title, there is an extra gear to hit. The expectation is that Riley’s arrival at USC automatically makes the Trojans the No. 1 destination for elite-level Southern California prospects. But Riley is bigger than that. He’s going to take the Trojans national — like he did with Oklahoma — and dip his toes into other recruiting territories in which he has relationships. Texas? Imagine USC being the latest force in the Lone Star State. Riley, a Texas Tech grad, is a Texan after all. Oh, and nobody has recruited the quarterback position better than Riley.

“With Lincoln coming over and potentially keeping (USC interim head coach) Donte Williams — which I believe would be the best thing USC could do — it could be a national takeover,” said Malik “Fig” James, founder of Premium Sports, a prominent 7-on-7 program based in California. “USC is always a place that’s considered. We have oceans and good weather and beautiful women. When you place these types of guys at USC, it puts them right back in the top five nationally. To win a national championship, you need more than just in-state kids. Recruiting nationally is how you win national championships. That’s how you become nationally cool.”

When has another coaching change caused a seismic shift in the recruiting landscape?

Just picturing Riley wearing a USC visor and getting the Michael Jordan “Jumpman” logo on those beautiful Trojans uniforms? It’s a wrap. Add in the fact that Oregon — the only competition for the Trojans in the Pac-12 in the long term — has depended on recruiting California, and you have a tough obstacle for Mario Cristobal to overcome. If Riley takes California back, that changes things for the Pac-12 and the other nationally prominent programs that love to recruit there. Alabama, Clemson and Georgia are still going to be in California, but this USC is the most dangerous version of itself. It’s instantly legitimized by Riley’s presence.

It’s like when Meyer arrived at Ohio State in 2012. The entire Big Ten was forced to alter the way it recruited, and as a result, the conference got stronger. Outside of Oregon, which program in the Pac-12 is equipped to compete with the Trojans now? That’s the brilliance of Riley’s decision to take this job.

You may think that Eric Nelson could use some of his own words of wisdom from his sermon about forgiveness. You may think that the Nelsons feel a little blindsided by the fact that the coach who had recruited their son abruptly left Oklahoma to take a new job. Nope.

“No forgiveness needed, man,” Eric said. “Life is good. With coach Riley, it is a surprise and a shock with a move like this, but he can’t, he won’t and we don’t expect him to run things like this by us. We’re just thankful that we got a chance to talk to him (Sunday), and when it is all said and done, coach Riley made a move that he thought was best for his family. I congratulated him and thanked him for recruiting Malachi in the way that he did, so yeah, we’re not stressed at all.”

What’s to be stressed about? Now the coach the Nelsons believed in enough to send their kid to Oklahoma is now up the street. Nobody will be surprised if Nelson ends up at USC when it’s time to make it official in December 2022.

“You can bet that Malachi and his family have some discussions to have,” said Danny Hernandez, Nelson’s private quarterback coach. “I’ll say this: USC is sexy again. Sexy. That’s the perfect word for it.” You can bet a lot of these other elite-level talents will find USC sexy and cool again, too. Riley instantly does that for this program, which means he’s worth whatever check the Trojans gave him.

...to December 2024:

Andy Staples: It's probably time to panic at USC

Quote

Lincoln Riley hadn’t played a Big Ten game yet and was already on the defensive. As a group of reporters huddled around him on the morning of his Big Ten media days appearance in July, the USC coach mixed bravado and excuses as he previewed the season to come.

“We are at the top of the Big Ten conference. We’re at the top of any conference. I don’t ever look at ourselves as below anybody, and I never will,” Riley said. “Look where Ohio State and Oregon were two years ago. Look at what they took over and look at what we took over. It takes time. I’m not a magician. I can’t wave a magic wand and have everything be perfect right away. Find one area where we haven’t made progress. This thing’s got momentum. It’s coming. Nothing is going to stop it. That’s fine. They started at a different point. We’ll see where it ends up.”

It ended up with Ohio State and Oregon in the College Football Playoff and USC going 6-6 and bleeding out as more starters enter the transfer portal. Next year, Ohio State and Oregon probably also will be in the College Football Playoff. USC? Maybe prepping for another nondescript bowl — if the Trojans don’t slip by a game and fail to reach bowl eligibility.

But unless former Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren — now the president of the Chicago Bears — decides Caleb Williams needs to see a familiar face every day, it seems increasingly likely USC fans will remain stuck in this recurring nightmare. Perhaps Riley will stand on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium in July 2025 and once again blame predecessor Clay Helton for what ails USC.

But Riley should be careful doing that, because Helton’s Georgia Southern team is coming to the Coliseum on Sept. 6 and Helton could get his revenge by pulling one of the funniest upsets in college football history. Does that sound impossible? It shouldn’t. USC losing to Minnesota and Maryland seemed fairly unlikely heading into this season, but it happened.

And given the way USC has hemorrhaged contributors into the portal, it’s looking more likely every day that the 2025 roster will be less talented than the 2024 roster. Which was less talented than the 2023 roster. Which was less talented than the 2022 roster. Spot the trend yet?

USC fans can try to take solace by telling themselves that receiver Duce Robinson didn’t live up to his freakish recruiting hype or that receiver/returner Zachariah Branch never developed or that offensive tackle Mason Murphy wasn’t good enough to dominate in the Big Ten or that tailback Quentin Joyner didn’t — wait, there’s really nothing negative to say about a back who averaged 7.6 yards a carry — but unless Riley has a secret portal bounty coming that has yet to reveal itself, those players represented decent raw material with which to work for next season. Now they’ll be somewhere else. Mason is headed to Auburn. Robinson has visited Arizona State and is reportedly also considering Florida State, North Carolina and Texas A&M. Branch and his older brother Zion, a USC defensive back, hit the portal on Tuesday and seem to be a package deal.

Miller Moss, the former QB1 who was benched in favor of UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava, is headed to Louisville to play for Jeff Brohm, who once took Purdue to the Big Ten title game. Joyner is expected to go to Ohio State, one of those schools Riley was talking about back at media days.

Riley was hired at USC to put the Trojans on the level of the Buckeyes. And while Urban Meyer did set up Ryan Day quite nicely — as Jim Harbaugh so famously pointed out — Riley’s July implication that Dan Lanning had it easier at Oregon is laughable. They were hired in the same offseason. One of Lanning’s first acts was to beat Riley head-to-head on the recruiting trail for offensive tackle Josh Conerly Jr., who was a third-team All-America selection (Associated Press) this season for the Big Ten champion Ducks.

Sure, Oregon had a better 2021 under Mario Cristobal than USC after firing Helton two games into the season. But the programs weren’t in that different a space. And it’s not a stretch to argue that even though they never played to offer any definitive proof, Riley’s first USC team was as good or better than Lanning’s first Oregon team. They’ve gone in opposite directions since.

This is not an attempt to heap belated praise on Helton. Riley did a great job that first offseason and that first season at USC. That’s what’s so maddening about Riley. He didn’t win four Big 12 titles at Oklahoma just because Bob Stoops left the cupboard full. Riley unlocked Baker Mayfield. He got the most out of Kyler Murray. He made Jalen Hurts a better version of the QB we met at Alabama. Riley built good teams and won games — even if his teams seemed to lack physicality on defense. His work marrying a smash-mouth counter play as the backbone of the run game to the passing concepts of former boss Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense was positively brilliant. And after five successful seasons at Oklahoma, Riley went to USC and assembled a competitive first team.

Riley had a future Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback (Williams) follow from Oklahoma because Riley ran the coolest offense that maximized his QB’s skill set. Riley convinced the reigning Biletnikoff Award winner (Jordan Addison) to come to USC through the transfer portal. Solomon Byrd, a solid edge rusher, also came through the portal from Wyoming. Receivers Brenden Rice (Colorado) and Mario Williams (Oklahoma) and back Travis Dye (Oregon) also hopped aboard and contributed quickly. Had Caleb Williams not injured his ankle in the first half of the Pac-12 title game against Utah, those Trojans might have won the league and made the four-team CFP.

It should have been a glorious start to an even more glorious tenure for Riley. Instead, it’s increasingly looking like the pinnacle. Yes, four of USC’s losses were by four points or less. But if Riley doesn’t start netting out with more talent than he had the previous season, the margins are more likely to increase than flip to wins.

Riley has bristled when questioned about the idea that he left Oklahoma because he didn’t want to swim in the shark-infested recruiting waters of the SEC, but his talent acquisition style suggests there is merit to those questions. Presumably USC officials informed Riley before his hiring that they were working on a move to the Big Ten, which isn’t exactly easier. The news in 2023 that Oregon and Lanning were hitching a ride to USC’s new league probably hit like a sledgehammer, because now there was no escape. Ohio State and Michigan and Penn State already presented enough problems. Now this maniac who recruited just like his old boss Kirby Smart was coming too.

Maybe Riley just doesn’t have the temperament of a Lanning. I’ve often wondered why — after watching his defense falter for years — he didn’t seek out people who had worked for Smart or Nick Saban or Harbaugh (coaches whose defenses always played with an edge) and simply copy the way they train and practice. The hiring of D’Anton Lynn last offseason to run USC’s defense helped some, but Riley’s earlier refusal to go on a vision quest to fix that side of the ball remains baffling. Clemson’s Dabo Swinney did it when he hired Brent Venables to run his defense and then gave Venables exactly what he needed from a practice and game-planning perspective to play complementary football. Saban did that when he switched offensive philosophies in the middle of the previous decade. Smart did it when his offense wasn’t good enough to win national titles.

But perhaps Riley isn’t the same breed of coach as those men, even though three years ago he seemed capable of equalling or exceeding any of them.

The frustrating part about Riley is that at 41, he still has plenty of time to fix the issues of the past few seasons and build something special. But his public stance seems to be one of denial. The wunderkind who burned so bright at Oklahoma has fizzled under the bright lights of Los Angeles. Meanwhile, USC is stuck paying eight figures annually for a coach who either doesn’t realize his program is fathoms below the best in his league or — worse — does know it and knows his school can’t afford his buyout.

 

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