Let’s begin with what must be said: 7 months ago, USC was a hell hole.
Coach after coach, recruiting class after recruiting class, and nothing stuck. Nothing took root and developed into the beautifully perfect Eden like it had in the past, amid the most fertile environment in all of college football.
“When you come into a program in the position we did, you really try to peel back the layers on every part of it,” said new USC coach Lincoln Riley. “And try to figure out what’s going on.”
Now look at the metamorphosis in a matter of 200-plus days since Riley accepted the job, without playing a game, without snapping a ball: USC — months after finishing the season by losing by 30 at home to an average UCLA team — was recently named a betting favorite by Las Vegas sharps to reach the College Football Playoff.
Of all the once-elite programs desperate to find their way back — most notably Texas, Miami and Florida State — USC is a country mile ahead in the race.
Not Texas and Steve Sarkisian’s juiced-up offense. Not Miami and Mario Cristobal’s quick refurbish in a conference long on questions for the 2022 season.
But USC — which fired its coach after Week 2 of the 2021 season, and has won 22 games in the last four seasons.
Think about that. A roster devoid of talent at the end of 2021, and lacking realistic scholarship numbers (and realistic Power 5 players), will earn 1 of 4 coveted Playoff spots.
Frankly, it’s ridiculous to even consider.
But dig deeper into the last 7 months, and understand the heavy lifting and reconstruction that took place under the radar of Georgia winning its first national title in 41 years, wild NIL deals, cheating accusations and bickering of high-profile coaches, and a(nother) paradigm shift in the college football landscape.
Amid all that — and while no one was looking or really cared — USC built a potential monster.
— Nov. 28, 2021: USC shocked the college football world by hiring the uber-successful Riley from Oklahoma for an estimated $110 million deal (larger than the Conference USA, MAC and Sun Belt media rights deals).
— Feb. 1, 2022: Oklahoma QB Caleb Williams, the No. 1 player in the transfer portal, signed with USC and joined former star Sooners WR Mario Williams, who followed Riley to USC.
— May 19, 2022: Pittsburgh All-American WR Jordan Addison, the 2021 Biletnikoff Award winner, ended his controversial transfer portal recruitment — Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi publicly claimed USC tampered with Addison — and signed with USC.
Addison’s signing was the last major piece of a group of starters from the transfer portal — and a handful of impact freshmen — who will redefine the USC program.
A defense that was 11th in scoring in the Pac-12 last season (31.8 ppg) picked up starters with S Bryson Shaw (Ohio State), DE Solomon Byrd (Wyoming), MLB Shane Lee (Alabama), LB (Arizona State) and CBs Mekhi Blackmon (Colorado) and Latrell McCutchin (Oklahoma).
More important in the world of “offense wins games,” Riley surrounded Williams with elite tailback Travis Dye (Oregon), another strong tailback in Austin Jones (Stanford), a starting left tackle (Bobby Haskins, Virginia) and a completely revamped receiving corps of Addison, Williams, Terrell Bynum (Washington) and Brenden Rice (Colorado).
Then there’s 5-star safety Domani Jackson and 4-star wideout C.J. Williams — both from famed Mater Dei High in Southern California who were likely headed to Alabama and Notre Dame, respectively — who signed with USC and enrolled early to participate in spring practice. Both will play a significant role this fall.
— July 1, 2022: USC joins the Big Ten, solidifying its future in an ever-changing college football landscape. USC will go from earning $30 million a year from the Pac-12 media rights deal to an estimated $100 million annually from the Big Ten.
The football giant has officially awoken.
When USC is aligned, when its athletic department and university are zeroing in on the same goal, there is no better program in college football. There is no better place to recruit, no better name, image and likeness haven.
Case in point: Caleb Williams. Since signing with USC, Williams has signed 4 major NIL deals, including Beats by Dre, Ac+ion Walter, Fanatics and Hawkins Way Capital, a Beverly Hills real estate private equity fund that manages nearly $2 billion in assets.
So while Texas is the biggest brand in college sports and has the largest budget, and Miami hired a dynamic alum and secured financial support from billionaire booster John Ruiz, and FSU is slowly crawling back to the top of the ACC, USC has rocketed past all 3 in a matter of months.
Riley already proved he could beat the college football elite for recruits, despite the disadvantage of recruiting only 2 weeks for USC before his first early signing day.
He has since beaten Oklahoma with a commitment from 5-star QB Malachi Nelson for the 2023 class and Texas A&M and Ohio State for 5-star WR Zachariah Branch — 2 of the top 5 players in the 247Sports Top 100 rankings. 247Sports predicts USC will lands 4 of the top 25 players for 2023, including TE Duce Robinson and edge Matayo Uiagalelei. Riley also has a commitment from LB Tackett Curtis, a Top 50 player.
This is a private university with an elite academic reputation, a $300 million renovation to the legendary Coliseum and a $110 million deal to hire a coach who won 4 Big 12 titles, advanced to 2 Playoffs and produced 2 Heisman Trophies and a Heisman runnerup in 5 seasons at Oklahoma.
Riley went from competing with Texas and Texas A&M and everyone else from the meatgrinder SEC for state of Texas recruits, to recruiting the most fertile 2-county area (Los Angeles, Orange) in the country with the inherent advantage of a name brand.
He used to bring recruits to his swanky home in Norman, Okla., complete with a putting green in his backyard. Now he brings them to his luxurious $17.2 million compound in Ranchos Palos Verdes, with the limitless horizon of the Pacific Ocean as his backyard.
He’s young, he’s hip, he’s in control of the best program in college football. The question isn’t if USC will make it back.
It’s, could it really happen this fall?
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thats pretty impressive. Have to admit. But usc has always been a great gig with the right coach and a championship contender waiting to happen. I dont know who is on his staff but he needs a great staff to compete for a natty. he can compete for the pac 12 right now. isnt riley a single guy too? can you imagine being a young guy like him, rich, head coach of the premier school in cal and living on the beach in socal. that is what i call livin the dream.
Now all he has to do is actually win a playoff game and we can talk more. Until then…
My thoughts exactly. If getting into the playoffs and not being strong enough to actually win a game satisfies the defund the police, let the criminals i nals go crowd, have at it socal.
But if you can’t cook a good brisket, is it really worth it?
Yeah, that whole living on the beach with the homeless thing is a winner. Especially if you can dodge all the landmines they leave behind.
And pay those California taxes…(chef’s kiss)
A lot of you are clueless about LA. Just spew what you see on the TV. Think I think you guys all live in trailers, rotten meth teeth, and wrangle with rattlesnakes at church on Sunday? Of course now. Every place has bad chit. LA has some of the best neighborhoods in the world. Not many states can claim that.
It’s about football anyway — not your place in life, money, or hometown oddities.
When USC is back up and running I hope they put the fear in everyone like they did with Carroll. Just like Bama Clemson, and Georgia has done.
It will happen and Riley will do it. He sees USC just like Saban saw Bama.
The squad he has put together for the 2022 season could not beat Ohio State. In 2022 SC will take the L at Utah and most likely lose to Notre Dame. At best, I expect SC will finish 9-3 and perhaps play Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl?
SC is not moving to the B1G until 2024 and I doubt it wins a Pac-12/10 title in 2022/23.
100 years of tradition bought out by FOX. Good luck to the woman’s soccer player returning to LA from a mid-week game vs Rutgers.
Academics? USC and UCLA care about 1 thing only, the money. Kind of like the PGA guys headed off to play golf for the Saudis.
ESPN and FOX are going to buy whatever programs they want to buy. Texas, USC and UCLA haven’t down squat on the football field for decades but brands trump winning.
Riley? He split for huge $ but he he also split because he didn’t want to have to compete in the SEC. Now he gets to compete in the 2nd best conference where I don’t see him winning a conference title for years.
To hell with ESPN and FOX. Money has completely corrupted college football. Today, CFB is owned by the media and is pro ball with no rules and no restrictions.
I expect Oklahoma and Texas to do nothing in the SEC and I see only moderate success for SC football in the B1G and no success for UCLA football.
I’d hardly say there back to the Pete Carroll years. Riley can only hope to achieve that level of success. He couldn’t get over the SEC hump at Oklahoma and I don’t see him doing it at USC.
Pete Carroll put great Ds with great front 7s on the field. It’s hard to find those kids in CA today and I’m far from certain that Riley is going to reel this big studs in from Texas, the south and/or the Midwest.
Riley repeatedly won a mediocre conference and got his butt kicked in the playoff. His coaching bona fides are nowhere that of Carroll including having no experience coaching in the NFL.
So they have hired a guy that had success in the Big 12 and that will translate to national championship level performance? The pac 12 is awful, so winning that will be easy. However, beyond that, time will tell, but he didn’t win in Oklahoma , so why at USC?
He’s a media darling. Something for clicks. Smells like a man crush to me.
Well, love is blind. And for some reason the media guys love Riley. I think they will be improved, but not that improved.
Riley left for the top school in a weaker conference and it only took Aranda and decent defense to take over the Big12. We weren’t looking, bc nothing to see here. The Big12 has been a no show in the playoffs, and Pac12 even worse.
His 2022 team is not as good as Utah, Oregon and possibly, UCLA.
Before concluding the Pac-12/10 is awful let’s see how Oregon “at” Georgia, Utah at Florida and MS ST at Arizona play out this season?
The guy they hired dominated a bad, one-team conference and who went 0-4 in the Playoff.
They’re going to try to win games as a team with 20-something mercenary transfers. Their prized WR is already angered because the (illegal) NIL inducement he was told he’d get at USC hasn’t come to fruition.
Yeah Matt “Vile Libel” Hayes, that’s some national power you got there. I would hate it if Dan Lanning whips that a s s. Just hate it.
Hey Matt, have you apologized to Kirby yet for printing absolutely vile libel about him? You should, you know. You should officially retract that vile libel in print and beg his forgiveness.
USC this season because of the Pac-12 CA scheduling agreement misses both Oregon and UW.
But I think that SC will lose at Utah, at UCLA, vs Notre Dame and be upset by one of CAL, Stanford, AZ, ASU.
“FSU is slowly crawling back to the top of the ACC”
Umm, what? Since they last won 10 games in 2016…
2017: 7-6 2018: 5-7 2019: 6-7 2020: 3-6 2021: 5-7
That hardly looks like a crawl to anywhere. More like a circle.
Jimbo drove that train so far off the tracks they may never get back
Yeah. It’s taken us a decade, now on our 4th coach and we’ve had some success but not really. They’re in the same boat.
So a guy who dominated a terrible conference only to get beat down 4 times in the Playoff, moves to an equally sh!++y conference, and suddenly builds a national powerhouse that somehow will be different from his previous teams? Mmmkay bruh
Another hack SDS article by the biggest hack writer on SDS
I’ll be, we agree again…progress
We agree on plenty of things….probably more than we realize. We just have vastly different notions of what true greatness really is.
That along with my utter contempt for the bias that so often accompanies what is recent as opposed to what is established, also tends to lead to more points to argue.
Terrible take. How many powerhouses do you think exist then? They consistently make the CFP and then lost to a top 2 team…. 2016 they lose to a Clemson team that Almost beat Bama in the Championship. 2018 they lose in 2 overtimes to UGA who lost to Bama in OT in the ship. 2019 they lose to Bama. 2020 they get beat by the best team in the history of the CFP era in LSU. lol what the heck makes a team a powerhouse? Winning a single Natty? What an awful take.
The truth? Not many powerhouses exist, especially on a yearly basis. My argument against Playoff expansion has always been the committee’s seemingly impossible task of finding a 4th team or even occasionally a 3rd team that can actually compete for a NC. Look at last year…..there were only 2 teams worthy of a Playoff spot, and they just happened to be the two teams that played for both the SEC and National Championship. The other 2 teams they selected got toyed with in theor repective Playoff games, and one was a G5 team.
Yes, Riley made the Playoff 4 times, and lost to some great teams. But only one of the games was even competitive, and just making the Playoff and getting your head stoved in by Clempson or an SEC team doesn’t prove anything other than your ability to dominate a lousy conference. Until we see something different, USC is just rinse and repeat.
The meaning of powerhouse is simply being consistently strong and OU personifies that as much as almost anybody. During Riley’s Era they maintained being a powerhouse. They were competative in 17 vs UGA, Competitive against Bama in 18. Crushed UF in 2020. So where you get the idea they were getting “stoved” is beyond me. They may have been a tier down but they were competing. Is UGA a powerhouse? They got stoved by Texas in that Sugar bowl? Almost lost to Cincy in 2020. Should have blown out TCU in 16. Who is a powerhouse in your mind? Just Bama? Cause OU is consistently a top 5 program. Getting beat by the very best of the SEC who are among some of the all time greatest teams doesn’t diminish how good OU has been.
I’d argue that a game that started out 28-0 and still ended in a double digit loss was hardly competitive just because Saban started burning clock and they scored a couple of meaningless TDs. The LSU loss was never even close to competitive, and the Clempson loss was only so for the first half and ended in a 20 point loss.
And again…..I staunchly disagree that consistently beating up on a lousy conference makes one a powerhouse.
They should probably actually play some games before we declare them a power, no?
Lol Hayes thinks that a coach who steadily underrachieved and declined at a historic powerhouse will make USC a playoff contender. My guess is that Riley’s new PAC12 foes play drop-8 coverage like the BIG12 learned to do and he doesn’t even make it to a conference championship. Of course, Hayes has never been one to consider win-loss records or playing defense so here we go again lol.
Great call. And Grinch as DC? Not sold on the Grinch playing transfer guys who could not make it at their first school.
USC is not a “power” until it’s winning championships, either conference or national, and has multiple and consecutive top 10 or top 5 finishes.
Annual preseason USC hype up has begun
It’s filler until the “Texas is back” stories get written up
I really don’t get all the people hating on Riley for not being “successful”. The only people in the game who have had more success than him are Saban, Kirby, Dabo, and Fisher.
Also, it is good for the game if somebody west of Texas actually has a legit chance to make the playoffs.
I agree with you on the west of Texas statement. Yes, I’m an SEC homer, but I think it would be good for college football as a whole if the west coast had 3 or 4 teams that were an actual threats to win the national championship each year.
Kelly never won a championship and had easy path to the playoff.
The easiest path to the playoffs!
You’d probably have to include Ryan Day in there as well. At least he has won a Playoff game…against a Trevor Lawrence led Clempson team no less
Hayes obviously has a script for medical marijuana and he refilled it Friday. Riley had has had plenty of talent before and did squat. $17M house is not going to make him better
I couldn’t even finish the article. So much hyperbole for a group that hasn’t even played a game yet.
Me neither. Waste of time.
Alternative headline: “make a lot of money betting against USC making it to the playoff”
How about – ‘Make a Lot of Money By Shafting Teams You Have Partnered With For 100+ Years?’
‘Make a Lot of Money By Having Your Basketball and Olympic Sports Teams Travel Like Professional Teams?’
“While you weren’t looking, USC became a power again” Also, Lincoln Riley at USC: 0-0
USC is poised to battle with Utah for the South, Oregon for the conference, then Ohio State, Bama, Georgia, and Clemson for the national championship. If they even make it out of the Pac12 unscathed they’re in trouble in the playoff. Chances at the playoff are dismal once they move to the Big Ten. So….becoming “a power again” is relative?
Reaching the playoffs is one thing, winning a playoff game is another thing. I think USC will reach the playoffs, and it doesn’t surprise me that Vegas expects it. But I have doubts about Lincoln Riley in big games, based on his history.
SC will not win the Pac-12/10 this season or in 2023.
I notice that Hayes does not mention Oregon beating SC out for 5* OT Jon Conerly. It’s not like the guys coming in to play for Grinch on D were all that at their former school.
I believe that the Trojans’ offense will be elite very quickly. I will believe Riley has an elite defense when I see it. He will have to have success on that side of the ball to have any chance of winning a playoff game.
The potential is there, but..? To be honest, let’s tap the brakes until we see some football. CFP this year is not likely. Maybe in a year or two.
So basically USC has improved the tools they need to succeed, but is no closer to actually using them to succeed. Yawn.
Did I miss a decade? USC is 0-0 under Riley, undefeated but winless. I did NOT bother reading, I have no idea what Hayes justification for that title is and I don’t care. That is just stupid. If USC is national power right now then Miss State and Ole Miss are juggernauts. What does that make Bama?
Maybe on paper or computer games USC looks like a playoff team right now, but let’s get some games under their belts before announcing them as the 2nd coming of Pete Carroll, John McKay, etc…..who are their offensive & defensive coaches, how seasoned are their offensive & defensive lines, are any of their potential top players injury prone, how did their spring game go, etc……these questions & more need to be asked & answered before even considering naming them as a playoff team with the caliber of Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, etc….
Some pretty iffy O St teams have run roughshod over the B10 in recent years. Might be good to have more firepower in the B10.
Matt Hayes this Saturday Down South, if you want to write about USC that would be University South Carolina. Otherwise pack up move to the west coast and write on Pacific football including southern cal. And in the words of Lee Corso concerning southern cal “NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND.”
“He’s in control of the best program in college football.”
USC is going to win a lot of games during its upcoming regular seasons, only to get plastered in CFP playoff and NY6 bowl games because they won’t have elite players across the line of scrimmage.
SC is not going to make the Final 4 in 2022 and 2023. Then, after it moves to the B1G in 2024, SC has to mightily improve to get past Ohio State.
The travel is going to stink for SC. How about back to back road games at Maryland and Penn State?
Yeah, USC is back. Yet again.
I love Beamer being there, I especially enjoyed the 28-0 first quarter in Knoxville and the 38-7 halftime. Made it a lot easier to enjoy my youngest sons first game ever.
I’m sorry but this is nothing more than sophomoric journalism.
By the way, SDS blocks the word “t r a s h”. It’s getting “p a t h e t i c”.
Sophmoric is probably too generous.
I think the guy is probably the biggest hack I’ve ever seen be allowed to write about CFB
This writer is a no talent a s s c l o w n. Every article he writes he puts the down the Dawgs even if the topic has nothing to do with UGA. To suggest that USC is back as a national power is ridiculous. But “jouralist” a clowns have to write something. It’s their job.
I think it’s funny how scared and jealous you all act. Jeez. It’s an opinion of one guy and you SEC folk are just like Paul Dee — jealous and bitter and don’t want to share any spotlight.
Give it time and USC will be dominant again. Not this season. They’ll be very lucky to win 10.
Good call on 2022 – I see 9-3. I also do not see a conference championship before SC slithers off to the B1G and FOX in 2024.
Yeah, everyone is scared of a team that has not been a contender since 2008 yet is going to be back every year. Try doing what most people do, keep your mouth shut until you are actually back, then you can run it. USC’s road to the CFPs just got much tougher. They do not only have to run through a creampuff conference now, they actually have to win a big boy conference. The days of old are over for USC. Not that they will never get to the CFPs, but they will never dominate the BIG10 like they did the PAC.
Scared and jealous of USC? You’re kidding, right? My comment was about the writer who is a Gator grad and puts down the Dawgs in virtually every article he writes regardless of the topic. That’s why I use AdBlock on this site.
I feel confident that USC would lose to 9 or 10 SEC schools, it just doesn’t compare. Look at the average recruiting scores of each SEC team – If you put Mississippi state in the Pac 12 or Big 10 or Big 12, they’re top 2 or 3. The talent gap is widening between SEC and everyone else, it’s truly wild to watch.
But you’re right, I think every sec school is jealous of your cupcake schedule
Over sensitive USC fans “don’t want to share the spotlight”, are you 6 years old? Go snuggle with your LIL Lincoln pronoun doll!
Bud Elliott tested the waters for the first time by incorporating transfers into a modified version of his Blue Chip Ratio list this year. He published a second BCR list that included transfer impact. USC still didn’t break the 50% barrier, and at least 15 teams have a more talented roster going into this season.
Interestingly, what Bud found by including transfers is that, overall, the numbers didn’t change much at all. And, with a couple of exceptions, they usually went DOWN. Makes sense when you remember that most kids transfer from loaded rosters to get playing time somewhere else. He even pointed out that USC in particular didn’t improve much, even with all the high-profile transfers this year. They had quite a few blue chip recruits that transferred OUT over the last 2-3 years, so this influx of new talent kept them pretty much where they were before including transfers – below 50%.
The Trojans may have a better chance of winning 9-10 games this year than they have recently, but they’re still a long way from having a roster that can compete on the national stage. The idea that a QB and a few receivers can suddenly transform a moribund program with widespread talent deficiencies into a national power is just hyperbole. Auburn has more overall talent than USC for 2022. It’ll take Riley another year or two to build a 70% BCR squad.
Agreed. I’ll be happy with 9 wins. We’re not ready for the trenches yet.
This is the worst column I have ever read. Saturday Down South is supposed to be about college football, the sport all of us love. Instead this column totally gushes about buying success with money. If this is what college football has become, then I and millions of fans will tune out. If I want to watch pro football, I’ll watch the NFL – not some minor league pro team in Alabama of LA.
You can chalk this one up to Matt Hayes maybe trying a new drug. SDS still focuses on the game and players, by and large. During Talking Season the column writers like Matt sometimes have to reach deep into the you’re-kidding-me bag for material that will get clicks.
As to your point on the future of semi-pro college football based on NIL, pay-for-play, etc., you’re preaching to the choir. Many, if not most, of us here dread where the sport we love is headed.
Losing season in 2021 and they are suddenly a “power”? LMAO!
“……USC has rocketed past all three in a matter of months.” Really, Matt? Really? At best USC has kept pace with Texas. Sloppy analysis indicating opinion bias. Be better.
Couldn’t this article be written in 2016 in relation to Texas?
“Tom Herman is bringing Texas back”. Isn’t that what this article basically is?
Get back with me after they go to Stanford in week two and lose.
I’ll be content if they win 8 games. That’s how bad the program had fallen. Anything more is just desert.
I prefer USC staying under the radar. No hype.
One more post: I love how you’re all spitting as much non sense as this article. It shows a lot about you all.
USC will be your boogeyman, like when Carroll ran them. Not this season but soon enough. You guys know it and it shows.
Maybe? But I’m not sure Riley can carry Carroll’s coaching jock and I know that Grinch is not a DC who will win titles.
They’ll be the biggest 4th place in juggernaut in their league when they move to the Big 10.
This is Saturday Down South, not Saturday on the west coast beach. For crying out loud, this is SEC football people.
You mean like when Carroll cheated and vacated wins?
The NCAA found nothing against Pete Carroll.
Reggie Bush was ‘being paid’ by a 3rd party agent not to play at USC. Not to return for his senior season.
Paul Dee, whose Miami house was a raging inferno put out a camp fire at SC with a fire hose. 30 schollies lost?
What did Mississippi get dinged for its pay for play under Hugh Freeze? No where close to what SC received.
SC was another example of a west coast school being penalized far worse than schools in the south. This includes 2 decades of academic fraud at UNC going unpunished.
If you want to ignore SC putting up 55 on Oklahoma in a BCS beat down be my guest.
and choking against Texas in their own city….
Like do editors get paid to push these pre-season hype pieces for the has-been programs? They’re not fooling anyone and it’s frankly insulting to their readers
Let me know when they manage to win 6 games..
I disagree they are currently a power again. Let’s wait until after Riley’s first season. However, as I pointed out to many on his site since NIL and Riley’s hire, USC is a sleeping giant. Can Riley administer the smelling salts and wake the program up? I think he will and is on the path to doing so.
Power again? That’s funny. West coast teams are pathetic.
As noted above let’s see how Oregon does “at” UGA, Utah at Florida and Arizona vs MS ST in 2022?
A+M eked out a win at CU last season. In a recent home and home series CAL beat Ole Miss twice and most recently Stanford defeated Vandy in Nashville.
How many schools win an OOC game in Columbus as Oregon did last season.
Certainly the Pac-12 has not been a player in the Playoff with a 1-2 record but I think it is over the top to call the teams ‘pathetic.’
BTW, the last time SC played Arkansas the Trojans blew the Hogs off the field.
Arkansas laughing at west coast teams. They have one decent season last year. SMH. Son… do you recall when we made your routed RB’s quit the game by half because Cushing and Maulauga hit them so hard? You too young to remember?
What’s Arkansas’s record in the SEC? I know USC has a solid resume against the SEC. I’ll share it with you so I can prove you know nothing outside of your podunk school Arkansas.
USC has a 22-11-1 record against SEC football teams and a winning percentage of .662.
“While You Were Not Looking, USC Became a Power Again.”
I mean, c’mon—let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves here.
To be fair, they MAY be a better team than they have been in the past few years. However, here are some things to consider. Williams is not a good long ball thrower. He hit only one receiver in stride last year deep. The rest had to slow down for the ball. He was terrible at reading defenses. OU’s offensive production declined over the past 3 years of his tenure. Defensive coordinators began figuring him out. Defensively Alex Grinch is no star. He has his defensive line stunt on 3 out of every 4 plays. He’s a poor player motivator. He rotates players far too often so they cannot get into a rhythm. USC better improve their offensive and defensive line play and talent or they’ll be cellar dwellers in the Big 10. Frankly I was glad to see Riley and Grinch leave OU. We never played tough football, especially on defense under his “leadership”, and had he stayed at OU we would have stood no chance upon moving to the SEC.
Does this mean that Lincoln Riley has learned to put a defense on the field? I think I’ll just go ahead and wait for what I see.
Just put this here, for prosperity.
USC has a 22-11-1 record against SEC football teams and a winning percentage of .662.
I’m not sure what the time period was that undergirds your assertion. But, a total of 33 games against SEC opposition? The only reason that Riley is now coaching at Southern Cal is that the campus is just about as far away from the SEC as he could get without drowning in the Pacific Ocean.
Yeah, Yeah, the Wonder Coach will once again go undefeated (as was true in every past year he has coached), and will surely win the football national championship just like he has every year in the past. And, Matt, after the season ends and once again, just like in every past year, the Wonder Coach flames out will you apologize and promise to find something else to pontificate about during the off season?
You could have put up USC vs Alabama record, but that would have gotten ugly quickly.
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