FOOTBALL

USC Morning Buzz: Lincoln Riley Highlights Weakness As Strength

Lincoln Riley spent Tuesday at the Super Bowl’s radio row.

Here’s what he said during an interview with Jim Rome.

On what he likes about the team: “We’ve got a very experienced offensive line coming up I really, really like. A couple young DBs and linebackers in the program that are very strong players as well.”

Hmmm. We’ll see on that.

Meanwhile, on the fan interest in Southern California: “It’s been a little overwhelming to see how invested this town is in USC football . . . People know what this place can be.”

On Caleb Williams: “He’s got a really unique skill set. I would say the poise he showed as a freshman was the most impressive thing.”

Here’s the full interview:

  • Andy Enfield’s plan to play a cupcake almost blew up in his face Tuesday night as USC squeaked past Pacific, 74-68, at the Galen Center. Next up: UCLA on Saturday night at 7.

74 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Lincoln Riley Highlights Weakness As Strength”

    1. Never seen an andy infield? You’ve never played a round of infamy ball, Ed?
      #BringABat,OneBoxingGlove&AScrewdriver…
      #I’llMeetYaAtStonerPark,WLA

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      4. … there is no way Ed, 67 and MG escape the attention of the feds if they conspire to meet in a public place over the internet….
        #NoBail,NoTrial,No’GoodTime’Off

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Ed G, the question you should be asking is how you play a “cupcake?” I mean I have baked cupcakes, brought, bought cupcakes and eaten cupcakes, but never played one. Do you suppose they are good at chess? Maybe ping-pong. I might be overthinking it could you play a cupcake on your record player, you know, drop the needle into the grooves of the icing. To eat or not to eat this is the question

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      1. The same question Jack Nicolson asked himself every day for a half century….
        #..BeforeApparentlyComingUpWithTheDefinitiveAnswer

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  2. Lincoln Riley is not Clay Helton, so if he says the offensive line will be decent, I believe him. The Trojans have no place to go but up, because their roster was full of marginal, undeveloped players, that Riley, and staff weeded out.

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  4. Thanks Riley!!

    Thanks Enfield!!

    No Thanks Ferrer!! The masked bandit strikes again – Angelenos must wear mask through April/May!! This Beatlejuice nut job has got to go.

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    1. The dems in L. A. have decided to play this thing out to the bitter end. We should be thankful, YoungDole. It’s becoming more and more obvious they aren’t trying to govern —they’re just a well paid wrecking crew.

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    2. She’s not a medical Doctor. She has a doctorate in hospital management. She is playing cover our ass with her edict.
      If she were a doctor she would question the efficiency of masks in the first place. Kids growing up in the 80s probably remember her for playing skeletor on heman cartoons.

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  5. The O-Line was a Top 10 line per PFF. Take that as you may, but the O-Line was, surprisingly, the least of USC’s problems last year. McGuire did a very good job with them. Plus they get Haskins from UVA.

    The DBs have Bullock, who played very well last year (but who needs to get stronger), Prophet Brown and Jaylin Smith, both of whom flashed. Davis and Simon didn’t see the field last year, but they have the “correct” body types. The jury is still out since Clay never held competitions for playing time. I mean, Jalen Greene and Ajene Harris over Michael Pittman? The mind reels . . .

    Speaking of Gomer, don’t be surprised if he does well at Georgia Southern. His courtly & folksy schtick plays well in Savannah (Miss Angela!), he already has the big sports columnist on his side. But more important, the talent pool is more his speed. Sun Belt players are almost all mid- and low-level three stars across the board. There are no precocious five-star freshmen to handle and find playing time for, and because the talent level is relatively flat, experience is more important development, because most of these low-level three stars can only develop so much. Since Clay didn’t develop, and since Clay preferred experience over raw talent, this is a program right up his alley.

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    1. Good analysis, Independent. But I would like to add one observation. Helton coached USC’s offense after he got rid of Tee …and it totally sucked. He consistently went for it on 4th when he shouldn’t have and he absolutely froze when it came to play calling in the red zone (he was conflicted —did he REALLY want to get in on this particular go around? It seemed like such a big commitment —maybe better to wait for some other time). The problem? Clay has no particular offensive philosophy — like a dumb grammar school coach he wants to run a little (but when?) and pass a little (but when?). Bottom line –Clay is gonna get plain outcoached 3 or 4 times a season. Then what happens? He’s gonna start slinging the bullshit. That only works for a season or so. Fans and players get a belly full pretty quickly. So, once again, his players are gonna quit on him and the local press will get tired of covering for him —and the townspeople are gonna come for him with the torches and the pitchforks —like at the end of Frankenstein.

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      1. MG,
        Did you ever consider moonlighting as a nom de plume sportswriter with your own blog? As long as you keep it anonymous, You’ve adopted scooter’s persona so people will blame him for your ‘entertaining’ articles.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Players quit on Clay mainly because they thought they were coming to an elite program, instead they came to a program run like it was a Sun Belt school. Players at Georgia Southern just want to play football, and some of them have the additional motivation of proving themselves so they can transfer to a Power 5 program. Plus his OC, Bryan Ellis, is a good coach. He got the only good year out of Kedon Slovis, and he coached under the smarter Helton, Tyson.

        The trick for Clay is turnover. If they do well, Ellis goes to a Power 5 program. If one of the young players dominates, they’ll transfer to a Power 5 program. Clay struggled with coaching turnover. I mean, he made Bohn hire Orlando and Orlando’s staff. On his own, where Georgia Southern is actually looking to Clay Helton for guidance, rather than the other way around, he’ll struggle with continuity. And he’ll struggle with the Portal as well, though he might be the beneficiary of some local Georgia kids who aren’t getting enough PT at SEC and ACC schools.

        What’s interesting is that other than Stiner and Ellis, absolutely no USC coaches or players followed Helton to GS.

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      3. Mostly true –but Clay tend to grade on the nerves after the third go around of insincere platitudes. I don’t think it matters much where you’re from or how many stars you have or how much you want to play football —insincerity is insincerity & people sense it & they don’t like it.

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    3. Dart got his knee torn up and a concussion. Slovis got like 8 concussions. I don’t think there was a game where the starting QB didn’t at least prideful come out w/ an injury b/c the line was awful.

      Those stats are kind of pointless in that they don’t really mean anything. Football isn’t like baseball where almost everything can be quantified.

      I watched the games last year. I watched JT blown out a knee, I watched the Slovis get his arm ripped off twice and get hit so often he developed PTSD. I watched the team lose way than it won. There’s no stat you can pull out of ass that will make me believe the USC line play has been anything other than canned-ass.

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  6. Clay Who, you say?

    That was a good analysis ‘By George,’ but the fired SC coach is so far in my rear view mirror that the day will come when I will believe he did not really exist.

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    1. John, even as we speak, beings from another planet have swooped him up. It is on page 3, 830 of the last Biden stimulus package. Thankfully, one USC Dem alum got his way and buried it deep down. Clay never knew what hit him.

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  7. Maybe the SC basketball team had a hangover from the effort they put out against Arizona, and the Trojans might have been looking ahead to Saturday night with the UGLIES.

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  8. Lincoln Riley is more like a Ferrari in handling interviews. I bet he is a guy that does not get too high or too low with wins and losses.

    And I would further bet the speeches he delivers to his flock are relatively mellow and might go something like this: “You guys are well prepared to play a good game today, and this is a conference game that can get us into the championship round, so go out there and make every play count”

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      4. Lincoln versus the village idiot. One diff is that Toa would have learned how to long snap. If he didn’t we never would have seen him. The other is that we aren’t going to see Lincoln neck hugging the guy every day and saying he loves him.

        smdh

        Liked by 1 person

      5. 67,
        Odd thing is we’ve never seen any coach other than Helton neck hug kids and whisper he loved them (other than some guy who coached at Penn State for a while that is)…
        #WhyDidn’tBohnNoticeThisWasUnusual?

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      1. Kid knows where he is going in life. We now effectively have pro football at the college level, but that is the world now, and I am glad he is at USC along with all these other high ranked kids who I expect Riley to really develop.

        Liked by 1 person

  11. I sometimes tease Charles, but he sure does come through with some interesting stats and videos:

    And that Caleb did very very well in that interview. And I laughed out loud when the host suggested that the past great defenseman Michael Strahan could still probably bring down Caleb on the field, to which Michael replied: “I got nothing left in the tank. He’s faster than me sitting down”

    Aaah, let the good times roll!

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    1. Yeah –Come to think of it Charles is the new Pudly [in terms of substantive post references]…
      #..ButWithoutTheLarge”Hate”FollowingWhichDrovePudlyAway…

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      1. Yes, the vibe here is quite good. We can needle each other’s ideas with soft strokes so there are no hard feelings.

        But I still steer clear of politics and religion because everybody gets too darn serious about it, so although there is plenty of humor to mine, it is too tricky for novice comics.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Because of his smarts and his mobility he’s got a better chance than anybody we’ve had since Sam to get through the year…
        #HeTookSomeHitsLastSeasonThatWereBiggerThanMostPac12Hits..

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      3. So correct! How can we ever forget or forgive your claims about Biden suffering brainpan problems?
        #He’sObviously100%

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      1. Fred, there are another 300 plus women still suing. Don’t worry, your tax bill will continue to rise if you live in CA.

        FYI, it is “have”, not “of”.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I have a hunch ‘fast fred’ is not a Trojan.

        Besides, Smiley Riley will make up the difference with a few years of
        Old-Style SC football

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    3. Where was the accountability? This went on for almost 40 years. Awful for all those women, and now taxpayers will foot the bill. Hey, let’s deduct from the paycheck of Chip. Unfortunately, that will cover only 1/4 of 1 percent. But it is a start.

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  14. Caleb Williams is very poised for such a young man. I just watched him on GMA, and he has Heisman Trophy written all over him. If we can build a strong defense, and get some decent blocking on the OL he will drive us forward towards a national title.

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    1. Well, I’m doing my best to keep things absurd ….but I can’t speak for everybody in the room…[I wish I could say the same for Smackyed]….

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  16. OWNS will appear after the USC-UCLA Basketball game. Since I am not optimistic about the outcome the way the team has played as of late we will see more of OWNS next week than every before.

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    1. Owns’ sense of honor will bring him back regardless of the result — which I’m a little more optimistic about than you, tommyd—-
      #[IHopeWeFuckThemOnTheOfficiating–ThatWouldBeSoCool]

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