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USC Sunday Buzz: What Defines Success For Lincoln Riley Era?

The expectations for USC are totally different under Lincoln Riley.

So what defines success?

A Pac-12 title? A Rose Bowl victory? A College Football Playoff Appearance?

Is it all enough if USC doesn’t win a national title in the next 5 years?

Under Pete Carroll, some people got bored with Rose Bowls. At one point, even Carroll worried the players would tire of going to Pasadena on New Year’s Day.

A College Football Playoff appearance would thrill everyone. Ultimately, if USC does not win a national title, I suspect the feeling among most fans would be Mission Unaccomplished.

87 thoughts on “USC Sunday Buzz: What Defines Success For Lincoln Riley Era?”

  1. I recall a star player during Carroll’s 4 straight years of Rose Bowl appearances but no national titles as saying, “What– the Rose Bowl again?”– Now, I think that thinking has changed.

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    1. Unfortunately, Helton got bored with the Rose Bowl after his one & only appearance…
      #”I’mGonnaDoEverythingICanNeverToReturn!”
      #MissionAccomplished

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      1. No worries. Helton’s Rose Bowl appearance will be remembered for what he did accomplish in only one game. His defense’s PPG.

        #Helton’sLifetimeRoseBowlDefenseScoringAvg:49PPG

        #ARecordNoUSCCoachWillLikelyEverMatchOrSurpass

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      2. You think Ton-o-Hell reads all this stuff about him since he got kicked out of Dodge?– Even if he doesn’t directly see it you just know some Georgia fans read it, and what can they make of it all?

        Anyway, one thing we can say about the Man of Clay is that he has got the skin of a Rhino when it comes to criticism, but of course counting his SC money will cure a lot of his ills.

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      3. Does Helton know what we write about him? Are you kidding me, John? His wife is a major contributor!
        #GoodOldMrsHelton

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      5. 67 –After the dismal 2018 season Helton fully expected to get fired and commented “I’ll leave as soon as they ask and I’ll coach until then.” [But] he got a surprise extension instead….
        #SomethingSmells

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      8. Agreed! Helton is playing with fire. Do you think it’s possible that he and his nameless, faceless, brainless Georgia Southern A. D. will wind up like the victims in “GoodFellas”…..or Casino…?
        #…OrSilenceOfTheLambs?

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      10. Helton to Mr.s Helton: “Honey! I can’t believe it! I’m gonna be a made-man! The Guys are coming over now to drive to the ceremony!”

        Liked by 1 person

      12. Helton’s last words as he surveys the empty celebration room: “Oh, No….”
        #Adios,CoachHelton
        #[ItMightBeKinderToLetHimKnowWhat’sComing…
        #…SoHeCanLeaveHisRingsAndGoldWatchInADrawerAtHome…
        #…LikePacinoInDonnyBrisco]

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  2. In 3 to 5 years USC should be consistently playing in the national championship and winning national titles. Pete did it. No reason Reilly cannot. Further, the days when Alabama and the SEC dominated college football will soon be over. NIL will allow USC to indirectly pay players, something the SEC has been doing for years. Local branding will be more valuable in Los Angeles than Tuscaloosa.

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    1. And Saban is leaving after 2022….
      #AlabamaIsAlreadyLookingElsewhere..
      #[GeorgiaSouthernPerhaps–TheirCoachIsFamiliarW/Alabama]

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      2. That is a little like a coach of a college team that lost 10 games last year saying, “Well, we have everyone coming back from last year, but I don’t that experience is going to help us much”

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  3. First things first- Win the Pac 12 Conference and go to the Rose Bowl in year 1.
    The momentum for the program will then change with more national recruits coming to USC including offensive and defensive linemen. Winning means everything right away, and the quicker we do that a National Championship will come. It might take 2-3 years to get to the National Championship though.

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    1. Agree that it will probably take a few years for USC to assemble a great offensive and defensive line. But even in this respect, USC can become dominate relatively quickly given the transfer portal. The gamechanger is the NIL opportunities in Los Angeles. I don’t know how much Caleb Williams will receive for his endorsement of head phones by Beats/Dr. Dre but whatever the amount he does not receive that in Oklahoma. It will not take long for recruits and transfers to understand the significance of NIL money and flock to Los Angeles. UCLA has an opportunity too but there is too little enthusiasm to meet it.

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      1. Only school I’ve seen so far that may match or exceed USC in NIL is Texas (not counting Miami Drug Money). One of the Longhorns’ running backs just got his sixth NIL deal, and is now driving a Lamborghini

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      2. Every time I hear about a deserving college running back driving a Lamborghini it brings a tear of happiness to my eye…
        #TheSufferingIsOver..
        #OnlyGoodThingsWillComeOfThis..

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      4. Ha! That rb will end up suing the university for 300 million when he develops “calf muscle inflammation”….

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Along that same line of thinking, tommyd, is how Texas A&M had the all time recruiting class for 2022 and yet are not considered a Top-10 team yet because those 5-star high schoolers still have to acclimate to the college game.

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  4. Benchmark 1: Success to me is getting the Program to the point where no matter who the Opponent is, that there is no expectation before the game that it will likely be a loss.
    Benchmark 2: Own the Pac12 and consistently be one of the Top 3 teams in the Country.

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  5. What defines success? When the football program can win one game they were supposed to lose. Notre Dame, Oregon in Pac 12 run off, Utah in away game, and not losing UCLA game.

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  6. Delusional people expect USC to win a National championship before 5 years, but it’s not going to happen. Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State’s football programs are years ahead of USC’s. It took at least four years of solid 4&5 star recruiting for Kirby Smart to get the Bull Dogs rolling. But you can win a weak PAC 12 conference championship with transfer portal players, but not a national championship. So until Lincoln Riley gets the big boys to control the line of scrimmage, then feel free to keep on dreaming 😴

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      1. Dear My Friend Owns,
        Fess up —are you “Urban Meyers”?
        #TheWordsDelusional&DreamingSound”Owns-esque”

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      2. Owns, I made a pledge not to get personal with you again after your last negative reaction to what was a pedestrian-kidding, but I don’t know how long I can hold out and keep that promise.

        “Just the facts, ma’am” –SC is the only true football power in the West, and it sits in the hotbed of one of the greatest high school football talent regions of the country. Now that SC is back with a real coach, where are all these Southern California kids going to play football if they want NIL contracts and a real chance to play in the NFL?

        Sorry to inform you, but you already know that anyway. You just love being antagonistic.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Maybe and maybe not. For years Stanford would win games they were not supposed to because they had excellent quarterback-play. The key is getting to the “Final-4” by winning the Pac-12

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    3. Urbie, was it really all that hard to coach in the NFL? If you get another chance to coach in the Show, try not to kick the kicker. He might kick back.

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  7. Success is defined by achieving the highest level that you are capable of. With respect to USC, the sky is the limit. Great local football talent, academically prestigious school, great football tradition, involved and powerful alumni, and unsurpassed NIL opportunities. USC should be a top 5 school every year. The only school that may have as high a level of capability is the University of Texas. Reilly understands this and that is why he left Oklahoma.

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  8. I expect USC to play football and not tag in a tackle game. I don’t expect opposing coaches to take either pity or advantage of an overmatched coach. I expect trick plays to work and to be as well timed as they are rehearsed. I expect to see grown men and not oversized high school kids on the sidelines. I expect momentum changing plays on defense to be celebrated and not routine tackling. Once some of these expectations are met, conference and other titles will follow.

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      1. I agree. I remember when SUCLA fans thought the hiring of Potato Chip was going to translate into instant National Champsionhips.

        How wrong they were! It was 3 more losing seasons and FINALLY in his fourth attempt, the rare victory over USC.

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      2. All of a sudden the Wannabe uclol 5’7″ 300lb butterball bounced from all chatrooms is shining his magical rhetoric upon anyone who will listen.

        #Don’tYouHaveALotCheckOrSomething
        #PinãtaBob

        Liked by 1 person

  9. The powers that be are starting to take steps to stop this journey of USC football back to the top of the college football world. That is what all this stuff is about when you hear in the news that USC is now the most hated program in college football and LR is the most evil person that ever existed. They did the same thing with Lane Kiffen back in 2011 and 2012 when it looked like USC was back. The name of the game is to destroy USC’s recruiting prowess by making it look like SC is going on probation, thereby discouraging athletes from wanting to go there. If you keep calling USC the most hated program, athletes will not want to go there and be hated. I’m predicting that they will start to slander LR and make him sound like the kind of a coach that no player would ever want to play under. They did the same thing with Lane Kiffen. This is just another example of a media whose power has gone to their head and they think that they can promote those they want promoted and destroy those who they want to destroy. Only in this case it has to do with sports as opposed to politics. I don’t know how they can get LR on a rules violation when, at this early point in the evolution of the transportal, there really are no rules. It’s all just to discredit USC and LR.

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    1. You noticed that too? The same group that benefited the most by the NCAA attack on USC are the ones in the news recently: SEC Commissioner crying to Congress. Paul Finebaum declaring there is a big problem. Ohio State AD Gene Smith, Brian Kelly and former Notre Dame Player Aaron Taylor. Etc Etc… The hypocrisy is both astounding and fully indicative of the country’s leadership today.

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      1. The message to USC from the powers that be is…..”USC….stay in your place and we’ll leave you alone….Try to get back into that top 4 or 5 elite football programs and we will destroy you…We’ll finish what we failed to finish back in 2010″. Probably, the best thing that ever happened to Lane Kiffin was that he got fired from SC. Once he left SC, they layed off of him.

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    2. Coach Riley is WAY more discrete & discriminating than Lane was when Lane took over at USC. Riley’s been educated as to just how far he can push things in our new college recruiting environment [the boundaries are pretty close to infinite] ….and he knows that while people can accuse him of anything they want … they can’t touch him. In the meantime, he’s free to piece together an NFL caliber team….

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      1. Whether they can actually put SC on probabtion, I’m not sure. But they can try and discredit the whole program in all of the recruits eyes just by bad press. Politically, that’s exactly what they did to Donald Trump.

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      2. The powers that be will promote and praise the people who keep USC football mediocre like Clay Helton and they will destroy those who try and take them to the promise land like Lane Kiffin and LR.

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      3. Yeah….except….Players LIKE to play for Bad Boy programs that win….not dickless programs that lose….

        Liked by 2 people

  10. OWNS- What is your projection for the UCLA football program in the next 3 years. Increased fan attendance at the games from 500 to 750?
    Rent money for the Rose is running out. Chip is getting fatter and older, and the price of cheeseburgers is going up!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Your 6 year QB- Darian Thompson Robinson just might finally graduate this year after living on the State of California for 6 years, and still not even close to winning a Pac 12 Title.
    More and more UCLA football players are entering the transfer portal year after year after growing tired of 0 fan support, and the possibility of getting kicked out of their rented stadium, and a move to Drake stadium in the near future to play home football games.
    Lincoln Riley is now taking over Los Angeles. UCLA has not won a Pac 12 Championship in over 20 years. Terry Donahue, who was the one bright spot for the program has unfortunately now left us all so Bruin fans have 0 hope for the future.

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    2. tommyd, I don’t recall predicting Chip would win a NC early in his UCLA career. Bruin FB is now respectable thanks to Chip and UCLA’s FB program is well on its way toward contending for a Pac-12 C/S.

      SUCC on the other hand was 4-8 last year. Remind me tommyd, since no one blocked or tackled last year, who’s blocking going to block and tackle this year? SUCC has 37 receivers but only one ball.

      # 62-33, ding, ding.

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      1. When show cause chip was hired, owns’ word were:

        “Chip is carefully putting together a roster that will compete for a national championship in year 3.”

        But a team probably needs to beat other teams with winning records to compete for a natty, yes?

        Chip is 2-22 against teams over .500 – no bueno. Just no bueno.

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      2. —Owns’ team beat a team coached by Donte Williams ….in 2021 Coach Folt sent out COACH Donte Williams…DONTE WILLIAMS was the coach of the team UCLA beat…. USC was led onto the field by HEAD COACH Donte Williams…
        #HaveIEmphasizedEnoughWhatOurWeakLinkWas…?

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    3. MG
      What you say is true. Miami was a bad boy program that won back in the 90’s. But for some reason or other the media supported(and even glorified) them. The media never came down on them until after their glory days were clearly over. I don’t remember the media ever calling them a bad boy program(except using “bad” in a good way) while they were in their glory days. We started hearing about all the scandals much later. But when the media is calling you a “bad boy” program(using “bad” in a bad way) that’s an extra burden on your program…..a burden which Lane Kiffin never could get over. I can remember when they were calling him the most hated coach in america. They’re at it again only this time calling LR that.

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      1. Parcelman,
        Winning the Pac 12 and the Rose Bowl [which I expect Lincoln to do—even though I hate jinxing him by saying that out loud] will make all the crazy talk meaningless…..
        I’d much rather have Lincoln be a Bad Boy, push the envelope and win….than act like Coach Fluff Tits and lose [one of those was enough to last the rest of the century]….

        Liked by 1 person

  11. What will happen to Oregon/Nike U without Phil Knight. ————????
    Time will tell, but I don’t see a bright future for Oregon either without Phil, and his big pocket book.
    Utah, will slip considerably very soon in football. It is my understanding this will probably be Kyle Whittingham’s last season, and then on to retirement.
    UCLA has never been a favor, and never will be. No one cares except OWNS. The top priority for Bruin fans is the continuation of the government stimulus checks.

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  12. The top priority for bruin undergrads was and always will be the free colonoscopies at the student clinic….
    #”MuffyBird!ThisIsYour3rdColonoscopyThisMonth!”

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    1. Very crude MG, is ’86 giving you free enemas using a bottle of ripple.

      # “It won’t hurt will it ’86?”
      # “Naw MG, I give myself one daily, and I swear it tik, tik, tickles.”

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      1. Cal75 plays no part in any of my un-official colonoscopies…
        [By the way, that first sentence of yours got off to a very moral start …but it didn’t sustain itself]….

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Go pinãta Bob.

        You’re a genuine credit…..

        #ToSomething……….
        #WalmartStartsAt$17/he
        #YouCanBeRich

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    2. Michael, they are asking students whether they want to donate a nickel from every student health visit to pay off the athletics dept debt. So far no takers.

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      1. …I think the UCLA health centers would do better if they weren’t asking co-eds for either a nickel ….or a round of a game they call “cucumber”…

        Liked by 1 person

    3. MG
      I have no problem with Lincoln being a bad boy just as long as it doesn’t hurt our recruiting.

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  13. Year 1: Pac12 Championship
    Year 2: CFP Appearance*
    Year 3: CFB Championships
    *Caleb W leaving after Year 2. So there will me a mad rush to cash in with a Natty in Year 2.

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    1. Smith,

      First things first. Remember the 8 loses?

      One coach two years hence does not equal a natty. Sorry for the bad news.

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  14. What does success look like? Cleaning up the filth and the scum off our campus for starters. Heltons “culture” allowed criminals thugs goons rapists drug dealers to run wild all over our beautiful campus with no repercussions. No discipline. A Helton culture is not a culture at all

    Let’s start by bringing in quality pure bred disciplined strong men with morals and values who will win on and off the field. Keep taking out the trash Riley! Make USC Great Again!

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      1. It really is hilarious those don’t make people cry, the way reminding them how foolish they were for thinking DJ would do well does.

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      3. I’ve known guys who THOUGHT they knew the limits — who wound up being dragged outta the “Princess” bathroom at Disneyland in handcuffs….
        #…NaturallyTheyWereBruins…..

        Liked by 1 person

      7. Yes, it is. But no longer the most powerful. The S&W500 introduced in 2003 now has that distinction.

        Me? I’m a .357 guy. Plenty enough power, with the right ammo, to put down bad guys.

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  16. OWNS- beating a broken USC team with an interim coach last year does not make UCLA a respectable football program. Respect is earned through consistently winning games year after year, pac 12 championships, and major bowl game appearances. UCLA has not done that in 20 years under Neuheisel, Dorrell, Mora, and now Cheeseburger Chip.

    I agree OWNS a strong running game will be needed to win a national championship for USC, but not a requirement to win the weak Pac 12. USC has a plan to add to their National Championship trophy case, and it blows away UCLA’s 5 year plan to stick with the “Chipster”, and what’s worse the majority of UCLA students, and fans are not buying into his plan so they are not attending the games any longer.

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    1. Agree with every bit of it, tommyd…except the “any longer” part —-the support was NEVER EVER there….
      #BruinsHaveAlwaysHatedTheirFootballTeams….
      ….JudgingByTheOnlyTrueMetric:Attendance

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  17. scooter,

    First SC has to fix the defense. They need to be a dominating unit. The dc for SC now has a lot to prove. He could be another Orlando. I hope not. But coaching at Washingto st. doesn’t add my confidence to him. We will see.

    Get to the Rose Bowl this year. Remind Sc what SC’s main objective is, get there and win it. The following year, get in the playoffs.

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    1. Pasadena, he was picked by Meyer to be DC at Ohio State, I think he will deliver. But we need some additional LBs and D-linemen.

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    1. It was just a matter of time for Scottie. I am surprised he lasted this long. A leopard can’t change his spots.

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