FOOTBALL

Morning Buzz: What Do I Like Most About USC?

What do I like most about the first two USC games?

It’s nothing really about the offensive scheme or the athleticism of Caleb Williams, which were already a given if you watched Oklahoma last season.

I just like the consistent competency. USC might make mistakes or do things that go against its game plan but Lincoln Riley’s instilled a miminum level of competence that was missing for a decade.

USC has a common goal and direction now. Mistakes get identified and corrected.

Even if USC eventually loses a game, it’s doubtful there will be the same confounding moments that haunted the fans during the Clay Helton Era.

Riley knows what he is doing. And a large part of it will get done. Some might not. But it won’t be because of incompetence. Or a lack of leadership.

71 thoughts on “Morning Buzz: What Do I Like Most About USC?”

    2. WINNERS AND LOSERS OF THE WEEK. WINNER
      TROJAN1967 A WINNER EACH AND EVERY WEEK
      MICHAELS WIFE. GETS TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH MICHAEL

      LOSER
      MICHAELS WIFE. GETS TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH MICHAEL

      HAH
      JUST KIDDING YOU MG BECAUSE THE BOARD WAS MUCH MUCH BETTER WHEN YOU LIKED AND GAVE A WITTY RESPONSE TO EACH AND EVERY COMMENT !!

      PLEASE COME ALL THE WAY BACK MG
      WE WILL TAKE UP A COLLECTION FOR WIFEY
      OR MAYBE SHE CAN POST HERE TOO AND GET MORE INVOLVED WITH TROJAN FOOTBALL
      ITS WINNING TIME AGAIN !!

      Liked by 1 person

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    3. My feelings exactly, RR

      I am reading all this flowery stuff about SC, and I am thinking, ‘Did Wolf really write this’?

      If he did, then I am so pleased that Scott finally found something in his life that he liked
      I

      Liked by 1 person

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    5. USC will lose to Oregon St., Utah and UCLA.

      There’s a good chance they will lose to Fresno St. as well.

      And those losses will all be on the defense.

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      1. What Scott Wolf describes here is the basis of the new team culture within the football program. Competency hand-in-hand with accountability.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. I know all worldly matters are supposed to be inconsequential once we leave this earth, but I sure hope we can follow the Trojans when we’re gone.

      Speaking of which, Generalissimo Francisco Franco and the Queen are still dead. 😦

      Liked by 2 people

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      1. Here’s a great example of that, LJ.

        I’ve pointed out to several Ruins over the years that I had helped pay for most of their education. On at least a handful of occasions, they actually had the nerve to claim they had paid for their own education. The concept of public school subsidies eluded them.

        I promptly informed them of the concept and that they had merely paid the residual. It was mind boggling that this had to be explained, when they were graduates of what is supposed to be an exemplary institution of higher learning.

        Liked by 2 people

    3. hi john,im naht fumillyur wit the wird imcompetence,wut do that wun meen. i wish i not such a dum fuck, i need 2 enrol at 1st grade class so I learn not 2 be a dum fuck boy ..smdh
      if I put teachers nutts in mi mouth maybe I get good grades

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      1. You really are unintelligent. I’m guessing that Ed’s “imcompetence” comment was because Wolf misspelled the word. If so, that is actually fairly astute and witty. And the only response you can make is more lame, crass remarks.

        Liked by 2 people

  5. Hellton was an embarrassment to the U. Bonehead should have blocked all calls/messages from the fat F___. Having beaten Nebraska (which shows how bad their coach was), people get fooled into believing how gracious he is in congratulating SC. While doing so he can at the same time get some publicity that he also won so he is not bad off either. See if he would have done so if he had lost big time. He would not want attention on himself then. If he cared about SC so much he should have resigned instead of undeservedly receiving all that pay, ruining the school’s reputation, pipeline to local schools and all those players futures etc. The fat F___ did not do one thing good for the school. Look at the difference when someone competent is the captain of the ship.

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    1. SAD BUT TRUE
      EXCEPT FOR THE PORTAL IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN YEARS TO REPAIR THE DAMAGE
      NOW IF WE HAVE A GREAT YEAR WE SHOULD GET MORE QUALITY TRANSFERS AND MORE TOP RECRUITS ADDED TO THE FEW WE ALREADY HAVE.

      Liked by 2 people

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      1. PTL for the portal. USC cashed in big time there.
        NYT article on USC and the portal:

        Sports is about all I can read at the NYT now. I used to read the food section, but now they are going crazy about plant-based protein, and bordering on eating bugs. No bueno for ’67.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Upon further reflection, it is interesting that Scott Wolf came up with a rare positive piece about SC on the heels of yesterday’s surprising avalanche of varied poster complaints about the man’s ghost-sources and writing style

    But never fear, when Wolf reforms it is never for more than 24-hours.

    Liked by 2 people

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  8. Nice to see a photo of Mario Williams (#4) scoring. That number brings back memories of Joe McKnight. It would be good if USC could do something to honor Joe.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. So true. He almost singlehandedly brought us back against Ohio State… and WAY outperformed that other #4, Marshawn Lynch, in the Cal game…
      #ISay”Almost”CuzOfMatt’sGreatFreshmanEffortThatDay

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. You are ‘taking me back’ to that Ohio St evening, partner

        Surrounded by the enemy, 100,000 Buckeyes, standing the entire game
        And now screaming their heads off as with mere minutes to go SC needs a td to win, but is backed up inside their 20, and the crowd smells Trojan blood

        And just when all seemed lost in a 3rd-and-long dire straights situation, Joe took the hand-off and dodged his way to a first down, and from there he and Barkley took over, all the way to the Bucks’
        3-yard line, Game on the line!– Give it to Stafon Johnson as he sweeps the right side for the winner.

        I respond by gleefully doing jumping-jacks from my seat, and then when I had settled down, I gave the team several bows of appreciation for them. And for the memory!

        Liked by 4 people

  10. Scooter,

    The leadership and competency that the SC coaches are showing is amazing. Players are more discplined, better play in terms of players not having as many penalities as last year, better tackling, accountablity with players. Riley is cracking the whip but it looks like he is just being an aw shucks type of guy. Offense looks good and defense will be a project this year. Hopefully they can bring in players on dline and lbers like Lee. If so, then the defense will be lights out.

    Liked by 2 people

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  12. So many years of total incompetence. Not just clay, but Haden and Swann were totally incompetent as ADs, Sark never got vetted, Kiff got tarmac’d, the list goes on. Just awful decision making, year after year.
    #GoodDaysAhead
    #UnderNewManagement
    #ByProfessionals
    #WhatANovelIdea

    Liked by 2 people

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  15. For those who think that O-linemen come to programs emphasizing power running. Not so much.

    This, from Austin Jones’ dad, who was interviewed on why Austin Jones transferred from ‘furd to USC:

    “An opportunity and winning,” his father, Karl Jones, said when asked why his son had transferred. He noted that Stanford, whose identity had been burnished as a bruising running team under coach David Shaw, had been having more trouble recruiting offensive linemen in recent years and reshaped its offense last year. “

    Liked by 2 people

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  16. Such a night and day difference in expectations from Riley vs. Helton on early season mistakes:

    Lincoln Riley on the team’s early season mistakes due to so many new faces:

    “We’re just not going to use that as a crutch,” Riley said. “We know we’ve got to get better. I’m not the guy that’s going to sit here and say, well, it’s just not good enough right now because we haven’t had time. No excuses.”

    From clay helton back in the day:

    “Just you wait to see this team in November! They are going to be special!”

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    1. One is a top notch coach….the other is an okay coach who’s a top notch politician…..
      #There’sADiffrence…
      #…NotThatPat,Lynn,MikeOrCarolWouldRecognizeIt….

      Liked by 1 person

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  17. I do not miss Helton, no not one bit. Everything he did was wrong. It still seems like Christmas morning every day with LR. I haven’t been this giddy since 2008.

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  18. In discussing the yester-year Trojan victory over Ohio St,
    MG said in celebration he drank-down 6 Red-Hooks, whatever the devil they are,
    And tried to hug his tv.

    Darn-it-all, but why is that guy always having more fun than I am?

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. He is living the life in Maui. Tough to beat that. Though once USC goes to the big 10, some of those away games might be on as early as 6 am, island time.

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  19. You say “even if they lose a game”. Count on it…..they will. I still say that this is a rebuilding year. They need more quality athletes, especially on defense. But, having said that, I still think that they will win 10 games. LR has won 10 games every year that he has been a HC. It doesn’t make sense that he would win less this year when he is in a weaker league and has more talent.
    The next two games will be tough games. It isn’t just OSU. It’s FSU also. Remember, OSU was lucky that they beat FSU. FSU had more 1st downs, 7 minutes more Time of Possession, 100 yards more total offense. Both of those games will be tough. Yet I think SC will win both of them.

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      1. I don’t think that they will beat Utah. Technically, they could win every one of those games. But if I liked to bet on college football, I would bet on Utah at Utah. They play OSU at OSU. I still think that they will win that game. I’m not high on that OSU QB.
        Out side of Utah, the only other game that they play on the road is Arizona, which I think they will win. Technically, they play UCLA on the road but that is really a home game.
        OSU, ASU, Utah, UCLA and ND will all be revenge games because they lost to them last year, especially UCLA because of the way SC got beat last year. If they don’t have any injuries, I guess a 12-0 season is not impossible but I’m just not convinced that they have the depth at this time to do that. Also, a lot will depend on how they develope these players.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. It looks to me right now that they could run the table, IF they stay healthy. I have a feeling Height is going to be in and out all season so as we have all said, Foreman really needs to step up. Soloman Byrd may save the day for us at edge if Foreman can’t do it. I think Figueroa, Tuli, Benton, and Taleni are the best we have and they seem to be getting better. Like LR says, they are just missing their assignments at times.

        Liked by 2 people

      3. I do think that Foreman has a lot of talent. But I still don’t see why he is starting ahead of Bird. Bird was a star at Wyoming. He’s a proven commodity. Although Foreman was a big star in high school, he’s never proven anything so far at the college level. Bird should be starting.

        Liked by 2 people

  20. There are rumors that Game Day may go to Oregon St for the USC game. Then it gets televised on Pac12. What a joke. Sure hope someone considers changing it. The Pac12 network could simply say okay we will only do 2 games and not demand 3.

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. Now that I spent the extra $20 to get the fucking Pac 12 Network I hope the game stays on the fucking Pac 12 Network….
      #ItTookMe40MinutesToGetTheFuckingUpgrade…
      #InsultToInjury

      Liked by 1 person

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  22. It’s pretty nice to not see the defense celebrate like they just won the game every time they make a regular play – especially the cornerbacks.

    Like

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