FOOTBALL

USC Morning Buzz: It’s Not Just Defense That Needs Help

The fate of Alex Grinch took up so much oxygen that another problem got overshadowed this week: Lincoln Riley has decided he does not need a special teams coach.

Riley said he would elevate inside receivers coach Luke Huard to full-time. That means a potential spot for a special teams coach will not be created.

Is it really more important to have an inside receivers coach? Or more importantly, some teams would go find a qualified special teams coach who could also coach the inside receivers, which is a pretty easy job.

Why does it matter?

Well, apparently Pro Football Focus rated USC’s special teams as the worst in the nation. They must have watched those kick returns in the Pac-12 title game and Cotton Bowl.

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98 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: It’s Not Just Defense That Needs Help”

  1. According to the shar pei, blog dunce slo cal, has submitted an application as
    a volunteer to coach the special teams. Under experience, he lists- Former USC marching band Tuba player. What a find!

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      1. Lincoln Riley’s going to go back to being an average coach instead of good one, after Caleb Williams goes to the NFL. So if he wants to be unique with his coaching assignments, then he’ll eventually get exposed. Because the Big 12, and the PAC 12 ain’t the Big Ten, but of course, the Trojans fanboys think otherwise 😂.

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      3. Says the troll who has the pleasure of sucking on a pair of deflated flap-jack tits, sagging down by the belly button.

        What a fucking rack……call me un-envious!

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      6. Yeah, SURE you were. That is the perfect description of 74 year old titties. You should know. You see them at least 4-5 times a days.

        Be sure to switch off, so you don’t bruise one too badly.

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      7. Wait, your wife(aka the shar pei) sent me a pic of her rack. She wanted to see if I was interested…..Shit, I about lost my lunch when I saw them. So that’s how I know what they look like.

        Go lube the hinges on the outhouse, and quit acting like a childish pervert.

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      8. Man, you really enjoy chatting about your mom’s titties online. Weird, but not unexpected considering you thought dementia was the way to go. LMAO

        Go suck ’em some more, Saggy Titty Boy!

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      9. Take your own advice- “Go suck ’em some more, Saggy Titty Boy!”

        The shar pei is in the outhouse all ready for you. The “beav” has tuned into dry jerky, but the rack is stall palatable, according slo cal

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      10. Hey, YOU’RE the one who posts childish shit with absolutely no good reason. Not one person had even posted yet.

        You do this knowing I’m going to call out your childishness and likely stating that you’re probably still being breast fed! So…you obviously WANT to read about sucking your mommy’s titties in black & white.

        That is sick, perverted stuff. Hilarious you don’t get that. But as always, not surprising. You’re very slow on the uptake.

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      11. you dipshit……I have been slapping you around like a pinata and your approach is the “two wrongs make it right” angle.

        You sound like the old senile relic parading around with his walker crying”I know you are but what am I?

        You told PT you were the bigger man and promised to take the “high-road…..My bad, your brain lost that thought…..hey!……no shame in an early sign of dementia

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      12. I said I would take the high road IF I GOT THE SAME, YOU IDIOT.

        You haven’t slapped anything around but your mommy’s droopy tits.

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      13. You’re the only one in the blog that continues to voice political rhetoric on a daily bases. You have politely been asked by members of this blog to take your comments to another blog that might appreciate and respect them.

        Instead, you prefer to voice dick-ism and challenge their requests. I think you would get some lead way if you actually posted comments related to the topics at hand.

        For example, on the day of the Cotton Bowl and the day following it, there were over 300 posts related to the game from numerous members. Your contributions were numerous political-related grievances, not a single one related to the game. So I must ask, did you even watch the game.

        Quit living in denial. You’re a troll who brings zero content!

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  2. You don’t need a Special Teams Coach to tell you “keep Mario Williams off the field on kickoffs”.
    #IfMarioReturnsKicksNextYear…
    #…..ItWillBeLike….
    #…CoachRileyHangingASignOnHisChest…
    #…ThatReads…
    #….”IWantToDie”

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    1. It might be smart of Riley to learn that you can fair catch a kickoff now and pass that info on to his kick return men, just saying.

      MG, ever get to deal with Lawrence Bittaker ?

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    2. SC has not done any kickoffs well. They should just take them on the 25.They do not return punts well either. Pretty stupid on Riley’s part.He has some extremely fast ,shifty people and is wasting their talent. It has cost him a few times incl the Cotton Bowl.

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    3. Mario “glass hands” Williams shouldn’t even be on the field period. Are receiver group will be much better next year. If he doesn’t play, I may have said this several months ago, but the receiver they should have gotten from Oklahoma is Marvin Mims.

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    4. Did we ever hear the “why” for Mario to replace Raleek? I know Raleek has a tendency to run east/west instead of north/south.

      Perhaps I answered my own question

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      1. Answer to Gabby’s question: Riley asked himself, “how can I go from the frying pan into the fire?” The name Mario Williams instantly came up.

        Liked by 4 people

  3. I think there is no excuse next year for LC if the defense is horrendous. He really should bring in a defensive consultant like Texas did to help with schemes. The he can keep his buddy employed and really improve.

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    1. This is just a rerun of PC letting the kids run the offense after they ran Chow away and Helton hiring and keeping all of his dad’s buddies, Riley CANNOT just have his buddies around, it doesn’t work.

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    1. Sorry, I don’t get the thinking on Riley’s part, special teams can win you games with KO & punt returns and blocked punts, it’s just stupid not to have one, but Riley is all about the O so………….

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    2. Charles —Not having a Special Teams Coach didn’t “contribute” to the Cotton Bowl loss. It was the proximate cause of that loss. A ST coach would have instructed Mario to fair catch and give USC’s offense a chance to score or run out the clock. There was only ONE way to lose the game at that point: Give up 9 points real fast. The only way to arrive at that number was safety plus TD.

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      1. actually the special teams coach would not have put him in to field the kickoff ,he would have designated well coached kickoff/put return athletes…putting him there was a deer in the headlights moment…he did not know what to do,and he muffed what he decided to do,which was the wrong thing to do and the safety never would have happened to begin with’cause they would not be on the 1 yard line,but on the 25 or 35 as it was maybe going to go out of bounds anyway…so there…

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      2. He did try and fair catch, he just dropped it. While I agree a dedicated ST coach is more important than inside receivers coach, that was just a physical mistake not one a coach could fix. Although a coach might have said “let that thing go out of bounds or in the end zone”.

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      3. Goose —Sorry. Mario didn’t have to fucking TOUCH that ball. Before the Cotton Bowl our guys shoulda been told by someone “don’t touch balls landing at the one—they’re headed for the endzone and coming back to the 25 —which is better than you guys have been doing.”
        #Btw,MarioWasTheLASTPersonYouWantOutThereAtThatPoint

        Liked by 2 people

  7. Every high school player gets exposed to special teams, it’s not rocket science. Only USC haters make a big deal out of having the label “special” team’s coach. One guy kicks ten guys chase, big deal. If USC took care of defense, they would never need an onside kick. If the offense gets a first down, no punt, and field goals are a thing of the past. Fourth and one? Running back in the kicker position goes for it. Kick off returns let the ball go out of bounds or take a touchback. Remember returning a kickoff for a touchdown means bringing the defense back out. (is that even a good thing?)
    Special teams coach? Pffft I laugh at your special teams coach.

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      1. I condensed things Riley has said about a special teams coach. Remember this is a guy saying that having a coach dedicated to one aspect of the game is redundant. But now he has an inside and outside receiver coach??
        I love what he’s done with the team this year, but doubling down on the lack of need for a special team coach? I don’t know who directs the kickers? Who teaches those reading the field kickoff returns? When was the last time we saw a punter run for the first down? Riley is cutting off his middle toe and coaching the others to compensate

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  8. What is there to coach on ST. Sit around and watch the kickers. Set up return right, left and center. Create a couple of fake kick plays. Select the players on each special team. Go back and watch the kickers. Biggest problem USC has is they keep using guys that are not kick returners. They like to go east/west and slow down to juke. Not how it’s done. High speeds cuts after you get past the initial tacklers, emphasis on high speed. Blockers do not need to knock people down, just get in their way.

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    1. All good points, steveg. And we all understand them. So wtf didn’t somebody sit Raleek down & give him “The Talk”? He’d take the kick inside the 10 and get to the 19 or 20 juking up a storm…. time after time after time.
      [Of course that’s WAY better than what Mario did — try to keep the ball from going outta bounds on the ONE yard line]……

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      1. USC has to have someone coordinating who is on special teams. You have to consider that the kick returners have been told when to field and when not to, at the very least. No coach could have had the presence to tell Williams to not field at the one in the corner. That was Mario Williams brain dead mistake.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Good thing Robinson didn’t follow this stupid advice in 1981 or George Achica wouldn’t have blocked the final FG against ucla to seal the win. For your information, Goux watched film of ucla’s kicking team and noticed that they left a hole in the line on their blocking assignments, thus, Achica got into the backfield basically untouched. Yeah, fuck special teams.

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    3. Perhaps this all comes down to expanding the special team’s session at practice and directing more focus on it. I will say one thing about ST, we need a better kicker. A range under 50 yards is not cutting it

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    4. You’re a complete idiot. Typical Rah-Rah fanboy. See Budda’s post below, regarding the 1981 UCLA game. That’s exactly why you need a special teams coach. How do you think Virginia Tech won so many close games in the 1990s and 2000s? They usually had a special teams edge that made the difference in close games.

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      3. Well, you’d be right if I actually thought I was ever going to get through, Steve/CalSeventyFive. But I don’t. He’s a lot cause.

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      4. You have one of the most respected blog members calling out your behavior and you respond with pure dick-ism…… We are laughing at you!….are you too stupid to see the irony here?

        You’re a troll and blog dunce, quit deflecting!

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      7. LMAO! The dumbass has had SEVERAL members of the blog call him out for his stupidity and what does he say? “I don’t care what anyone thinks!”

        Yet he is stupid enough to claim I should care what one other said. The Village Idiot strikes again!

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      8. Slo cal, ONCE AGAIN!…… you failed to comprehend the context of my reply regarding “I don’t care what they think”…I was stating the fact I don’t care what people think when I am conversing with an IDIOT LIKE YOU.

        I

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  10. Go ask Kirby Smart. Or Nick Saban after he lost to Auburn about special teams. If Riley isn’t more serious about special teams then he isn’t serious about winning a national championship. I get why he didn’t win MORE at Oklahoma and why they now realize that they dodged a bullet. This guy thinks he knows how to win it all.

    It’s obvious he is ignorant about winning a national championship.

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    1. I’ll be happy with a Pac 12 Championship —which is within reach next year…..
      #TheGrinchRetentionPrecludesMoreThanThat

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      1. C’mon Mike! Alex Grinch? Special Teams always a weak link? Quarterback tells the coach who plays and when? You think Riley is demanding when he lets others getting away with doing less than what’s needed?

        Liked by 1 person

      2. World [This & Beyond]– I’m betting [literally] we’ll breeze through the Pac 12 [with ONE loss —probably Oregon —not Utah or Washington]. And then… we’ll have a short stay in the playoffs.
        #…btw,We’llAvengeTheOregonLossInPac12ChampionshipGame

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    2. I talked with a Oklahoma fan about a month after Riley left, asked him if he was sad to see Riley go, his answer was ” NO, his teams don’t play defense and he has no interest in defense. “

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      1. No one on this blog gives a fuck what a disgruntled Oklahoma fan thinks….you sound like wolf…..just saying

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      3. Exactly!…..If he was still at OK. and went 11-3 they would sing his praise. Their 6-7 record was the product of Riley’s departure. Yet they claim to be better without them.

        People will say anything to self-medicate when they are angry!

        Liked by 2 people

      4. I just realized —ALL of Gabby’s posts are fiery.
        He’s gonna hate hearing this….but…. he shoulda been a Trump speechwriter.
        #Gabby:”I’dRatherDieFirst”

        Liked by 1 person

      6. Coming from the blog pervert who takes great pleasure in talking about a 74-year-old woman lactating into my mouth.

        slo cal: “He’s got serious issues.”……. the cat told me the kettle was black.

        KNOCK KNOCK!!!….we are talking about USC football, run along since you have nothing to contribute

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      8. You’re a joke and are treated appropriately…..wake up….knock knock!

        None of us want to hear the constant whining and crying about your Biden man crush…….focus on the topic of the thread……I know it’s difficult, but try!

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      9. Hey, Village Idiot. Look above. You posted first on this thread and I hadn’t said ANYTHING about the dementia you were stupid enough to vote for. So quit making excuses.

        Damn, you’re stupider than everone on this blog even realized. LMAO

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      11. And by the way, don’t be even more of a fucking idiot than you’ve already been.

        “None of us?!” You don’t speak for eveyone, you moron. Just look at yesterday’s thread. Quite a few people discussed Dementia Man’s latest improprieties!

        Damn, every time we think you can’t possibly get any stupider, you prove us all wrong.

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      12. Gabby, I have a theory that someone planted the classified papers so he would have enough heat on him to not run again, which is what the dems want anyway.

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      13. Steve, I respected Biden’s courage in running for prez in a tough political environment. But if this doesn’t him in, so be it. My vote in 2020 was based more on anyone but trump.

        Well, 2024 is looking like any Dem but Biden…..I hope the old guy can rides off into the sunset and enjoys the rest of his life in Delaware

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  11. It would be good to hear from Riley on what his philosophy is regarding the obvious special team missions and how to prepare such teams to successfully carry out those missions.

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    1. I just wanna make sure I read that right, Rushmore —Did you say Riley’s philosophy on the mission of his Special Teams?
      #”No Mas”

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  12. It is frustrating for USC fans to see Riley, who is brilliant in certain aspects of coaching, fall down so dramatically in being a head coach.

    Riley asks the players to sacrifice for the good of the team, but doesnt require the same of the coaching staff.

    I still think he will put together a really great team next year and will be in contention for the CFP. It all comes down to whether they can win the Notre Dame game early in the season. But he isnt building a sustainable dominant program yet.

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    1. You would pick THAT game….
      #NotreDame&OregonAwayGamesMightBeTheOnly2WeLose…
      #ButThatGetsUsIntoPac12Championship…..WhichWeWin
      #…[AndIntoThePlayoffs….WhichWeLose]

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    2. The stalking is really creepy…… please, go find a hobby and let the adults talk about football. none of us want to read about a 74 year old women lactating….run along, little manHow about Bingo at the Silver Fox lounge. Hey, heard there is some good eye-candy there.

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    1. He was CIF state champion as a junior in the 100 and 200 with a wind-aided 10.30 and a wind-aided 20.56, respectively. Ran wind-legal PRs of 10.14 and 20.40, which both sit atop the Spring 2022 national rankings on MileSplit.

      Arguably the fastest player in the class of ’23!

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    2. Not just fast either —great athlete with great hands —stays with fastest receivers, steals the ball and hurdles players getting to the endzone…
      #….HopeWeGetHim

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    1. No, no!!!!….. Don’t say that. My favorite Helton-recruit receiver since the 2021 season. A big tough possession-receiver, who made the tough contested catches….who else do we have that looks like that size-wise?

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  16. Maybe LR is seeing what a lot of people have stated…..that the rules of college football now favor the offense so he wants to first build the offense in every aspect(including the O-Line) to a position of excellence and that may take him 2 years to do. He wants to do that first. Once he’s got that taken care of, it will yearly grow off of itself because great offensive players will always want to play for Lincoln Riley.
    Maybe, once he’s got that taken care of then he will concentrate on the defense.
    Today he’s giving Grinch the players that he needs to succeed. If next year is not greatly improved, Grinch will be gone and LR will concentrate on the defense. I think SC is almost on the level of any team in the country right now offensively. They just need a little more work on their O-Line. I do think that LR wants to bring the defense up to the SEC level.
    Do I know that for a fact? No but I can’t believe that LR really thinks that you can beat Georgia without a defense. He said it in one of the interviews when he was on the field at the championship game and he said that the Georgia players compared to the TCU players looked like men against the boys size-wise.

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    1. Riley’s Philosophy:
      No matter how bad your defense is if you have the best offense in college football & score EVERY time you get the ball you’ll win.
      #Big”If”…
      #…ButHe’sRight…

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      1. I don’t know….it’s just a thought on my part. I could be wrong. But I would say that if he really thinks that you can win with just an offense, he’s got a big shock coming in the next few years. Maybe that’s what he needs. Something to show him reality. Maybe the Tulane game was a piece in that jigsaw puzzle where he starts to get the big picture.

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  17. Thing is, now the dems are accusing the repubs of planting the classified papers, which now confirms the dems did it. It’s all good, nothing has changed.

    Liked by 1 person

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