FOOTBALL

USC-Notre Dame Instant Reaction

I have a lot of thoughts.

This game is simply a continuation of what’s been happening for the past month or so, but USC got burned because it finally played a better-than-average team. Not a great team. A team that isn’t average.

The Trojans were overwhelmed at the line of scrimmage. I questioned the strength program before and I do again. What are they doing?

Lincoln Riley is so arrogant that he didn’t make adjustments when Notre Dame rushed 5 players. Too often, four was enough for the Irish.

Riley’s relied on Caleb Williams to just overcome all the problems and tonight Williams was a problem himself, so there was no chance.

This was the worst loss of Riley’s coaching career. And it was completely deserved. The Trojans are not well coached and they don’t have answers whenever Riley faces a team that isn’t bang average.

Is the honeymoon over? If not, you are delusional. Remember, I stressed USC needed a sense of urgency because Williams is likely gone after this season. There is no urgency in this program.

Another thing that bugged me is there was zero sense Riley understood how important this game was to the fans. Especially when the game is in South Bend, where USC hasn’t won since 2011. I mean, this is biggest game of the year for many fans. Riley acts like it’s just another game.

All week, I heard from college coaches that Notre Dame is not well-coached. But USC made them look good. That’s because the Trojans are not well-coached.

USC still plays Washington and Oregon, who are better than Notre Dame.

If you don’t value defense. Or physical play. You can only go so far. Lincoln Riley might realize it . . . one day

90 thoughts on “USC-Notre Dame Instant Reaction”

    1. This is what the Big 12 conference is all about, lots of finesse football and zero defense. USC hired the master mind of that conference, so they deserve what they got . Notre Dame gave the Trojans a big dose of what’s coming next season in the Big Ten. So if Lincoln Riley doesn’t change his football philosophy, Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, and a few others will run the ball down the Trojans throats on a weekly basis.

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  6. Wolf, your assessment of USC’s coaching staff is spot on. Caleb Williams has covered up a lot of weaknesses for USC the past year and a half, and tonight the chickens came home to roost and it was no fluke. USC got their collective asses handed to them on a silver platter and the platter was bent. The warning signs have been there since last year, but when you’re winning you tend not to pay attention to your flaws. The one thing USC had going for them tonight is that Notre Dame’s OC actually kept USC in the game with some absurd play calling. I have to disagree with Wolf on one thing; ND is average at best on offense. That being said, what do you think is going to happen when USC plays Oregon and Washington?
    The one thing that stood out like a sore thumb tonight was the way that USC was physically manhandled on the offensive side of the ball, and there is no reason that should ever happen at a school like USC. But when you don’t train to be physical, you practice physical, you cannot expect to be physical on game day. Expect the same thing you saw tonight against Utah next week. But unless CLR has a come to Jesus meeting and makes some sweeping changes, USC will be an average program for the next four years until they can buy him out and fire him.

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      1. Same bad breath as cowardly gabby. Another sock puppet… How many is that now. You don’t even have enough fingers to count them all.

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      2. You are Cowardly Gabby the wimp who refused to fight after challenging not one but TWO posters to fight.

        Charlie Bucket aka Cowardly Gabby/TebowObama disappeared when Plow Horse called her out!

        Plow Horse
        JUNE 23, 2023 AT 2:02 AM
        Instead of Gabby and Fake Gabby how about Gabby and Chickensh*t Gabby. This way there will be no doubt who is who.

        Boxing gym in Pasadena, CA – name a date you foul mouth chickensh*t. I want a piece of you

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      3. No one can touch you for spamming sock puppets, spamming, doxxing and and meaningless blather over 2 decades here, Charlie Bucket aka Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka Frank Young. Your life is a complete waste.

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  7. Oh if only there was a photo of Grinch grabbing his neck a la Justin Wilcox.

    Perhaps Caleb could have used some Wendy’s money to buy some elite OL thru NIL. Write it off as a business expense.

    After the previous close calls, does the team no longer buy in?

    Is Riley bought in? He lost the guy who hired him. He is facing a brand new conference (without Williams). LA Times articles has him talking early retirement and easier NFL schedules.

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  8. Tonight was another example of why a Mike Leach Air Raid offense never wins a national championship. Finesse football does not work against physical teams. For the 3rd straight week this team was not ready to play, and were totally dominated physically.

    Can we beat Utah maybe– but not Oregon or Washington not with this offensive line and defense.

    Terrible performance and coaching job.

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    2. Completely agree- the air raid is a load of crap- it’s for suckers. Great fir offensive stats- cheap wins etc… as u say- no air raid team has ever had significant success- because it’s not structured to.

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    3. Riley’s system is NOT air raid any more than Washington. This has nothing to do with scheme. This is either a culture issue or a training/practice/conditioning issue and maybe also a recruiting issue.

      Riley is trying to beat opponents by out-scheming them or with tricks. The real problem is that Riley did not hire in the best of the best coaching and recruiting staff. He brought along a bunch of trash from OK. For example, the director of recruiting. USC should be in the top 5 nationally for high school recruiting. We should dominate the West Coast. #18 in the nation for USC is abject failure and someone needs to be fired. (Part of the problem is also probably the coaching staff track record of not developing players and also the attitude toward NIL that we will not pay players while everyone else is doing it.)

      The core issue in that game yesterday was the o-line, which is a mess and the QB, Caleb. Two different problems. I wonder if Hansen is a good o-line coach. He came from Texas A&M, which had offensive problems during and after he left (he probably left an o-line that was not effective). So he has a track record of failure at this level.

      With Caleb, I noticed in a video when he was at Pac-12 media days that he seemed to almost be rather incoherent, like he was high on drugs maybe, or just had such an attitude that he wasnt down to earth. I dont know what is going on with him, but there are obvious issues, either in terms of his ego, his emotional stability, maybe a drug problem, or he is too distracted and lost focus on the game. But he isnt getting better, he is regressing. Maybe Kliff Kingsbury is working his magic and making him worse (KK is a proven loser), or maybe Riley needs to hire an effective QB coach instead of doing it himself.

      It sounds like Riley is going to try to scheme a way to win this year. It wont work. He needs to bite the bullet and spend time figuring out what is the core problem(s) and then put the team on a path it fix it by next year. For example, even if he doesnt fire Henson until end of the year, maybe he needs to get Paige and Noa alot of playing time so that they can be good by next year.

      Despite the fact that the defense was not the issue yesterday, Grinch needs to go. Donte needs to go. Odom probably needs to go. Hire only winners that deliver results and create a culture that is based on results and developing players. If players regress with more coaching, then someone needs to be fired.

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  9. A complete embarrassment to the university. How will Riley spin this- instead of admitting they have major issues- he will say “our defense played great- and so did our O line- with the exception of a few plays here and there- were were really good!”

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    2. Lincoln Riley did praise the defense and didn’t sound upset at all about losing on the KABC post game show, like it was just another team of the schedule and not our rivalry game. Maybe he is relieved all the pressure to make the national championship playoffs in Celeb Williams last season at SC is over now.

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  10. USC is a poor excuse on the road especially at South Bend over the last years.
    There is no asst. coach on the staff to fire up the players like Ed Orgeron or
    Marv Goux in a big game or rivalry. The big question is the team able to bounce
    back next week at home vs Utah. Still undefeated in the conference.
    .

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    1. You have to wonder what the problem is…..certainly not a lack of talent. SC has six 5 stars and thirty nine 4 stars and a whole host of really good 3 stars who should have been rated 4 stars such as Mason Cobb, Eric Gentry, Romello Height, Lake McRee, Jamil Muhammad, Christian Roland-Wallace, Bryson Shaw, Dorian Singer, Tahj Washington among others. That’s a lot of talent.

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      1. The problem
        Is the same as it’s been since Carrol left- we don’t get physical O line or D line personnel. The word is out among those kind of recruits that they won’t get coached up here- and based on the track record over the past 10 years- they’re right. This staff isnt getting it done- and O & D lines set the tone for your teams- and as someone said- this will be even more important next year

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      2. Bryson Shaw and Lake McCree dont have the physical talent needed. Otherwise I do agree those are some really good athletes.

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  11. LR is inches away from losing his status as a decent coach. He’s already pigeonholed as a one trick pony, but if he doesn’t make a coaching change, and I mean immediately, he’s through. On any level. Air Raid is for little guys, not blue bloods. He’s too expensive to buy out, so the new AD needs to force him to quit. Fire grinch, and tell LR to deal. He may leave on his own.

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    1. Unless things change fast, they are going to end up 8-4 and maybe even 7-5. One of the biggest problems is the O-Line. In the last 3 games the trojans have rushed 95 times for 344 yard. That 3.6 yards per carry. Where the hell has our running game gone? But coming into this game the defense was listed 109th(out of 133 teams) on defense. With all of the good players that they brought in during the off season, that’s inexcusable.

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    2. Riley doesnt run an “air raid” offense any more than teams like Oregon or Washington. That isnt the issue here.

      Yes, the problem is the lack of physicality and that has nothing to do with air raid, it has to do with culture and their practice/training regimes and the coaches.

      Nearly all the top programs use elements of the spread offense and RPO, which is what you are calling the air raid.

      They arent running the ball because they cant, not because they dont choose to run it.

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  12. the team that could win by just out scoring everybody, and just having a decent defense…real football fans ,with a little discernment, knew that was not true…even last year.

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    1. and just think there is some truth there,..BUT the lincoln is such a vast improvement over helltons facade no matter how this year turns out is obvious to any one who can see truth …this year could still be a winner,just not probable as I see as indicators due to the last few games, even before the ND debacle.

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  14. For the first time I totally agree with Scott. Most glaring issues to me were Riley not adjusting to anything ND was doing. Also, USC on kick-offs looked like they kicked short on purpose as if the coverage team would pin ND back. Man… did that back fire right when it appeared we got back into the game. This game really makes me lose interest in the rest of the season.

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  15. As others noted (tommyd, trojan4, pasadena, MonteKiffin and Parcelman007) the defense was bad but the offense was far worse and Williams in particular. Esp noting the cheap excuse for excitement the air raid offense has had on tough grind out football – the NFL is ‘all in’ because the NCAA created nothing but players who know only that. It seems the sole high draft picks from USC as of late are receivers.

    The school is too deeply committed to dump him but he’s arrogantly shown a contempt towards the 4th estate (always a monumentally foolish thing to do) and, as stated, the former AD is no longer here to run interference for him.

    The comments per Riley deeming this game as just another game rather than what it means to USC is the most telling.

    He’s a dressed up version of Larry Smith.

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  16. USC had 5 Turnovers, 9 penalties and allowed a kickoff return TD. I watched North Dakota dismantle FCS Power North Dakota State in person yesterday. After a 15 yard personal foul on their first defensive play, only 2 penalties for 8 yards the final 59 minutes of the game. Averaged 5.5 yards per rush. Only threw 12 times with 9 completions. Lesser athletes but they play the smash mouth football USC used to. USC football is getting close to being unwatchable.

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  18. Sports fans are the most 2-faced people– when their favorite team is winning they talk about how the players are gods, but as soon as their team loses an important game those same players suddenly are DOGS

    This loss is on ‘Celeb’– 3 picks in the first half, all of which were thrown off his back foot as he was retreating from a constant Irish rush. Take the sack or throw the ball away.

    The defense did decently

    This was not a Pac-12 game, more of an exhibition, so SC still has everything in front of it. But even if Troy runs the table this bad ND loss might still keep them out of the Final-4

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    1. Wrong. The SC -ND game is the greatest rivalry in college football, not some exhibition game. It is so big in American culture they even include it in movies. People who don’t even care about college football watch it. Winning it is everything. SC is now out of the national championship on October 14th and Celeb is out of the Heisman race.

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      1. For the most part you’re right, Grabbbyy. I know a LOT of USC fans who would rather lose to SUCLA than ND. (Though I don’t agree with that.)

        Like Plow Horse, I love Rudy! 😉

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  19. “It seems like we are a long long way away, but in reality we are not that far away” from being a good team, says Wiley

    251 yards is all ND manufactured and the SC freshman had 8 tackles.

    I bet Oregon feels worse with its coach abstaining from a punt and instead giving Wash a short field to beat the ‘Webfoots’

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    1. I bet you are wrong. We were expecting Celeb repeating as Heisman Trophy winner and this veteran laden team taking us to the Promised Land. In 2023 there is no Rose Bowl to play for, there is only the national championship playoffs or nothing. Now there is nothing to look forward to but the mercenary Portal players playing the draft. Oregon does not have our tradition so don’t tell me their fans feel worse.

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      1. We??????….. says the freak who ran off numerous members of the blog. And still is playing his childish games.

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      2. Charlie Bucket aka Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka Frank Young is so humble. He deserves all the credit for running off MG and all the other posters after 2 decades of consistent spamming 24-7.

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      7. Yesterday, you made one football-related post and 29 other expressing your infatuation for a particular blog member. Go find a new hobby, freak

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      10. No wonder Bruin Fan Charlie Bucket, Cowardly Gabby, TebowObama, Frank Young and her other handles all love Senile Joe so!

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    1. The problems with this offense is their Keystone Cops O-Line not Caleb Williams. But their defense is not that good. They looked fairly decent against ND but ND’s offense is very underwhelming. They may even look fairly good next week against Utah. Their offense is also underwhelming. Let’s see how they do against Washington and Oregon. I’m betting those two teams will torch SC’s defense despite the talent the trojans have on defense. We’ll see. Some of those assistants have to go. When you are paying great amounts of money to get a job done you shouldn’t be getting mediocre results.
      People say LR will soon hop onto the bus to the NFL. I don’t believe that. He seems to be a guy who wants to make his mark in football and then retire when he is 50 and spend time with his family and get out from all the pressure. The NFL is even more pressure.

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    2. as the saying goes Rome was not built in a day, so troy probably fits that description, but as to SC after its destruction by helltonites it will definitely take a while…but there was an improvement last year, and this year still has potential…sometimes one learns after a crushing defeat…we will see.

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    3. A rebuilding project is coming and I think LR is coming. I don’t think that he came to SC to go 8-4 or 7-5 which is what will happen this year.

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  23. Usually I’m not one to pick on players, but Mario Williams might be better suited for basketball the way he likes to dribble a football off the turf

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  24. The offensive line was awful and that applies to the last 4 games. Time to make a change. Start the two freshman – Alani Noa and Elijah Paige. Move Monheim to guard. Kingston, the WSU transfer that was all PAC 12 last year was getting eaten alive by the ND defensive front. Bench him. We need to get some interior push in the run game. And why all the RPO plays. There too slow developing and ND was all over that stuff. Caleb also generally fails to make the correct read on the RPO. Straight runs with play action was working better. Need more bootlegs and quarterback draws.

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      2. If SC could ever fix their O-Line and their defense, they could still have a very successful season. But I don’t think that they will make the playoffs.

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  27. Ok truth. LR didn’t fully understand how gutted usc was from Helton refusing to recruit in his final years and administration sitting on their asses watching. Yes Riley hustled and portaled us into the national spotlight again. But……We’ve all identified the same issues over and over again. The local and national press have as well, but for LR to go to the podium and minimize the problems, as if we’re buying it, quite frankly scares me. Could you imagine any of CFBs elite coaches talking like this? LR doesn’t have the chops to be a balanced HC and certainly is refraining from making the tough decisions to pull us out of the ditch. Time for the new AD to earn her money and prove she’s not a symbolic hire.

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  28. Better to lose 48-20 than 41-40 where there is second-guessing every decision. SC just was not going to win that ND game

    But there is a plus because I saw marked improvement with the defense and its tackling abilities. Now if SC can only find a decent right tackle

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      2. Still crying about anything I post, while claiming I’m obsessed with her.

        They don’t come any stupider than the Village Idiot.

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    2. Awww, the Village Idiot needs to cry about anything I post. Yet she’s stupid enough to claim I’M obsessed with her! LMFAO

      Her stupidity is never ending.

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      1. infatuated: possessed with an intense but short-lived passion or admiration for someone.

        One sentence gets you triggered… We are laughing at you. Blog dunce

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