FOOTBALL

USC Morning Buzz: Good News For Lincoln Riley?

If Chip Kelly lost to USC and beat Cal, would he have a job today?

It seems like everything revolves around the USC game. As the L.A. Times reported, UCLA has never fired a coach at the end of a season where the Bruins beat the Trojans.

It reinforces the old stereotype that UCLA is happy to go 1-9 in football if the one victory was over USC.

If UCLA fans are unhappy, Lincoln Riley should be thrilled. Imagine if UCLA had moved sooner on Kelly and then offered the job to Jonathan Smith? Now that would make Riley’s life more difficult.

Instead, Riley get to keep facing a coach who is 34-34 at UCLA. On the other hand, Riley hasn’t really exploited the situation. He barely beat UCLA, 48-45, last season and mailed in a lifeless performance against the Bruins this season.

But playing Kelly gives him a better chance than facing a hungry, up-and-coming coach.

  • As expected, Raleek Brown entered the transfer portal. Whatever Brown does or does not do the rest of his career, he was mishandled at USC.

How do you go from being on the scout team all season to suddenly playing a vital role in Game 10 against Washington and then disappearing again against Oregon and UCLA?

Just another weird factoid from a ridiculous season at USC.

56 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Good News For Lincoln Riley?”

  1. USC maybe underused or misused Raleek. But they definitely didn’t exploit Zachariah Branch’s abilities as a receiver. Branch was the most physically gifted athlete on the offense and all Riley could envision for him was more of the 90 yard kickoff returns he got against the inferior special teams we played at the beginning of the season [although he did almost save our butt against Utah…before the defense rolled over on Utah’s last drive]……

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    1. Riley misused and mishandled numerous players and apparently on the defensive side the DC’s pet players were used instead of players that were better.

      Hmm, didn’t a recent USC coach do the same thing ? And if I remember correctly, that coach couldn’t recruit the lines either, played soft football, practices were ice cream parties, S&C coach was a joke, special teams were a mess, he blathered BS to the media, in game management was non existent, guy was an ex QB as well, what was his name again ?

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      2. Karma — I don’t remember that coach’s name ….but I seem to recall he read the bible and gave Carol 2 game balls….

        #AndHePraisedHolidayBowlIowaFansForCheeringAgainstUSC

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      4. grabbyy,
        Yes, that one. [Every time I see that play I marvel over the number of Trojans with their backs to the line of scrimmage during the entire run]…..

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      6. Like a friend of mine said, “watching the end of that game was a nightmare.” [And Riley actually said the defense did a good job “except for a couple of plays” —-the same “couple of plays” excuse you hear from every losing coach every Saturday]…

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    3. Between ‘Ol Mule Shoe’s crap predictable play calling and the crap offensive line that couldn’t block for anyone, you could have all the skill position talent in the world, but you still end up 7-5

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  2. The retention of Chip Kelly is not good news for Lincoln Riley….but it’s great news for Chip. Chip is a better all around coach than Lincoln and he knows all he has to do to keep his job now that UCLA has joined the Big Ten is beat Riley at the end of the year.

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      1. Thanks for noticing. Word Press’ weird-ass new paragraphing system is ruining my hashtagging [but like Mike Meyers in Wayne’s World after he gets fired from his job and loses his best friend and girlfriend, “I’ll think of something”]….

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      1. It will stay broken until SC decides to start playing the NIL game. Like I said before, Those great players will rather have Oregons bags of money than a gift surfboard from the trojan surf club.

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    2. One of the very few things Lincoln Riley has gotten right is staying away from that pineapplehead pipeline. The only thing those pineappleheads have going for them is their size. At the high school level they’re bigger than the other kids, which makes them appear dominant, but once they get to D1 where the competition is just as big, just as strong and a whole lot faster, those pineappleheads end up being exposed and always hurt. 90% of those pineappleheads turn out to be busts, a wasted scholarship.

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  4. Another ‘final’ thought about outgoing ‘Celeb’

    He lived up to his nickname everyone knew him

    It is the sobbing with his mother after 2 heartbreak losses to Utah and now Washington where he definitely ‘gave it his all’

    Hopefully most males will see this scene positively

    , after all if it was my mom sobbing I’d probably be crying too

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    1. I didn’t mind the very public sob [well, I did mind it …cuz it seemed staged….but it wasn’t a big deal]…..but I really didn’t like the drama queen attitude on the bench when things weren’t going well [going all the way back to last year’s Oregon State game —where Riley had to encourage him to keep playing].

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      1. To be fair —we were SO lucky to have Caleb do what he did in 2022 —-and he didn’t have the o-line to help him repeat in 2023 —-but I predict he has problems adjusting to the demands placed on an NFL QB……

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      3. Smart observation —by game 7 nobody was letting Caleb slide right and throw just as he got to the sideline —he got chased all the way and any receiver coming back for the ball was covered….

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  5. And poor old ‘Wiley,’ talk about ‘piling on’ some poor slab except Wiles is not poor but in spirit today, can you imagine half of L.A.’s sportfans thinking you’re ‘a fool,’ well you can have

    your $10-mil a year it isn’t worth it

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      1. …true, grabbyy —but while he’s luxuriating on the beach he’ll still hear the words of Maryland’s coach, Mike Locksley, telling his team, “we mighta lucked out in our bowl game —we could be getting USC.”

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  6. So that’s it, that’s what it’s come down to, say, money. The NIL kind upfront to the best of the new high school breed, and Oregon is a good place to start.

    Goodbye amateurs hello NFL-lite

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  7. Scooter,

    I listened to Trojan Talk Live last night on 790 AM Radio. Riley was a NO SHOW. They had Simmons, the wr’s coach on. I am sure Riley gave him the script to read because he said that SC’s future is bright. He said that they are out recruiting and looking at the portal. There was no mention on a specific recruit or portal. He said it is very hard to get the talent in at SC because of how stringent they are on grades. In other words, they have their excuses ready for next year.

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    1. Personally, I’d prefer it if Simmons said “we’re working all the angles —legal & illegal— on getting who and what we need” —

      #”AnyFoolCanPlayByTheRules”

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    2. Academics are a bit of an issue at USC – the core GE curriculum is pretty tough and there are no African American Studies or PE or Sports Mgt or similar fluff majors to hide players in like they have at state schools. I recall seeing starters in the library studying during Finals. Anyone remember Chauncey Washington taking 3 years to get off academic probation? Due to academics I find Enfield’s graduation record totally remarkable.

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      2. Wasn’t Chauncey Washington originally a math major; that’s why I thoight he was having issues? If memory serves, he changed his major?

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    3. Riley receives another F grade for his duties as head coach. He needs to be repairing the relationship to the fan base and media. Honestly, at this point, I want him to decide to leave for anther job.

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      2. Gametv,

        he also needs to repair the relationships with the high schools. How can Mater Dei and St. John Bosco havve 30 kids that are D 1 recruits and 99% of them are going to other schools. HOrrible.

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  9. Wish I were an Alabama or Georgia fan this week with the Bulldogs going for history, even Alabama didn’t win 3 National Titles in a row and SC came within a Vince Evans of doing it

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      2. The fact that Jim Leonhard hasn’t come out and said that he just doesn’t want the SC job tells me that he is still a candidate. You must make sure that he is a good fit. If you look at his career, the farthest west he has ever been as a player or coach is Denver as a player for one year(2012). Who knows. He could take the job and really like the west coast. The fact that he still hasn’t come out and said no tells me that he has some interest in the job if maybe only a career interest.

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  10. If Alabama wins they might slip into the Final-4 as a 3-seed ahead of a losing Georgia at a possible 4-seed, thus nosing out Oregon (but not Washington) and Texas, and then we might get Ga-Ala 2

    Michigan, Florida St, Alabama, Georgia

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    1. Let’s not do that! Vince was the starting QB on an all-time great USC team (another championship frittered away during JRob1 for not having team ready as he admitted … you have Evans, Ricky Bell, Charles White, Mosi Tatupu, William Gay, Marvin Powell, Gary Jeter, Clay Matthews Sr., Rod Martin, Dennis Thurman, and … and lost at home in your opener to a 6-5 Mizzou team playing its backup QB … of course, USC wasn’t alone in getting stung by the crazy Mizzou teams of that era, but still)…while the other one … not too many would remember his name were it not for a fistful of USC errors up to and including not having Bush on the field for the fourth down play.

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