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Reaction: Lincoln Riley Hires A Bruin

I’ve been away much of today so let’s get to the point: D’Anton Lynn is a better defensive coordinator than Alex Grinch. The USC defense will improve.

But this is not a home-run hire. This is not what we were promised. Where are all the people that said Jim Leonhard was getting hired? How will they spin this?

Nothing against Lynn but USC could have done better if Riley was competent. Lynn will improve the defense but will it be enough? I wonder. Lynn has been a defensive coordinator for one year. He was a reach for UCLA that worked out. Now he’s at USC.

Riley can’t go find anyone so he hired the person in front of his nose. I’ll be fascinated to see if Lynn likes playing defense with an Air Raid offense. It’s not complementary football as the defense spends too much time on the field.

Friday, I heard coaches turned down USC because Riley is on the hot seat and it’s tough for defensive coaches to deal with his offense. So Lynn has his work cut out for him.

124 thoughts on “Reaction: Lincoln Riley Hires A Bruin”

    1. UCLA was 11th in the nation in total defense and 2nd in rushing defense. Not bad numbers considering he’s trying to coach defense in the best offensive conference in football. Not bad at all.

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      2. Agreed. They had a weak schedule. But, for the most part, the defense played well. The problem was their offense. It’s hard to continue to play good defense when your defense can’t get off of the field for a rest because the offense keeps going 3 and out.
        Whatever happens, this guy is in another universe compared to Grench. I’d rather have him because he wants to come to SC. Leonhard didn’t want the job. Tom Allen is too old. Probably not a great recruiter. Arnett would have been another good candidate. UCLA obviously has a money problem. They should have fired Chip Kelly. 7-5 is unacceptable with such a weak schedule.

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      3. Remember, UCLA had ten 4 stars on defense and no 5 stars. SC had twenty one 4 stars and two 5 stars on their defense. SC had much better players on defense than UCLA. It’s true that they played a weaker schedule but they did well with inferior players.

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    2. Hi George! Always a pleasure to see you here! [Anybody who coached for Harbaugh and the Ravens HAS to be very good —but I bet Scott is referring to the fact Jen said we were waiting till after the playoffs to get a superstar]……
      #LynnIsSmart&Personable
      #OurPlayersWillPlayHardForHim…
      #…But….
      #….LincolnStillNeedsToFixHisO-Line[&GetAProvenQB]

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      1. HI MICHAEL JUST GOT HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL

        THIS EARLY HIRE SHOULD HOPEFULLY HELP RECRUITING TOO

        AND YEAH. FIX THE O LINE AND MAKE SURE WE HAVE A TOP QB

        AND SOME LINEBACKERS AND D BACKS AS WELL. AND SOME TOP D LINEMEN

        IT CAN BE DONE !!

        WISH I COULD PLAY

        THE SPIRIT IS WILLING BUT…….LOL

        TAKE CARE MYGOOD FRIEND
        ENJOYED OUR CALL IMMENSELY

        Liked by 1 person

      2. GEORGE — I LOVE YOU, MAN. SENDING GOOD THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS TO YOU ALWAYS.
        FIGHT ON!
        P. S.
        I ENJOYED OUR CALL TOO. YOU HAVE SUCH AN INTELLIGENT, KIND VOICE! FULL OF LIFE!

        Liked by 1 person

    3. Another shit hire.

      Coastal Carolina, San Diego St. and NC Central. These are the offensive powerhouse teams this clown Lynn built his resume off of.

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      2. Here’s how the Bruin Fanbase is seeing it: “…Lynn revitalized the Bruins defense this past season, going from number 89 in total defense a year ago to number 11. That is quite the turnaround…”

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      3. Then you realize UCLA had a pathetically easy preseason schedule and didn’t play the two best teams in the Pac 12 and you realize Bruin Fan doesn’t know football like USC Fan does. They are a basketball school.

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    5. All this shit hire of “Donte” Lynn does is solidify the fact that ‘Ol Mule Shoe’s dumbass will be fired next year when USC finishes in the cellar their first year in the B1G

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  2. Jim Leonhard is going to be a head coach. Who promised you that guy?
    Not a home run is correct. More like…

    The US winning the gold medal in Olympic Hockey

    USC 55 Norte Dame 24

    The Texas Rangers are defending World Champions

    Hell, Lynn beating up Riley’s offense in practice with the second teamers is worth the $2 million PLUS

    Chip Kelly lost his best coach and recruiter.

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      2. I just don’t think that he likes the west coast. The furthest west he has ever been was Denver as a player in 2012. He doesn’t want to be at SC. I would go after players and coaches who want to be a trojan.

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    1. …and mean as hell…few things more enjoyable than watching videos of the USC 1978-79 powerhouse and seeing how dominant and nasty that offensive line was, especially the game-winning drive in the Rose Bowl over Ohio State…

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  5. (Football Contest)
    It is almost over. The official winner is
    DubPar 28,999

    Phantom is at 37,000 and had to bet 9,000 (on Georgia)
    Lose 28,000
    Win 46,000

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  8. There are lies and then there are ‘statistical lies’-
    So this sucla guy beat up on some Coastal team
    (why, was the Russian team not available?) and USC
    and this warrants a bump-up from1-mil to 2?

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  9. Wolf’s theme song must be “The rumor has it..”
    but the rumor has it that sucla’s footballers couldn’t get NIL contracts
    because they were playing on the wrong side of town

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  10. I would’ve rather had Leonhard, but for whatever reason he didn’t come. No other candidates really stood out. I’m good with Lynn. It’ll be interesting to see what they do with the position coaches. BTW Riley’s not on the hot seat.

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      1. “Real” possibilities include “remote” possibilities, right? I think we’re gonna do better than 4 wins. On the other hand, it’s gonna be depressing to see where Phil Steele puts USC when he’s ranking Big Ten teams in his College Football Preview [which comes out right after Spring Practice]….
        #ButIt’llBeFunToSeeWhereHePutsRileyInTheCoach’sRating

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      3. btw, I just noticed that Phil Steel rated the 2023 iteration of UCLA football as having the second best players in the Pac 12 on defense [after Utah]—so maybe what Lynn did wasn’t such a miracle.

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  13. I absolutely love the hire, because it tells me what I’ve already known, and that’s Lincoln Riley continues his quest to be fired after the 2024 season. This was a money grab by a defensive coordinator whose numbers were trumped up by weak UCLA schedule. And does anybody actually believe that opponents ran through the Trojans defense just because of Alex Grinch? The Bruins are currently ranked 53 nationally in recruiting, so I guess D’Anton Lynn will bring that expertise with him.

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      2. One year success is a risk. But he was even more of a risk when he took the UCLA job and they seemed to have found a gold nugget among the rocks. Was this a view of what’s to come or just a one year freak success. We’ll see.

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      3. Maybe “one year’s experience” was what Jen was referring to when she proclaimed a worldwide search for the best Defensive Coordinator in history…
        #HaveYouEverThoughtOfThat?

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  15. With all the suclas jumping ship maybe SC can poach half of sucla’s team and become a new team called SCLA entering the Big18;
    half those midwesterners wouldn’t know the difference

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  16. After watching Oregon vs UW, the contrast of their offensives with LRs was eye opening. They were sophisticated but power based. Creating LOS imbalances and secondary confusion with shifts and motions. Seems like LRs offense is so “Everybody go long on 3 “.

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    2. Actually, Caleb’s third down “go to” was “everybody go out 20 yards, I’ll pump fake two or three times….and take off when the pocket breaks down…”

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      1. I’m not sure we ran LR’s offense last year. We ran Calebs offense. LR called the play and then Caleb wasted time changing the play on the LOS and many times causing a delay of game penalty or USC wasting a timeout because Caleb couldn’t get it snapped in time.

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  17. Wolf wants a home run hire? USC didn’t even get on base this season. Three loses and you’re out was Grinch’s deal. The possibility of having a decent defense is now looming. Also I think the journalist who can’t resist a dig (Scott) is getting a dig in at his old syndicate (Daily Bulletin) who said it is a home run hire. His digging in the paper business and Sports Illustrated got him a job on a 2nd hand blog. Biting the hand that feeds you might get you euthanized.

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    1. That is what happened to Petros Papadakis who didn’t know when to stop all the wisecracking against USC – even Matt Moaney Smith gently chided him to tone it down – voila sacked as the Galen in-house announcer and then watching as your partner gets the radio play-by-play gig with the LA Chargers and you’re relegated to doing color and side line commentary on MTN West games.

      Being sarcastic is entertaining to listen to but it also makes executives leery in hiring you.

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  18. Come on, this is Wolf’s act, if SC had hired Knute Rockne in hus day
    Wolfie would have written, “SC just hired somebody named Nude which is probably all he brings to the Trojans”

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  19. Let’s try this instead of complaining every damn minute of every day. Let the guy coach! Give him a chance to win or fail. He turned around fucla in one year. Wouldn’t that have been nice for USC to fix its D in one year. Pete wasn’t a home run hire. Wolf you’re not a home run hire either…..

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  20. I don’t know if it’s a “home run hire” and who promised you that wolf? But I do know what I saw. Lynn’s uCLA defense kicked Riley’s USC offense’s ass for 4 quarters. Shut dow Utah. USC couldn’t stop 5 toddlers from running down the field. The problem with home run hires is they aren’t home runs until they actually win games over many seasons. C’mon Wolf be a man! Stop the nagging wife syndrome at least for the offseason.

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    2. I’m fine, guys. [But it’s hard to believe how anybody can be such an absolute master at not connecting dots as a certain poster — “stiff in opinions, always in the wrong, everything by starts and nothing long —but in the course of one revolving moon, poet, fiddler, statesman and buffoon…”]….
      —Dryden

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      1. btw—everybody should take a look at 17th century John Dryden’s “Mac Flecknoe” —it’s a prescient look at 2 of our posters.
        #It’sLikeHeHadATimeMachine…
        #…AndVisited”InsideUSC”Throughout2023

        Liked by 1 person

  22. Football is fun at any level, I just saw how my old school Birmingham won the championship on the last play of the game, a 52-yard tipped pass play, and Liberty College ends up 13-0 and may play on Jan 1

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  23. This is a great hire. Not the big “splash” Wolf wanted, but then nobody would have been what Wolf wanted. He has the creds to be a good one. Leonhard wanted the nfl, White got a huge raise to stay at NE, Parker is attached to Iowa and will never leave Firenz. The guy from Texas would have gotten a huge raise if USC went after him, it is almost an automatic. Wolf is so fucked up he couldn’t see a good DC if the guy walked up and kissed him. Nice to see MG back.

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  25. I didnt want Leonhard, he wants a head coaching job and I’m not even certain he can quickly turn around a defense. He might have built those defensive stats on consistent development, but not be that great at a fixer-upper.

    Sure, D’Anton is a risk, but no risk, no reward. I think being young and multicultural (is he black?) will give him a leg up on recruiting versus an older white guy.

    Let’s see if there are position coach changes. That might be important here.

    I’m more concerned that Henson is not an effective o-line coach and that wont get solved and the offense will sputter. And will Riley fire the inside receiver coach, so one coach can integrate all the receivers? I am starting to wonder if Bedenbaugh was a great o-line coach, but that Riley teams only work with a great o-line and maybe, because they dont get the ball out fast, make it very hard to have a good o-line.

    Not saying I know, but doubt anyone on this board or Scott knows either.

    I am hoping that D’Anton can help Riley understand why defenses have got him figured out and that drives some offensive changes too.

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    1. Pure gold, gametv. Nothing changes unless Riley has the balls to fire Henson [which, let’s face it, he doesn’t].
      How can a guy be considered an offensive genius if he can’t see the plays that look great on paper don’t work on the field without giving the QB an uninterrupted 3 seconds to throw?

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    2. It’s going to take another 2 years to see the gain and I’d wager that is what Cohen has told Mr. Riley his timeline is to produce or he’s going to be moved on.

      Recruiting and coaching the recruits – mold a team together.

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    1. What happened to Oregon helps USC recruiting [it doesn’t guarantee anything —but it helps]. That’s the Big Plus coming from Washington upsetting heavily favored Oregon [and outgaining them by over a 100 yards].

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      2. It might …but not necessarily —Washington is located in Washington.
        #[OnTheOtherHandUSCIsOnTheSameMapAsCarol’sOffice]

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    1. Looks that way. [Do you realize how screwed we would have been if he hadn’t transferred outta Arizona State after Herm Edwards got canned]?

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      2. I think Penix will win it. I watched that game last night and both Penix and Nix kept throwing all the short stuff and then go deep(especially Penix). Caleb holds onto the balls trying to get a 50 yard TD on every plays. That makes it tough on the O-Linemen. Mike Penix was sacked 10 times, Bo Nix was sacked 5 time, Caleb was sacked 33 times this season in one less game then Penix and Nix. He hangs onto the ball too long.
        Our O-Linemen need to get more physical on the runs. Part of their problem on pas protection is Caleb Williams.

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  29. Oh I don’t know MG, with a sure loss to ASU (almost lost anyway) SC would have been 6-6 and not bowl eligible which might have been a good thing

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  30. How did SC Football became a National Sports Joke?-
    It started with the Tulane Keystone Kops’ comedy act
    and continued with the ‘Parting of the Red Sea’ defense

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  31. I note Texas is trying to audition for a spot in the ‘Final-4’ by bullying another team that shouldn’t be allowed to play this late in the season,
    but to no avail unless both Florida St and Alabama lose

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  32. Interesting possibilities–
    If Florida St and Georgia win
    Georgia
    Michigan
    Washington
    Florida St

    If Florida St loses and Alabama wins
    Michigan
    Washington
    Alabama
    Georgia

    If Florida St wins and Alabama wins
    Michigan
    Washington
    Florida St
    Alabama

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      2. I say Ukraine remains soverign, China keeps its paws off Taiwan,
        and Russia-U.S. continue their Cold War dancing.
        Now about that Israel-Palestine thing, these ‘fighting over land’ wars last 1000-years

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    2. Really like Kalen and rooting for the Huskies to bring home a nattie for the West Coast although I doubt that happens. If Oregon were in the CFP, I would be rooting against them and Lan Danning.

      Nice to see the comments are all about USC football today.

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      1. Texas beat Alabama at Alabama and has the same record. As a USC fan never forget the 1978 AP giving of a national championship to an Alabama team beat in Birmingham by USC (the UPI national champion). The only scenario that would (read should – SECNCAA that lynched end-Pete USC aside) allow Alabama in this year would have required Texas to lose to Oklahoma State. That didn’t happen.
        If FSU, Georgia, and MIchigan win, they join Washington. Texas is next, then Bama, Ohio State, Georgia (if losing to Bama).

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      2. Well gametv, with the season winding down we can forget SC football for a while and get back to what this blog does best which is liberal vs conservative firestorm commentary

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  34. Let me enlighten some of you sad, pathetic haters:

    USC had 4 turnovers in their lowest scoring games of the year, Notre Dame and UCLA.

    They averaged 2.9 yards per rushing against the Irish

    They averaged 0.1 yards per rushing against UCLA
    Lowest rushing total of the year by far against any opponent by this year’s offense.

    If you don’t get how good UCLA’s defense was then may God help you.

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    2. We actually outgained UCLA —but we turned it over THREE times —that was the difference. Personally I’d feel better if Lynn had faced one of the two best teams in the conference, Washington or Oregon. On the plus side, he’s a first rate motivator. [And Harbaugh wanted him on the Ravens staff –that’s good enough for me all by itself].

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