FOOTBALL

USC Morning Buzz: Lincoln Riley Rolls Dice

Lincoln Riley didn’t make a change in an area I recommended: Strength and conditioning.

But the offseason philosophy change is “Get bigger.” That’s reassuring.

So USC will move into a conference that requires Big Boy football. We’ll see how it adjusts. The offensive line coaching and strength program were issues last season. Changes were not made. That’s on Riley if things don’t improve.

  • In Big Ten news, Iowa hired Tim Lester as its offensive coordinator. Lester was head coach at Western Michigan from 2017-2022. His first game was against USC at the Coliseum in 2017.
  • The Lions lost to the 49ers. Sorry, Sosna!
  • Today is the birthday of the late Bill Nelsen, an underappreciated USC QB.

Nelsen led the Trojans in total offense in 1960-61 and helped lead an upset of UCLA in John McKay’s first season. He also played in 1962 when USC won a national title and shared playing time with Pete Beathard.

Nelsen was just a 10th-round draft choice of the Pittsburgh Steelers. But his career took off in 1968, when he was traded to the Cleveland Browns. He went 9-2 in 1968 and led the Browns to the playoffs. Nelson made the Pro Bowl in 1969 and Cleveland went 10-3-1. Nelsen also led the Browns to the playoffs in 1971.

He finished his NFL career with 14,165 yards passing and 98 TDs. The Cleveland Plain Dealer named Nelsen one of the top 100 Browns of all-time in 2012 (No. 52).

He later joined McKay as an assistant coach in Tampa Bay for six seasons.

47 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Lincoln Riley Rolls Dice”

  1. The way Notre Dame manhandled USC on the line of scrimmage last season is a perfect example of what the Big Ten is all about. Lincoln Riley’s football philosophy doesn’t put an emphasis on line of scrimmage control. TCU coach Sonny Dykes mindset is exactly like Riley’s, and we all saw how Georgia physically destroyed them in the national championship game two years ago.

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  2. Sonsa is part of an organization that for the first time in a zillion years is on the upswing, he wasn’t part of the Bohn firing tarnishing his name and he almost, and probably should have, been going to the Super Bowl.

    Wolf on the other hand, writes a blog for no money and writes no articles making no money.

    Who would you rather be ?

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      1. One’s employed by an NFL team, one is unemployed and writes a blog

        No Elon Musk ? Warren Buffett ?

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      3. No one wants to be Bill Gates now.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. This is wonderful news: under the NLRB’s definition, USC students are also “employees” — expected to work specified hours, adhere to specified university & professorial schedules, perform in specified ways on exams, speak only when spoken to….
      #StudentsUnite!YouHaveNothingToLoseButYourChains!

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      1. “Last place is such an amorphous thing. Who is to say what constitutes “last place”? Is the only metric wins and losses? Or should preseason rankings and pretty new uniforms be taken into account?”
        #”IPutItToYou,Ladies&Gentleman….
        #…AreWeNotFreeToDefineTermsAccordingToOurOwnLights?!”

        Liked by 1 person

  5. I was at that game when Nelson and McKeevers led SC over ucla in a big upset,it rained some and I sat through the frosh game too…He was a true dual threat q/b.

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    1. Bill Nelson’s statistics for the season would have been eclipsed in
      2-games today with the way the game was played back then, and it was controversial that Pete Beathard primarily played ahead of him in 1962, but Nelson turned out to be the better pro with the Browns

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      2. I agree it was controversial,many sports writers wrote about, but McKay did as he pleased…I do know they had to play both ways and Beathard was better at defense perhaps,remember they had no mass substitutions or platoon football as we see today…the ’62 Rose Bowl was a good one too,I remember trying to watch it as the fog rolled in that day…Nelsen and Beathard played well together.

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  6. I have to call BS on this article. Wolf doesnt think very deeply about the issues here.

    The S&C coach gets marching orders from the coaching staff. Grinch wanted players to be fast and lean, so they didnt bulk up. He also didnt recruit for size, so they didnt start with the right body types. The offensive line issue is that USC didnt have multiple years of good recruits stacked that were built up into top o-line players, they went into the portal and got some players that didnt perform.

    I do agree that Josh Henson has one year to prove that he is capable of recruiting and developing players. He had a good year of recruits last year and this year. His recruits have the base size to match up with any o-line. His recruiting haul is better than Utah has ever had and they build solid lines of scrimmage, so if the o-line is not good this year, it is on Henson. Hopefully, the d-line is also better and that means the o-line is practicing against players that more resemble what they will play against in games.

    Riley made a huge mistake with Grinch and now is paying for it.

    So many people think that Caleb was a unique opportunity for USC to win a nattie, I disagree. He was an uniquely talented problem that will be fixed this year. One, two, three, get the ball out Miller! This will be a chance for Riley to prove it is his offense that is winning, not just a celebrity QB.

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    2. Agree with most everything you typed —except — virtually every preseason college football magazine rated USC’s o-line in the Top Twenty. Phil Steele ranked them #19 this year [last year he had them at #20]. By the end of ’22 they were actually performing at a high level. They got the shit kicked outta ’em by strong programs [Utah, Notre Dame, Oregon, Washington…and even lowly UCLA] all through ’23. If anything….although they looked good on paper…. they regressed.

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      1. …um… I just thought of something: maybe they didn’t regress —maybe trying to protect a QB who wasn’t running the called play & who was holding on to the ball 4 or 5 or 6 seconds longer than he did in ’22 was the problem….

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    3. Henson has to cater to his boss and his Air Raid philosophy, thus his OL learns to back peddle and not drive block. Is that on Henson or Riley ?

      Not convinced Riley is sold on Miller Moss, wouldn’t be surprised to see the UNLV kid start.

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      1. If so it would be one more example of Riley not understanding team chemistry —-and why they had it against Louisville & lacked it against UCLA….

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    4. you are correct about grinch prefering lean and mean machines…he valued speed rushes most to control q/b’s, like at Wash St where he was actually pretty successful.

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    1. I’ll be a nervous wreck every second between now and the Super Bowl waiting for the preordained answer…..
      #..”HereComesTaylorNow,ArrivingWithoutSleepFor24StraightHours…
      #…..”WhatGuts!!!”
      —-ESPN

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      1. Michael, why the bad vibes, have you ever seen this woman doing talk shows, she is a natural and seems to be very kind (except to discarded boyfriends)

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Taylor, in this reporter’s opinion [old George Putnam line], is a dem media creation — being gently shoved down our throats so she’ll have some cred when it comes time to sell the next dem candidate or the next dem vaccine….
        [btw, maybe check out Patty Smith or P.J. Harvey on YouTube to see artists really feeling the lyrics they’re singing]….

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    2. Let’see, if Swift finished her Japan concert at midnight Saturday it would be 7 in the morning Friday in Las Vegas. It is about a 10-hour flight so yes, she couild make it although it would be exhausting and might not work out with her subsequent concerts’ schedule

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  9. That’s it. “Baby, you ain’t seen nothing like what’s coming into you,” as she replies, “That Number 87 should read 8.7, my perfect size”

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