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Sunday Buzz: My Washington Loss Analysis/Riley Needs To Go Column

Did you enjoy watching the rerun in Seattle on Saturday night?

Didn’t it look like every other USC loss?

If Lincoln Riley didn’t make $10 million a year, someone might think he was throwing Saturday’s game.

How else can you explain the playcalling? Washington has the Big Ten’s No. 1-ranked pass defense and No. 15-ranked run defense.

So maybe it’s time to bring back that rushing attack that gained 189 yards against Penn State.

But the smug genius ignored that and called 29 passes and 9 runs in the first half vs. the Huskies. And fell behind, 20-7. Don’t you think Washington was thrilled facing an offense that played right into its hands?

  • In the third quarter, USC ran 8 times and passes 8 times. A balanced offense. It passed for 93 yards and rushed for 71 and outscored Washington, 14-0.

Why wasn’t this the game plan from the outset?

“We did try, we just, we didn’t run it great … we needed to do it better,” Riley said.

Who believes this guy anymore?

  • It also frosted some fans that USC drove 54 yards with 8 straight running plays in the fourth quarter and then Riley tried to throw a pass from the 2-yard line to Duce Robinson. If nothing else, it broke USC’s momentum. Two plays later, Washington’s defense knew it would be a run from the 1-yard line and stuffed the play.

That play was run from the shotgun formation. I ripped Wisconsin a few weeks ago for trying to run against USC on 4th-and-1 out of the shot gun (the play failed) and then USC tries the same thing. Can USC even snap the ball under center?

“You go change five, six plays this season, and then everybody’s like, ‘Oh my God, they’re frickin’ unbelievable,’ ” Riley said.

I can’t listen to him. It’s too ridiculous. If Vince Young didn’t score on that QB keeper in the Rose Bowl, USC wins the national championship. If O.J. Simpson doesn’t go 64 yards in 1967, No. 1 UCLA defeats No. 4 USC.

  • Why is Riley intransigent about Miller Moss?

This actually should have been a game where Moss flourished. Washington defensive coordinator Steve Belichick didn’t care about the pass rush and worried instead about dropping guys back into coverage.

This allowed Moss plenty of time to throw, which is what he requires. But he had trouble reading the defense as Washington switched its schemes around. That should have been on the film.

Moss had three interceptions and also bounced some passes. The bigger issue, however, is USC has no run-pass option with him. That’s why Washington could load up inside on 4th-and-goal at the 1-yard line.

The interception Moss threw to Carson Bruener at the end of the third quarter felt just like the one at Maryland and destroyed USC’s momentum. Moss nearly had a couple more interceptions.

I feel like I’ve watched Moss unsuccessfully try to make a fourth-quarter comeback in nearly every game since Michigan. He’s 0 for 5.

Everyone seems to think it’s time to give Jayden Maiava a chance except . . . Lincoln Riley. But he knows more than the rest of us.

  • Let’s talk about development. That’s one of the buzzwords used when a team is not winning. Guys are being develped.

USC isn’t developing. The offense has been stagnant in terms of progress all season. It isn’t getting better. It stumbles for portions of every game and lacks explosiveness.

Less discussed is the way the defense is unable to really assert itself during games. When does it shut anyone down or overpower an opponent? It hasn’t gotten better either.

USC had zero sacks against Washington. Its pass rush is impotent. D’Anton Lynn doesn’t seem to care. He’s probably more worried about giving up big plays in the secondary if he blitzes.

Lynn certainly isn’t quite the boy wonder without Laiatu Latu rushing quarterbacks. How often did his defense rise to the occasion when USC took a 21-20 lead?

  • Will USC make a bowl game? Who cares? Riley needs to go but makes too much money to pay off. So he can do what he wants, like pass 76 percent of the time in the first half. And no one can do anything about it. It might be nice if the fans let him have it but USC is not an SEC school. If it were, Riley never would have come in the first place.
  • Carol Folt might be able to do something but she might be more worried about her own status these days.

67 thoughts on “Sunday Buzz: My Washington Loss Analysis/Riley Needs To Go Column”

      1. Male voters are giving trump the middle finger, and are not turning out to vote…..while female voters are turning out in record numbers

        trump keeps asking this election team why women hate him……..tooooooooo funnnnnnny!

        trump for prison

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      3. Deflecting again!……………..what a f u c king clown. more whining and crying…..

        tell melania to get the orange jumpsuits ready……..HAHAHAHAHA!

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      6. Plow Horse
        AUGUST 31, 2024 AT 9:42 PM
        I thought Gabby said a few days back that he was going to the USC marching band pep rally today at the Palms at 2:00 and wanted to “meet up” with Scott. Instead, he spent the day trolling the blog. Once again a threat followed by a no show. That’s our Cowardly Gabby. All talk, no walk.

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      7. you say the same lame s h i t over and over and over and over…….you senile sack of dung….what the f u c k is wrong with your brain……..get some new material,,,,dumb—–a s s

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      9. OBSESSED………PUT YOU HEAD IN THE TOILET AND FLUSH……

        LITTLE P U S S Y BOY

        F U C K ING FREAK

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      10. I never tire of posts that show you are the most vile human being on the planet, Cowardly Gabby. Plow Horse’s aim is true!
        Plow Horse
        JUNE 23, 2023 AT 3:24 AM
        Chick*ns&*t Gabby: When you insult my wife and mother you challenge me. Say to my face the garbage you say on this board Mr. keyboard tough guy. If you think I am an old man who you can beat up, let’s set a date at the Pasadena boxing gym. C’mon be a man.

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    2. It was no more or less “exciting than the lead in UCLA-Nebraska game… very similar in fact. One team built a lead, came out in the second half flat and then hung on for dear life at the end.

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    1. I think LR is like the loner kid in HS who got bullied – but the once bullied kid makes something of himself and now wants to show the world how smart he is and how he belongs. He is a glorified QB coach, who can’t coach his way out of a paper bag. He’s lost the program and no smart quality recruit will come here. Look at how Oregon runs its program, runs its offense, runs its defense- things Woody will never be able to do. We are F’d this guy

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  4. Didn’t Japan defeat USA for the title of ‘world’ champions? Dodgers are World Series champions only

    Would not wish to be a Trojan footballer with 2-weeks before their next game against Nebraska as the Trojan ‘faithful’ ridicule the team

    SC should beat Nebraska, although no guarantee, but YUCLA has a hot quarterback and ND will be fighting for a spot in the Playoffs

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    1. Sorry, all tradition was destroyed when USC President Carol Folt schemed with UCLA Chancellor Blockhead to destroy West Coast football for their 30 pieces of silver.

      Liked by 3 people

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  7. Agree with Scott and others on this loss. Riley is not a great play caller. Washington was dropping back 7 or 8 guys. Run the damn ball. And the offense line looked great but that is undoubtedly attributable to a limited defensive front with virtually no blitzing. An average coach would have beat Washington by two touchdowns and also beat Maryland, Minnesota, and Michigan. How did Riley get this far up the coaching ladder without being exposed sooner. This guy is Graham Harrell 2.0.

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    1. Scott: “I feel like I’ve watched Moss unsuccessfully try to make a fourth-quarter comeback in nearly every game since Michigan. He’s 0 for 5.”

      Like I said yesterday, Moss has never been great when USC needed him to be great. Better quarterback play, and at worst, this team is 6-2 and still in the hunt for a playoff spot.

      Bench Moss, next man up! At this point, the team has nothing to lose.

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      1. Cowardly Gabby thinks a 4-5 football team that is 2-5 and in 15th place in the Big Ten has nothing to lose? Way to state the obvious,Ms. Zero Football IQ.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. MY POST FLEW RIGHT OVER YOUR HEAD, YOU MUST BE RELATED TO THAT OTHER SOCK —PUPPET , SLO PA-TROLL, SAME F U C K ING STALE BRAIN……. WHAT A F U C K ING DUMB—A S S ……..

        YOUR OBSESSION WITH GABBY IS BEYOND CREEPY……F U C KING FREAK!

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  10. Wiley has always had great quarterbacks and he rode them to high success, but Miller Moss is good not great. Would have loved to see ‘Celeb’ playing for SC this year, he might have pulled SC out of every loss this Season

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  14. And that is what is tearing Wiley apart, how close he was in so many games, that thin margin between being a genius or an idiot

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  16. do not think we have to worry about being bowl eligible this year since we have to pay Riley, feel we should have him wash the teams jock straps for the rest of the year and have Pete finish up

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  17. Solid and, regrettably, accurate analysis by Scott Wolfe. This was more of the same week after week……Riley is, as noted by Jeff spicoli, a guy who each week reminds one of a defensive genius know-it-all, recently hers in LA…Brandon Staley.

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  18. Riley has a bye week before going against Nebraska at home. I think he will use the extra time to install Maiava as the starting quarterback. Why not? The team can use a lift and a quarterback change sometimes provides one. I don’t blame Moss but the offense is not progressing. Let’s see if a running quarterback can make up for the offensive line deficiencies. Of course, the line cannot make up for the play calling deficiencies. The losses are primarily on Riley, not Moss or the defense.

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    1. No, no he won’t and Riley isn’t going to become a better play caller or adopt a run the ball attitude either. Unless something drastic happens SC is stuck with Riley for years

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      4. ONLY A LIMP—DIC SOCK—PUPPET WOULD CARE……F U C KING P U S S Y BOY…….GO F U C K YOURSELF….FREAK

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  21. DON: With the election tomorrow I suppose this is the end of the road for us

    KAM: Not at all. We have to keep an eye on each other

    DON: –To see what the government’s up to, got it

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  23. DON: We of course would never meet and talk civilly except as our imaginary selves

    KAM: Who know, if we weren’t such heated opponents we might have been friends, and hence would have discussed things as our ‘real selves’ instead of our imaginary selves

    DON: Might not be much difference there. By the way, good luck tomorrow. But not too much

    KAM: Back at you!

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  24. For years SC fans wanted Ton-o-Hel fired and now it is Wiley, but no one is going to take the $90-million liability off SC’s hands, so the guy is here for at least another 2-years

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      1. The fact she refuses to answer about Prop 36 shows how full of it she is, when she claims to be a “tough prosecutor”. But millions are too stupid to see through her lies. The same idiots who didn’t recognize Joe’s dementia in 2020.

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  25. #76 could have played the worst game ever at OT. Wow! I can’t believe he got away with over 10 False Starts. The rush end wasn’t even playing to rush either most of the time.

    WTF?

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