FOOTBALL

My USC-UCLA Analysis: An Inexplicable Game Plan

USC defeated UCLA, 19-13, which is ultimately what mattered about Saturday night’s game.

But the way USC got to that victory was incredible.

Some of the stuff Lincoln Riley did to his players was coaching malpractice. Poor Jayden Maiava, who was presumably brought into the lineup because of his versatility (legs), threw fade after fade after fade into the end zone during portions of the game.

That’s what Miller Moss likes to do so Riley was putting a square peg into a round hole with Maiava and the playcalling. Is it too strong to say the offense was playing with one hand tied behind its back as Riley called a terrible game?

Where was Woody Marks around the goal line? There was a stretch where UCLA’s 325-pound defensive tackle Jay Toia (formerly of USC) briefly came out and Riley called two straight fade routes. Why not a run?

USC had a sequence with six plays around the 6-yard line and Marks never got a single carry.

The winning touchdown was not Riley’s doing. Maiava simply started scrambling around and found a receiver.

Why is Riley so stubborn when it comes to his precious playcalling?

Wasn’t the point of the QB change to make some different calls? You could see Moss on the sideline Saturday and he didn’t look happy, probably because he saw himself throwing those fade routes.

I honestly found this as perplexing as his Washington game plan, when he threw 29 passes in the first half.

This put undue pressure on the defense with USC kicking four field goals because Riley was so bad at getting the ball in the end zone.

Can you imagine if USC was in a position to make the College Football Playoff? And they go play Miami or Georgia with Riley calling his fade routes and refusing to run the ball in critical situations?

I guess we will find out next week when USC plays Notre Dame.

There is so much unnecessary stress Riley has put on this team.

43 thoughts on “My USC-UCLA Analysis: An Inexplicable Game Plan”

      1. This was SC best game of year because it is only game they didn’t give the ball to the opponents to score – and even then it came down to final seconds. Maiava took one game to become more efficient with no turnovers.

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    1. And new qb (apparently his name triggers the censor) is diff than old qb (his name also apparently triggers the censor), but doesn’t make usc a better team.

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      1. The kid is in his second game of the season stuck with a brain dead play caller, is he the long term answer, no, but he’s hamstrung by Riley.

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      2. please Riley, please leave! 4 fg’s in Red zone against worst college red zone defense. Unreal… what did that moron of a coach see when he got down to the goal line that made him throw fades? For being allegedly an offensive genius, all I see is an offense with zero imagination. As mentioned, no play call made that td happen- all off script. Honestly, I think the idiot is trying to get fired so he can take a few years off and work on growing a set of balls !

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      3. Here’s three plays he could have called, a bootleg, a QB draw, hand off to the RB. Oh wait, the offensive genius has no idea what those plays are, his guru Leach didn’t know them either.

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    2. Lincoln Riley almost let a terrible gutty little Bruins team steal a victory over a vastly superior USC team. SC should have blown them out in the first half. But even when Teddy Tollner and Paul Hackett SC teams beat the Bruins I celebrate. Beat our real rival Notre Dame!

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    2. How can that be? Our least favorite poster said when the switch was made, “I told you all from the beginning that Maiava was the way to go!”

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    1. The Bruins would have collapsed like a house of cards if we did that in the first half- it would have been 50-3. Lincoln Riley let another crummy team stay in the game and start believing they might win.

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  6. What a great 30 days it has been- the Dodgers win the World Series over the New York Yankees, Trump routs Willie Brown’s Bimbo and the Trojans defeat the Hamas-loving Bruins!

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    1. All we need now is for Ralphie to get his official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle for Christmas and all will be right with the world!

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  7. With Folt departing end of AY, Riley has one more season to coach and that’s it. What is bizarre is his seening lack of awareness of what victories mean esp against Ucla and the Irish. It was sad to see Moss on the sideline looking at the field.

    A lot was made of Army’s success 1st year in the AAC but they don’t allow MIL at the service academies. Not sure how this coming game will play out based on what all saw at NYC and Pasadena last night. The sole silver lining is ‘the Princess’ has been challenged when facing 3rd and >5 yds in converting a 1st down.

    Just grateful for the win but yes, with all the rest, this seemed to be a gane that should have been a statement even allowing for it to be a rivalry game.

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      2. I remember listening to that game on the radio on a lazy autumn afternoon in my next door neighbor’s back yard. Little did we know all the great things coming for us for the next 14 years.

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      1. The entire world would have been so much better off if he had been able to serve his terms consecutively. But no! We had to have the 4 year failure of the Biden-Harris administration in between.

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    1. I heard The Sleep Channel bought the rights to the game for their insomniac clients. The 9-3 first half was like a lullaby for East Coast viewers.

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      1. She’s actually crying over her $5 million dollar pay cut and her probable unemployment as soon as MSNBC is sold off

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