FOOTBALL

My Las Vegas Bowl Analysis: Astounding Decisions Overshadow Everything

Let me start by saying whether USC wins or loses a non-descript bowl game doesn’t impact my thinking for next season.

And let me also add I was in favor of Jaydon Maiava becoming the starter during the season.

But I find it crazy what Lincoln Riley said in early December about getting a QB in the transfer portal.

“We’re really going to be probably looking at somebody that would come in and provide some depth,” Riley said.

I’m going to say what I did three weeks ago: Was anyone else uncomfortable that Riley doesn’t want a QB from the transfer portal who can potentially start next season?

It is coaching malpractice. How did USC not try to get a QB in the transfer portal who could challenge Maiava for the starting job?

Some will say Husan Longstreet is that person but do you really think a true freshman should be that person? He won’t win the job in fall training camp.

As the Las Vegas Bowl illustrated, Maiava can lead comeback victories but he can also deliver an array of bad throws that could really hurt you against well-coached teams.

Does Riley intend to go into the season with a kamikaze offense without another option? Yes, he does.

It’s astounding that Riley wants to just hand the job over to someone without a legitimate QB derby for the season opener. It’s not the mark of a healthy program.

  • Is their a worse coach than Lincoln Riley when it comes to clock management?

It’s mind boggling watching him botch games at the end of a half. USC finished a play with 1:01 left in the first half and then burned 30 seconds doing nothing before Riley called a timeout.

He then ran another play and called timeout with 18 seconds left instead of letting the clock wind down so only a field goal could be attempted before the clock expired.

USC then missed the field goal (of course).

This has happened all season with Riley. He’s not a first-year coach and he’s making more than $10 million per season to be a complete amateur in clock management.

  • Let me just reiterate the obvious because the fanboys will bask in the victory over Texas A&M.

Riley has still gotten worse every year at USC.

2022: 11-3

2023: 8-5

2024: 7-6

  • USC fans certainly displayed their feelings toward the Las Vegas Bowl. The official attendance was an embarrassing 26,671.

When USC played the last time in Las Vegas in 2013, the game drew 42,178 outdoors at chilly Sam Boyd Stadium.

81 thoughts on “My Las Vegas Bowl Analysis: Astounding Decisions Overshadow Everything”

    1. D’Anton Lynn’s Hot Knife Through Butter defense collapsed once again at the end of the game. The only thing that saved us this time was the SC defense was so bad they let Texas A&M score so easily we had time left for our comeback drive.

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    1. gabby,

      The ref stood in front of Mavia allowing A&M to substitute. He did not move. I hate that. Teh ref needs to get out of the way. If teams want to subustute, let them but dont hinder the offense. That is how Ohio St. lost at Oregon

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      1. Pasadena I agree with you but here is the deal. Riley knows that but he sent Lemon into the game with 14 seconds on the play clock. It is known that the head judge is to give the defense no less that 15 seconds unless they decide not to sub or can sub quicker. That was 100% on riley because all coaches were schooled on this at the beginning of fall camp and again before each game by the crews. He either has no retention or is brain dead. When he screamed at the crew and the QB i said dude that’s on you ya bozo. fully on this staff for the late sup. I saw lemon run into the screen and i looked at the play clock and said “they have to burn a timeout” I get paid 0 and am looking at a screen and knew they f-d up and had to burn a timeout and they still missed it and called no timeout. This is wasted money. And by the way when they do have to make the next hire (major damage done to the program with and extending helton then the massive miss hire and money suck and culture damage done to the program by both administrations) the next hire has to be perfect or this program won’t be returnable for decades. This is not a gender bash or anything like that, but does anyone have the confidence that Jen can make that hire? Has she ever made a hire that is of that significant criticalness or even close. I just don’t know. God i just don’t know.

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      2. I agree with most of your thought, what I don’t understand is why the play clock continued to wind down? The ref still had not gotten out of the way when the clock went to zero. The ref’s should have taken a refree’s time out or Riley should have called time out to get it straightened out! Not punish the offense.

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    2. I was actually OK with this. The timeout is more valuable than the yards there. You get basically one more chance – plus a security blanket – to win the game with the timeout, than going from the 2 with no timeouts left. You wouldn’t run there anyway with no timeouts, which is really the only benefit of being at the 2 vs the 7.

      What we can talk about is the late defensive substitutions that come in and don’t allow the offense to snap. I know it’s because the offense is subbing, but they need to limit the time a defender can come in so you can’t game it like both sides did in this game.

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      1. Riley knows the substitution rule and should have been ready to go with another play with the players that were already out there in the hurry up offense.

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  3. The program may be on life support but at least it is still alive and breathing. Maybe recruits will come and fewer players will transfer. And maybe two good running backs will be used consistently next year. Hope springs eternal.

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  4. At one point, JM was something like 9-20, 140 yards and 3 picks.

    100% need a portal QB. I have to say, the O-line was great considering there were 3 frosh, including a non-scholarship center.

    QBs are supposed to be LR’s specialty, but that is what is going to hold USC back next season.

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    1. Im kinda sick of the notion that he is a QB guru. First off every one of his “successful QBs” has transferred in from another program as an already very successful starter. Now you can say Caleb was with him before at Ok. True but hi was the #1 hs recruit in the nation out of hs. His offense as we all have seen is throw throw throw and most of it is qb improvised post blocking breakdown (see mayfield, murry, Hurts, williams) for gaudy numbers and video game looking improv which can’t be taught. Btw those teams never won much more than a few bowl games. there is no true development here just a lot of well 3 heismans must mean something. He took no one from average to up. They were all developed before him. his short comings made it possible for them to have highlight real plays on improv and gaudy numbers due to philosophy

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  5. I met Scott Wolf last night. Seriously. Of course it was only in a dream. He was more pro-SC in person than his writings would indicate, and it was quite pleasant, actually. But I don’t believe we will be meeting again

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  6. DON: Quite an SC game last night. What a comeback! Of course it was nearly midnight here and I only read about it in the morning papers

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      1. Notwithstanding how the defense made stop after stop after stop when SC was down 24-7, enabling the offense to catch up

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      3. 2 horrible drops (1 a td that became a pick) 3 insanely bad play calls by A&M to kill drives and some really fortunate penalties in favor of SC prevented the score differential from being much more and also pulled sc back into that game. They were incredibly lucky and still almost couldn’t get out of there way with clock dibotchery. If Reed takes a knee on the td run at the 3 A&M wins the game 2 plays to punch it in and either sc has to TOs left or they get the ball back with 35 seconds not 1:49

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  8. Scott: It’s astounding that Riley wants to just hand the job over to someone without a legitimate QB derby for the season opener. It’s not the mark of a healthy program.

    Hey Wolfman, was there a QB derby in 2022 & 2023…. why the constant negativity?

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    1. Cowardly Gabby thinks this is accentuating the positive:

      Gabby

      FEBRUARY 22, 2024 AT 8:42 PM

      I DON’T GIVE A FU$#K…..THIS BLOG IS A SH$% SHOW……WAKE UP. I F$#@ING LIED….SO WHAT……WERE YOUR FEELINGS HURT…..AND IT FEELS SO RIGHT…..SO F#$@ OFF……QUIT WITH ALL THE F#$@ING DRAMA……GO FIND A HOBBY

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  10. That was a lot of needless angerTrojan football fans ran through this season. Football viewing is supposed to be fun, win or lose. It’s just a game

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  12. Man, I’m stoked for next season after last night !

    A QB who has gotten worse from when he was at UNLV.

    A head coach who hasn’t a clue about clock or game management not to mention no clue on how to game plan for an opponent.

    No GM for talent evaluation ( Riley would never allow this anyway )

    A NIL program that’s on par with New Mexico State

    Yep, I can see great things coming next year !

    Anyone else enjoy watching ASU, Boise St, SMU and the like play in the playoffs while SC toiled in Vegas ???

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  13. The combined tv ratings for these 7 college bowl games today probably won’t exceed the Oregon-Ohio St January 1 ratings

    That game is probably the “real” National Championship game, the best Rose Bowl game in years

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    1. The Granddaddy of Them All is dead. The game in the Arroyo Seco on January 1st is merely a lowly quarterfinal playoff game, equal in importance to the Peach Bowl. The 2025 CFP National Championship Game will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia on January 20th 2025 at 7:30PM EST.

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      4. Tradition is dead in the NIL Era where USC plays Big Ten football and Cal plays in the Atlantic Coast Conference. This is mere chance in an arcane network run playoff system.

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  14. Scottie leans to the negative side of things, and that is no dream. But speaking of negativity, have you checked out some of the comments on this blog? Maybe it is a case of negativity attracting negativity

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    1. We would be positive if we went back in the DeLorean two decades ago to 2004 and were watching Pete Carrot’s bowl win over Oklahoma. Six or so head coaches later USC barely escaped with a win over a bumbling mediocre Texas A&M squad that couldn’t even avoid running into our punters repeatedly. But the Nine Layer Bean Dip at the SC Watching Party was superb last night so rah rahs were happy and waving their cardinal and gold pom poms.

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  16. Looked at from a different perspective, it was a very exciting SC football season because every game was not decided until the end with the culmination of a Bowl victory in the final seconds

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      2. Exactly. Real SC football fans want domination. You sound like Bruin Fan who is just happy that their team is in a tight game.

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      3. The only time I enjoy games like last night’s are against the Ruins, AT the Rose Bowl. I really enjoy seeing SUCLA fans think the entire game that they have it in the bag, then ripping their hearts out in the last 60 seconds.

        They don’t get to sneak out in little waves, from the end of Q3 to the middle of Q4. Beating them in the last minute ensures that virtually all of their fans will exit with Trojans celebrating wildly in their faces!

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  17. -But what do you make of the most important position, the quarterback?– Maiava did beat ucla and had ND on the ropes for a while and is 3-1 against good teams. But it is also about those really poor passes

    And short shrift should not be given to the defense with the unit keeping the Trojans in every single game this season

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  18. Said for the last time, but it was that 63 yarder at Michigan that turned around the entire season. After that it seemed the Trojans lost confidence in the 4th quarters. Until last night with TA&M

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    1. . Over-rated over-paid DC D’Anton Lynn’s defensive collapse turned around the whole season and= almost lost the game last night.

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  19. KAM: Only days away from New Year’s

    DON: I like to party of course, but I never understood New Year’s where you celebrate another year of getting older. At 78 I can see more clearly the ‘finish line’ than from where I started

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    1. Judge Rules Corrupt Racist Democrat Fani Willis Can Be Forced to Testify Under Oath About Crimes She Committed During RICO Lawfare Case Against Trump That Was Ordered By Senile Joe/Kamala Deep State Regime

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      1. Lame comments like that is why your blog is a ghost town. Are you really that limited between the ears?¹

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      2. Cowardly Gabby’s Role Model Senile Joe Biden Regrets Withdrawing From 2024 Race, Believes He Could Have Defeated Trump! Your Lib Tears Taste Delicious!

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      4. The sad joke is you have wasted 20 years of your life spamming this site, Cowardly Gabby aka Charlie Bucket the UCLA Fan aka TebowObama aka The Queer who posts as So Cal’s Wife & Michael Guarino & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young.

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  21. Maiava doesn’t see the field. He looks at his first option and tries to force the ball into coverage even if the receiver isn’t open. This was pointed out by the announcer who would show secondary options that were wide open. You could see the frustration by the receivers. I don’t think this flaw will be fixed with a few more game reps. We are in trouble with this guy. And why doesn’t he fake a handoff every now and then and pick up a first down with his legs. I think we would have won going away if Moss was still the quarterback.

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  22. Reading the defense, knowing which secondary receiver will likely be open, looking off the receiver and faking out the safety are essential skills at this level. It takes some quarterbacks years to learn the skill and some never do. Not an easy skill to teach. Joe Montana, Dan Fouts, Aaron Rodgers lived off the secondary receivers. Guys with more physical talent who don’t master the skill are out of the league in three years.

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  23. Scooter,

    Mavia has a Dr. Jeckyl-Mr. Hyde personality. He starts off playing like Vince Evans who could not hit the side of a barn and then he turns into Carson Palmer and hits everything. His intial throws are so slow, that i could out run them. Then on the final drive his trhows are at 80 miles an hour. He plays like a deer in the headlights and then like a 6 time superbowl winning qb. SC needs another qb. Y9u don’t know what you are going to get with him

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  24. how in the world would it affect your thinking when you’re thinking is already deep deep deep into the toilet. Your mind is like a steel trap and there is nowhere to go. You Scotty, I deeply flawed man who appears to be very, very insecure, and somehow finds a perverted sense of value in trashing others

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  25. how in the world would it affect your thinking when you’re thinking is already deep deep deep into the toilet. Your mind is like a steel trap and there is nowhere to go. You Scotty, I deeply flawed man who appears to be very, very insecure, and somehow finds a perverted sense of value in trashing others

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      1. Cowardly gabby aka Charlie Bucket the Bruin Fan, Trump’s threat of Tariffs to Canada and Mexico is already paying off, and he’s not even in office yet Canada sent officials to Mar–a–Lago to meet with Trump and Homan. Now, Mexico is cooperating when they at first said they wouldn’t The world’s a much better place under Trump!

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      2. Yes, it is, “Gabby”. Biden-Harris voters have so much blood on their hands.

        It’s so pathetic when a half dozen people die in a shooting and they pretend to care about those lives, as they ignore the 1.5M+ who have died as a result of their decision to go with dementia, incompetence & weakness in 2020.

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      3. speaking of dementia, you say the same thing over and over and over and over and over. Get the head checked out

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      4. 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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      5. says the coward who has been asked over 1000x to meet in Barstow but deflects with the same lame excuse from 2023.

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