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Saturday Buzz: What Is USC’s Culture?

So the popular explanation for offensive lineman Emmanuel Pregnon entering the transfer portal is to grab the money bag.

That might be true.

But let’s also examine something a lot of fans want to ignore: What is the culture of the USC football program?

Arizona State left tackle Josh Atkins announced Friday he would return next season. The Sun Devils are expected to return four offensive line starters.

Kenny Dillingham has built a culture at ASU and produced impressive results in Year 2. His players believe in him. He has faults and can be immature at times but the players want to play for him.

He’s also doing it on an NIL budget much smaller than USC.

USC’s NIL is the No. 1 excuse for everything for a segment of Trojan fans who don’t want to confront the truth about Lincoln Riley.

What is Riley’s culture? We have completed three years of Riley’s reign and the culture is worse today than it was two years ago when the Trojans were 11-3.

I don’t see much to hang your hat on at the moment.

Does Riley want to play physical football? That would be something.

Riley can’t even execute basic clock management at the end of a half or game, so how can he instill a proper culture?

39 thoughts on “Saturday Buzz: What Is USC’s Culture?”

  1. USC Trojans vs. Michigan Wolverines Mens Basketball

    Current Records: Michigan 10-3, USC 9-4

    When: Saturday, January 4, 2025 at 5p.m. PST

    Where: Galen Center — Los Angeles, California

    TV: FOX

    Liked by 1 person

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      3. Ah, yes, it IS tomorrow. But it’s during Sam’s game (and the season finale of 1923). Fortunately, the women’s game should end by halftime of the football game, or shortly thereafter.

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      4. you cheap a—s—s…….the season finale of 1923 was in February of 2023….too cheap to pay for a streaming service…..

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      6. Cowardly Gabby aka Charlie Bucket the UCLA Fan needs to worry about her own typos:

        “wolfman, YOU ate the only thing even close to winning culture Southern Cal has!”

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      8. Slo cal never worries about how stupid his posts make him look. He’s told us 5k times that Dems have blood on their hands because they voted for Biden….

        the guy has mental health issues

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  2. The culture is winning. Lincoln Riley is not a consistent and competent winner. No one gave a rat’s tail when John Robinson was sleeping with students and winning championships at USC. Cut it out with this Dillingham crap. Nick Saban’s culture was so phenomenal that he “retired” rather than face the next challenges, that’s culture?

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      1. Playoffs?–nothing but ‘bought for’ teams left

        You can’t blame the teenage players for looking for the most money, it’s just business

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      2. Supposedly Michigan paid $10 million for the top HS QB using $$$ from Larry Ellison. He gave $200 million to USC for a medical institute, but some believe that his giving to USC has declined significantly since Folt has been president.

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    1. There is something unamerican about the idea that it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose. It matters to 99% of the people on this blog. Recall the opening speech in the movie Patton. Its right on point.

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  6. Possible Pregnon conversation-

    Pregnon: Coach, I’m the best man you got, I need $250,000 up front

    Coach: We don’t have that; best I can do is $100,000

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    1. I thought Pregnon was our best lineman last year. Woody Marks frequently ran behind him. If he wanted $250,000, we should have paid it. We paid an unproven freshman d lineman 2 million. Pregnon is worth 15% of his fee.

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  8. I would have more respect for Wolf if he just would come out and blast Lincoln Riley for being too lazy to compete with the Dan Lannings and Marcus Freeman. I get the Phil Knight spending his children’s inheritance to make Oregon relevant but Notre Dame is not anywhere near USC when it comes to advantages. Pete Carroll proved that. Riley needs to decide how much of his lifestyle he’s willing to sacrifice to do what’s necessary to be the ultimate winner. He comes off as entitled with a wayward sense of privilege pride because Bob Stoops picked him to be his replacement.

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  9. U$C’s culture is of recruiting transfer portal players. $C used to rely on paying its players but that no longer is the case because other schools can pay a lot more for the players they want. They are beating $C at their own game. $C resorts to paying refs now.

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  10. wolfman, YOU ate the only thing even close to winning culture Southern Cal has! Too bad they have ignored you for the past 40 years of Yoda-like wisdom you have imparted at no additional charge!

    wolfman, watching you try to hold back the tide of mediocrity at Southern Cal is like watching a little wolf-boy with his finger in the dike!!

    #ImminentFailure

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    1. 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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  12. SC may only be average in athletics but the kids today have tough competition to qualify to even get in. And at America’s No. 1 tuition the school must have something going for it

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  13. SC was apparently paying some players like Lendale White during Carrot’s reign, and SC had had the reputation for years anyway. So now the kids figured out that what the Trojans were paying was ‘checken feed,’ so it was time to look elsewhere

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  14. -Athough Scott is not up for the Pulitzer Prize, he still has the knack of getting ‘something out of his readers

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  15. Absolutely correct! As a fan base- Expecting and Accepting mediocrity from a blue blood program is unacceptable. I say ride this fleabag till he wakes the F up and realizes HE needs to improve. He needs to work harder, recruit better, coach better, relate to parents and players better. What’s happening here in the program is cultural change- part of it is nil, the bigger part is there is no culture because the leader doesn’t demonstrate any leadership qualities. He shifts blame, ignores obvious deficiencies, etc… We may not see any change because of his salary- but we don’t have to accept this poor excuse of a program in it’s current state.

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