FOOTBALL

The Illinois Disaster: What Did We Just Watch?

Lincoln Riley always finds a way to make things worse.

He has a first down at the Illinois 16-yard line with two minutes left.

Does he run the ball? No. Does he force Illinois to burn some timeouts? No. Does he practice clock management? No.

Instead he throws a 16-yard TD pass. Great result but that left Illinois the ball with 1:55 left.

The same Illinois team that would have been up by a lot more if not for two goal-line fumbles.

But Riley is a stubborn know-it-all who still cannot play complementary football.

Riley is 4-11 against ranked teams at USC.

Let’s look at some other problems:

  • The fanboys bragged all summer and then the first four games about the defensive line (for some reason). It was completely pushed around by Illinois. Just physically punished. Illinois rushed for 171 yards. The defensive line was totally overrated.
  • Why do people hype D’Anton Lynn? The guy is overrated and has no answers. Illinois has 502 yards offense. Illinois!

Lynn’s pass defense hasn’t covered anyone all season? The secondary is a joke. Why don’t people want to discuss this? Are the corners getting better? I’ve pointed out what a weakness the pass defense was since the Georgia Southern game but a lot of people are in denial.

  • What about the new strength coach and all the hype over how he transformed the team? Illinois made that theory seem silly. Can we get a comment from Chad “Charmin” Bowden? He always has so much to say.

77 thoughts on “The Illinois Disaster: What Did We Just Watch?”

    1. As usual, Scott nails it. The corners aren’t getting better. They’re getting worse. I don’t care if they’re second stringers…. they were as lost and confused and unathletic as I’ve ever seen [and that includes Grinch’s secondary in Caleb’s 2nd year].

      Someone pointed out that the offense was wincing & shaking their heads as they watched the defense on that last too easy drive. That kind of contempt within a single enterprise ain’t good….. kinda like our army declaring war on our navy during wartime …..

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      2. NAILED IT?……… THE ONLY THING THAT GOT NAILED WAS YOUR HEAD WHEN THE COCONUT CRUSHED IT……….

        YOU SAY THE SAME S H I T OVER AND OVER…….ENOUGH IS ENOUGH…..SOLA NEEDS SOME MUSHROOM…..MOVE ON, MAUI FRUD

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      3. KAM: Cowardly Gabby is happy that USC lost!

        Gabby

        June 27, 2025 at 3:58 pm

        what the f u c k did I post above….. no one wants to be a condom.

        got to go, the short bus is arriving any minute…..

        trump has a sweet mushroom

        DON: Cowardly Gabby is the biggest loser wasting 25 years spamming here.

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    1. Any coach who regularly loses to ranked teams [given the talent Lincoln’s has to work with] isn’t The Guy.

      He knows how to coach quarterbacks. He calmed Jayden down when he started to go into a funk after the interception. He did the same with Caleb [until Caleb got so fed up with Grinch he zoned out]. But we need a Head Coach…. not a 50 million dollar QB coach…..

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      2. Never say that, T! The brubabes fought like warriors.

        #TheyWereOnePlayAway

        #[OurTeamExcusesAreStartingToSoundTheSame]…

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      3. KAM: We can all agree leaving the Pac 12 was the worst mistake in the histroy of USC and UCLA.

        DON: Now we are both in last place in the Big Ten!

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      5. KAM : Tranny Bruin is proud his new UCLA Chancellor just spoke Thursday to the far-left kook self loathing Jews United for Democracy and Justice that refused to condemned the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel that r a p e d and m u r d e r e d 1200 young people attending a concert and men, women and children in the area.

        DON: That Mainstream Moderate Democrat Chancellor will continue the antisemite persecution on the UCLA campus. How can Tranny Bruin support such a school? Have you no shame?

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  3. Scott is right about all of the above. At least last year we had Jaylin Smith as a lockdown corner. Nobody can cover this year. And our big interior D line transfers are having no impact. Silber looked like he was on roller skates. The center was pushing him three yards off the line of scrimmage on every run play. Even if Riley left one minute on the clock and forced Illinois to burn a timeout, I don’t think it would have mattered. The defense was that bad. Four plays and Illinois would have been in field goal range.

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  4. Makai’s catch was great for the go-ahead, but all of us watching said “Why couldn’t we have run another minute off the clock?”

    Not to pile on, but where were the halftime adjustments?

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      4. Think about it: Scott got our last decent Head Coach fired by asking him about injuries, making him cry and, slowly, turning the town against him…..

        Liked by 2 people

      5. KAM: I knew it had to be Scott’s fault Lane Kiffin was an entitled brat..

        DON: Imagine if SC had opened against Ole Miss instead of Missouri State? Good thing Lincoln Riley was too cowardly play a real team.

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      6. To be fair, Riley is stuck in the Big Ten —which is filled with Real Teams… he doesn’t need to play another Real Team if he can help it….

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    1. Well…I guess somebody didn’t hear how happy our coach is with his latest last second loss: “We did well under the circumstances!”

      #ThingsAreDefinitelyLookingBright

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      1. That’s right out of the Clay Helton post game presser handbook called ” I suck as a head coach but if I golly gee shucks it enough, they might buy it ! “

        Riley just hopes SC’s checks don’t bounce

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      2. Dorothy to The Wizard of Oz: “You’re a very bad man.”

        Wizard: “No I’m a very good man…I’m just not a very good Wizard.”

        #LincolnMightBeAnOkayGuy…ButHeIsn’tAGoodHeadCoach

        Liked by 2 people

      3. another stupid comment……it must suck being a lonely old man….. who’s life revolves around a pathetic blog

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      10. KAM: Who is Cowardly Gabby aka Charlie Bucket the UCLA Fan aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & Michael Guarino & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf & Kathy & Foreskin Thoughts & Frank Young? A UCLA Fan who hates USC:

        Gabby


        March 14, 2024 at 8:01 PM

        16 points….PATHETIC!!!!! Your basketball team f u c k i n g sucks… USC was getting slapped around like a pinata…. Same way I slap your a s s around….

        DON: She is so stupid she gave herself away. She’s Charlie Bucket the UCLA honk who had a nervous breakdown…now she is pure evil.

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    1. That wasn’t the best part, karma —the best part was when he was asked about the level of play the Trojans have reached in game 5 and he said “Gee, I don’t know….I’ll have took at the tape before I answer that….”

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      1. If you watch the presser, Riley spoke directly into the mic when he told reporters, “Kamari started throwing up at 6 in the morning…” but then he whispered, “….and began complaining about pink flying saucers.”

        I feel sorry for the player who roomed with him….. it’s hard to get ready when you’re sliding around in vomit in the bathroom.

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      2. We have most of the pieces an offense…. but….we don’t have any of the pieces on defense. We have some good position coaches [and two really crappy ones] …but… we don’t have a first magnitude Head Coach…. or Defensive Coordinator.

        #AnythingCanHappen

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      4. Oh…. are you basing that on the two Utah games? Or the Tulane game? Or maybe the Michigan game? Perhaps the Penn State game? Or are you talking about last year’s MARYLAND game?

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      1. All it takes is 71 to beat that number….

        #IfWeCouldDoItAgainstMissouriState,,,

        #WeCanDoItAgainstOregon

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  11. DON: Wiley has always been a little ‘short’ when it comes to defense, and now he’s saddled with this ex-ucla guy. What do they know about football over at ucla?

    KAM: –Problem is that Wiles always thinks ‘offense’ and that 35 points will do the job, but not when the other team gets ’40’

    DON: And when 2 offensive linemen went down Wiles realized how essential it is to have a barnful of capable linemen available

    KAM: Speaking of ‘capable,’ the Illinois quarterback had enough time to order ‘room service as he carved up SC’s Trojan secondary as if they were cheap meat

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    1. KAM: Saddled? Caring Mainstream Moderate Democrat Riley Coyote picked D’Anton Lynn over all other available more qualified non DEI candidates in the name of Riley’s hero George Floyd.

      DON: We must hope UCLA hires him away from us. But the stupid head coach who has a pattern of hiring incompetent DC’s remains for another 5 years.

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  12. DON:: Alabama seemed ecstatic beating Georgia, and Oregon is better than Penn St but it was nice for 100,000 white-out fans that the Nittany Lions made a game of it at the end

    KAM: And what was with going for a 2-pointer instead of the automatic 1-pointer. That 2-pointer has a low percentage success rate. Of course the play almost won the game for SC

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    1. KAM: Penn State head football coach James Franklin takes responsibility for disappointing loss to the Ducks and inability to defeat Top Ten teams: “I get that narrative, and it’s really not a narrative — it’s factual. It’s the facts,” Franklin said. “I try to look at the entire picture and what we’ve been able to do here. But at the end of the day, we got to find a way to win those games. I totally get it. And I take ownership. I take responsibility.”

      DON: Riley Coyote had no comment.

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  13. KAM: And this morning I still have the ‘Trojans Lose’ blues, but it’s not like back in McKay’s Era when one season’s loss usually meant being out of the National Championship race

    DON: But for 2 Illinois “touchdown” fumbles SC was not really in this game. However, Illinois was good last year and maybe this year too notwithstanding 63-10 Indiana

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    1. KAM: Illinois is like Minnesota or Maryland last year… they play tough football but lack the offensive stars to be a top 10 team.

      DON: Indiana exposed Illinois as a preseason overrated fraud.

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  14. DON: At the beginning of the season most everybody said that 9-3 was obtainable for this SC team, with probable road losses at Illinois, ND and Oregano. So ‘1 down, 2 to go’

    KAM: I don’t know why those same folks thought the Michigan game was a probable Trojan win

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      1. Stop worrying, Gabby. When Harris talks that way, wiser senior Dems —like Hillary, Nancy or Chuck—call her out and tell her to ratchet down the incendiary language…..

        #Oh,Wait….TheyChimeIn&MakeItWorse

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  16. DON: It is worthy of debate to discuss how SC handled the situation with 2 minutes to go and down by 6-points. The Red Zone becomes more space restrictive and tougher sledding for the offense. Hard to find fault with Wiley trying to get the touchdown with every play

    KAM: Others would argue ‘why not run some time off the clock with running plays,’ although the way the Illinois quarterback was clicking, it might not have mattered

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    1. KAM: Riley Coyote should have burned more clock on the drive. You can run the clock down more by huddling and hiking it with less that 5 seconds left.

      You would think a QB guru like Riley Coyote would know this and practice it with Jayden Maiava during the week. I watched the replay and on the last SC drive Maiava  kept hiking the ball with 20 or more seconds left. If Maiava  had been more deliberate there would have been no time left or they would have at least  forced Illinois to use up all their time outs.

      Illinois didn’t have a quick strike offense so having the full 2 minutes and 3 time outs left at the end was huge. Altmyer  didn’t have to throw it up for grabs and had time to run that big punishing back Kaden Feagin.  Most of that QB Altmyer’s passes were slants or out of 10 yards and he could scramble or do the QB draw, so having that time was perfect for us to deny SC.

      DON: You could tell we were the better team but were playing down to Illinois level, just like with Utah, Tulane, Maryland, Minnesota etc…

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  17. The Real Sparrow makes a good [general] point —get the TD as soon as the situation presents itself. But USC is not “some general team” — it’s a team with a terrible —truly terrible — back four. That’s partly because of injuries…and largely due to coaching. They can’t be entrusted with the game. They’ll phuck up. So –as dangerous as it sounds —THIS team has to run time off the clock AND score. It’s way more dangerous to ask the defense for a stop — they haven’t done it once since Riley became our coach.

    Prediction: we will play WAY better against Michigan…and win the game. Ramsey is the key to the defense [and I hope USC does some blood tests on him to see what caused that violent illness that no other player experienced]…..

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    1. I’m thinking Ramsey ate one of those bacon wrapped hot dogs they sell outside the stadium when the coaches weren’t looking. Breakfast of Champions they say.

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  18. The money grab to be part of B10 has been a disaster.

    Should of told old Pac 12, give us 25%, and let the other 11 share 70%.

    But the brain trust at HQ would never think out of the box.

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    1. We COULD have gone that route, Captain….. but Carol had other plans….

      I loved her comment dismissing the increased travel time: “They’re young….it won’t be a problem.” This lady really understood football.

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    2. Hmm. Referring to the USC powers that be as the brain trust, when you don’t realize it’s “should’ve” not “should of”. Interesting.

      Not that I disagree, mind you. But still interesting.

      I came down on the essential dissolvement of the Pac-12 as strongly as anyone. I knew it would not serve us well. And we were among the P12 teams that would be least affected.

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  19. It is also obvious that LR didn’t spend one second looking at the Illinois at Indiana game film the week prior. Bielema wants to run the ball. He needs to run the ball. And Indiana took that away from him. That should have been the game plan for USC as well. Instead, there was no game plan on D, and Illinois’ experienced O line pushed our D’s front four around like paper dolls. You cannot claim that USC has less talent than Illinois, on either O or D. So if you accept that conclusion, then it comes down to coaching, meaning game planning, schemes, and general personnel preparation. USC has gaping holes in that category that it cannot afford, both literally and figuratively. The Michigan game in the Coliseum in two weeks will be season defining. If we win, we could go 9 and 3. If we lose, we will go 6 and 6 again this season. Buckle up.

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