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USC Morning Buzz: What Is A Good Season?

What has happened to a segment of USC fans? They are softer than the defense looked against Illinois.

Right on schedule, they are saying a three-loss season shows progress and is an acceptable rate of return in Year 4 of the Riley Era.

I guess I was raised in a different era because three losses was never considered “good enough” for USC. I used to joke I covered the worst era in USC football, the 1990’s, and I don’t recall going into a season where people said three losses would be fine and dandy. The expectations have always remained high, that’s one of things that made USC special.

But now we just get rationalizers and excuse makers. Perfectly happy with 9-3 and a trip to the Alamo Bowl? That’s never been a good season by any standard I’ve known with USC.

  • Cal finally fired Justin Wilcox. So let’s relive a classic blog moment.

40 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: What Is A Good Season?”

  2. No one is thrilled with 9-3. It’s just that it’s what we’ve come to expect from Riley. The most optimistic people had us going 10-2 and more realistic people like me had us going 8-4. (If Nico plays, there’s a small chance that’s where we end up.)

    No one had any confidence in Jen showing him the door. About the only chance of that would be a blowout by UCLA on Saturday. Anything short of that, he will be given at least one more chance at a 10 win season AND getting into the playoffs.

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  3. Just spoke to Riley Coyote. He said if we didn’t have Notre Dame on the schedule like wanted, USC would be a 2-loss playoff team. Also, isn’t it Ironic with the good defense they are playing, Oklahoma is looking more like USC than USC is.

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  4. Realistically, 10-2 was doable. ND is obviously above USC’s level. Quacks are good, but will get overwhelmed like last year if they face OSU, ND, or Georgia.

    I would hate to see what would happen if USC played OSU or Georgia.

    The team doesn’t have enough depth, and the pass rush wasn’t there on Saturday, and the OL couldn’t open holes.

    Riley won’t be fired, but they better write some big NIL checks for some big uglies in the portal. Next year’s schedule is much more difficult.

    BTW, where is Bucket following that pathetic fake FG attempt the gutties tried against Udub?

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    2. KAM: Who’s fault is it that SC lacks depth?

      DON: These are all Riley Coyote’s players. He can’t blame Hugs for his lack of depth and lack of championships he promised us.

      In his introductory press conference. He emphasized building a winning culture, recruiting top talent, and competing for championships, stating, “Championships aren’t given—they’re earned, and we’re coming for everything,”https://www.google.com/search?q=sad+trombone+sound&oq=sad+trobone&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCwgCEAAYChgLGIAEMgYIABBFGDkyDggBEC4YChgLGLEDGIAEMgsIAhAAGAoYCxiABDILCAMQABgKGAsYgAQyCwgEEC4YChgLGIAEMgsIBRAAGAoYCxiABDILCAYQABgKGAsYgAQyCwgHEAAYChgLGIAEMgsICBAAGAoYCxiABNIBCTkzNzJqMGoxNagCCLACAfEFmpR1ZbYv7kzxBZqUdWW2L-5M&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:425436b7,vid:CQeezCdF4mk,st:0…

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    1. As I stated above, the only thing that gets us there is a blowout loss to the Little Gutties.

      Wilcox just made Cal bowl eligible for the third straight year! That’s usually not bad for Cal. But a blowout loss to lowly Stanford got him fired. Sometimes it really is that close in terms of whether or not to pull the trigger.

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      1. I hate to say this…but…anything can happen in rivalry games. We won’t play the same UCLA that sleep-walked thru the Washington game.

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  6. The world has changed since the 90s, Wolf.

    Portal, NIL, deemphasis in California on high school football.

    Not settling for 9 and 3 but lower expectations.

    This offense is a lot better than 90s USC football.

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    1. To play Devil’s Advocate versus Scottie, USC is one salmonella chicken dinner away from 9-2, and could have pulled off a win on Saturday to be if the obvious PI on Ja’Kobi in the end zone (the quack defender hit Ja’Kobi with a shoulder well before the ball arrived), was called, and the mistake in calling the penalty on leaping hadn’t been called to make it 10-1. The rules guy Scottie likes stated that the penalty shouldn’t have been called, and if it hadn’t then that quacks TD doesn’t happen.

      USC still wouldn’t be an excellent football team if this alternative universe had transpired. Simply saying that the offense is excellent when the OL shows up, and can outscore a lot of teams to win. But they aren’t competitive versus the top 7 or so teams.

      The team really needs more depth, and the defense needs to figure out how to stop a good team.

      USC spent a ton of $$ on the D-coordinator and his staff, but it is not showing up on the field.

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      2. Sorry 67 but i have to disagree. Endzone PI would have been a gift. The corner was a micro fraction early but no grab and was going around lane to play the ball plus the throw was behind and to the corners side. Other wise might as well just let every pass be a completion or a PI. you have to let the defender at least challenge. And these days no one calls an offensive push or a grab and pull (to look like a charge in basketball) by the offender and its done all the time. lane does it a lot and hinds occasionally. They never get called. And the leaping call was correct. It came from a player not on the line. It is allowed from an interior lineman from a 3 technique start but not from a backer or safety who is roaming. So that’s not a mistake. Besides the 2 blatantly missed facemasks make up for it even if it was. Honestly they got their asses whipped and it should have been worse. USC will always look better in the box score at the end of the day after getting beat cause they start chucking the ball up and have receivers that can make plays in 50/50 situations even in bad positions and bad sets, when plays break down (so don’t call riley a genius offensive mind cause williams was off script 68% of the time in his 2 years so that was all him and we are seeing the same thing with Maiva) and then when the receivers are not winning the 50/50 there are flags warranted or not since most of the throws are short and basically the corner will never get the call since the receiver will just slow down to draw the 15 yard penilty. Watch every game in college football now it is boring and its even more prevalent with usc football. It is unimaginative offensive football that lacks grit too. You may be successful if you have one or the other they have neither and just go for the flag or the wingspan to bail them out. Special teams are atrocious and defense is unskilled and has no grit. Just like Oklahoma pre venables. Ring a bell? Who cares how many heismans or what recruiting class rankings are. As we see they are meaningless. Its all just window dressing with no actual windows.

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    2. KAM: Weird how Indiana, Tulane and even Vandy are thriving since the Portal, NIL, but USC declines into mediocrity.

      DON: There is no excuse for this. 9-3 is what UCLA Fans hope for… not USC Fans. USC should be building toward NCs.

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    1. John, there are some things out of our control, and the pathetic state of gutty football (and their long-time 80-yard practice field) is one of them.

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  8. Nico will play. The ‘concussion’ thing is bullsh*t…… UCLA doesn’t know how to play it straight.

    #HopeWeTakeThemApart….

    #But,WithLincoln,OneNeverKnows…

    #[Remember:WeAlmostLostLastYear….WhenTeamHatedItsCoach]

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    1. If Nico doesn’t play and they still beat us, we need to surround Jen’s office with torches & pitchforks in hand and not leave until Riley is shown the door!

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      1. Question: What happens to the poor creature all those angry townspeople are after?

        #IBetIt’sNotGood

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  9. I’ll take 9-3 reluctantly, Obviously USC has a higher standard, and it’s not good enough. But compared to the last few seasons, I’ll take it. I disagree with it being a step in the right direction, they have been a soft team and appear destined to continue being soft. Things will not improve until they get tough on both LOS’s. I don’t understand the problem, can you teach “toughness”? Are they recruiting soft players? Are they coaching finesse? I just don’t get it.

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    1. Jim — watch post practice player interviews. It’s amazing how lost and/or brim-filled with attitude many of our key our players are. There is more to football than jumping high, running fast and lifting weights. Good coaches know that.

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      1. btw…sorry about the 2 “ours” in one sentence —never edit on the fly [but, unlike Sybil, I blame myself…. not Scott]…..

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    2. KAM: USC had a cream puff schedule this year, custom made for a NCAA playoff run. They were guaranteed to go 8-4 minimum and somehow lost to 3 of the 4 hard teams on it.

      DON: . Losing to Notre Dame again because we can’t tackle on a kick return is unforgiveable. We learned zero from that debacle. We lose to Oregon last week on a punt return.https://x.com/ParlaysPete/status/1992353091362906269Riley Coyote teams find a way to lose.

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      1. 100% True. We have a couple duck fans here…and they both said the exact same thing: Riley will find a way to blow it. The two, back to back Lemon runs inside the 10 yard line proved it.

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    1. I agree! [But the only way we’re going to get that is: buy one of those Star Trek Simulator devices and watch “imagined” games rather than real ones—12-0 regular seasons….year after year after year]..

      #I’dBeGoodWithThatAtThisPoint

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  12. A good season is one where expectations are exceeded. If SC had been picked to go 6-6, then everyone would be thrilled at 9-3.

    That said, Riley is going nowhere for at least two seasons. First of all, Dr. Kim is not the permanent USC president – yet. We’re likely to see a replay of what happened when Folt came in, i.e. Helton hung on for another two plus years, even though it was obviously by the middle of the 2019 season that he was floundering.

    The next president will have bigger things on his/her plate than football, but sooner or later someone is going to point out that USC football has not been relevant on the national stage in 15 years. Having a losing record against ranked opponents and losing consistently to Oregon and Notre Dame has got to stop, one way or another.

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  13. LR has brought a new standard with him, and it is below our expectations. This season provides ample evidence. USC oozes with offensive skill player talent, yet lacks a dominant O line. They also lack a D line and any ability to stop the run or pass, especially against top 10 teams. The mentality on this USC football team is soft, just like its coach, and the discipline is not there, because the leadership is not there. So is it any wonder when we have a glorified QB coach as our HC that key pieces of the team and a total lack of accountability and vision to achieve a goal are manifest? USC sports the highest football IQ acumen aggregate fanbase in the country, which is why this season’s performance, as well as the 3 seasons prior, stinks so badly for so many of the Trojan faithful. The flaws are obvious and glaring, and yet there is still no substantive course correction being made to date. Which is also why there is so much hedging on the upcoming game against ucla. So answers to those questions are thus: yes, Nico will play, and yes, expect the team that played PSU and won to be taking the field against us. If LR looks past the ruins for this game, which will make or break their season, it will end up being the college football equivalent of a knife fight in a closet…

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  14. Scooter,

    Who says SC will end up 9-3. I said at the beginging of the season that SC will go 8-4.

    If Riley loses to ugly, then what happens to him? Taco Lita Cohen won’t fire him and she needs to be fired as well.

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