FOOTBALL

My USC-UCLA Analysis: A Pattern Of Sleepwalking

I’ve been a lone voice when it comes to pointing out the surprise of even former players when it came to the way Lincoln Riley treated the USC-UCLA rivalry, making it seem like just another game.

Think back to two years ago when USC played listlessly for four quarters in a 38-20 loss to UCLA. Or last year, when USC messed around before squeaking out a 19-13 win at the Rose Bowl.

The pattern continued Saturday when USC played perhaps its worst half of the season and trailed a 3-8 team, 10-7, at halftime.

What is it about the Crosstown Rivalry that seems to often bring out the worst in the Trojans during the Riley Era?

USC looked awful at the line of scrimmage, didn’t have a single tackle for a loss of yardage and almost seemed disinterested. The Trojans should have been up at least two touchdowns and instead were tied, 7-7, before letting the Bruins take the lead before halftime.

Don’t forget Ohio State and Washington each scored 48 points the previous two weeks against UCLA.

But a USC team that fanboys want to say could be College Football Playoff caliber mustered just a lone TD against a far below average rival.

I’m sure people will offer excuses for the offensive line and defensive line, but it seems like they always stutter in the biggest games of the season.

It all comes from the top. Riley wants to talk about being undefeated at home. Who did he beat? Did you see how one-dimensional Michigan looked against Ohio State? Next year USC plays the Buckeyes, Oregon and maybe Notre Dame at the Coliseum.

After three quarters, USC held a slim 14-10 advantage over a team with an interim coach and the overhyped Jerry Neuheisel at offensive coordinator. Fortunately for USC, UCLA collapsed in the fourth quarter behind an array of delay of games an false starts.

Did Riley have USC ready to play its archrival in 2023, 2024 or 2025?

I don’t get how it often turns out this way and the Notre Dame performances haven’t been great the past three years either.

To add insult to injury, Riley was asked to direct the band and wave the sword after the game (pictured above). For what? A roller coaster performance? Usually, a player has to do something noteworthy in a game to have the honor of directing the band.

Maybe expectations are so low that people believe 9-3 is noteworthy for USC these days.

  • For most of this season, I’ve been tired of watching Ja’Kobi Lane signal for a first down after making even ordinary catches during games. Then last week, he got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for chasing an Oregon player behind the sideline for a football.

This week, he was suspended for a quarter (with Makai Lemon) for displinary reasons and then got another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. His behavior is becoming a distraction this season.

50 thoughts on “My USC-UCLA Analysis: A Pattern Of Sleepwalking”

      2. [btw, can you imagine someone so empty headed that— when she sees a post that is obviously comedic— she critiques it as though it were supposed to be an essay by Montaigne]?

        #SybilAtJerryLewisMovie:”IWantLawrenceOlivier!”

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  2. CLR is not fooling me one iota. In the big picture, USC is a not even in the same ballpark as Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, Notre Dame, etc. Add to the fact that CLR’s best wins are against Power Five teams that are a mediocre as USC. One of the bowl projections has USC playing BYU in the Alamo Bowl. If that happens, expect BYU to put a physical beatdown on USC, as would other quality programs, and this is because USC has not developed any NFL ready offensive/defensive lineman that have been drafted in the first round in recent memory, and that is where championships are won. Lastly, the fact that CLR has even thought about cancelling the Notre Dame series is beyond ridiculous. If that happens then CLR, Jen Cohen, and the rest of the USC hierarchy needs to be shown the door.

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    1. I’m for cancelling the Notre Dame series until they decide to join a conference. No more independents getting free rides to the playoffs. And no more taking all the money they get without sharing it with others. You want to play Navy, Army, Northern Illinois fine.Just don’t expect a free pass into the playoffs.

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    2. I’m for cancelling the Notre Dame series until they decide to join a conference. No more independents getting free rides to the playoffs. And no more taking all the money they get without sharing it with others. You want to play Navy, Army, Northern Illinois fine.Just don’t expect a free pass into the playoffs.

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      2. KAM: If USC had any leadership they would have gone independent years ago.

        USC: Instead they enabled the Pac 8 and later Pac 10 freeloaders and their thanks was helping to put USC on probation in 1982 and 2012. We still haven’t recovered from the last probation.

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  3. Face it, Riley is a mediocre head coach and he builds mediocre teams. His way to the play-offs is to schedule less than mediocre teams. This is the new way at USC. Excellence is just around the corner, just one small problem to correct. There will always be just one small problem.

    This guy is devoted to money, when he should be devoted to USC and the program.

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  4. I only half agree with Scott on this one. Yes, there is something wrong with Lincoln’s demeanor [an indifference you often see in doctors and lawyers…but almost never see in coaches]. It can’t but help to rub off on the players. The funny thing is: when Lincoln sees the team playing the way he coaches [with indifference] he comes to life and starts jumping around [proof of life] and the team responds. It’s the weirdest thing to watch.

    As for Lane, he’s been acting like a jerk for the last quarter of the season and Lincoln hasn’t gotten thru to him yet. Not a good sign.

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  5. One thing I will say for Ja’Kobi regarding going to the Oregon sideline is that he believed that the intercepted ball was USC’s passing ball, and he wasn’t going to let the quacks have it.

    Something to be said for that…

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  6. A 9-3 season…I recall in August many of you guys saying 9-3, 8-4. I had hoped for 10-2, with losses to the quacks and ND.

    What I see as the 800 pound gorilla in the room, and many others as well, is whether Riley can ever truly compete for a natty even if he has the most talent in the country.

    His personality is what it is – he is not Ryan Day or Nick Saban or Curt Cignetti or even that overblown windbag Lanning for the quacks.

    So, with that type of leadership ability, or lack thereof, can he be competitive with the top programs?

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  7. Debbie Downer! Wolfe, feel free to leave and follow another program. You won’t be missed. This is the same old rhetoric, going back to the Pete Carroll days. This program is chasing the gap in NIL money for a couple of years now. Sure there’s work to do. They need to get bigger and stronger in the trenches. They need to stay healthy. As I said before. I’m not a fan of Riley. But who are you going to get after you pay out the rest of his contract.

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      1. KAM: Is it unrealistic to expect the $110 million Riley Coyote, Genius, to win something after 4 years?

        DON: These are all his recruits. He can’t blame Hugs any more. And yet, with the softest, easiest schedule in modern USC football history, he loses to the only hard teams on the schedule. And losing to overrated Illinois, who was napalmed by Indiana 63-10???? Is that unrealistic to expect USC to beat a team who just lost 63-10 the week before?

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      2. There are reasons for the Illinois loss…. but, yes, USC STILL should have played better…if the defense coulda gotten it together on Illinois’ last drive we would have been 10-2 and in the playoff picture.

        I blame that loss on Lynn.

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      3. Agree, definitely should have been better this year (and last year and the year before that…_.

        My point about Scottie is that even when the glass is 9/10 full, he will complain about the air at the top. I recall his article about the 2005 beatdown USC put on Oklahoma for the title. There will likely never be a bigger USC victory that than this, but take a look at what he wrote:

        https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/sports/2005/01/05/trojans-make-no-1-statement/50922097007/

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      5. 67 —Sports Illustrated [back in the day when they had journalists who could write sentences] had a different take on that game: “Without a Doubt –22 straight wins and the makings of a Dynasty!”

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      1. Would be great!

        Entz’s salary is $1.5 million per year. Not a typo. I suspect that DeBoer, Cignetti, Day are all in the $10 to $11 million annual range.

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  8. BTW, where is that little wanker Charlie Bucket?

    One thing about owns, he would show up after a gutty loss (and there were so many of them) to go to the “Inside USC” woodshed. I recall Pudly used to relish giving owns 50 proverbial whacks…and the original Gabby would tell owns that break time was over and that fryer number 2 at Jack-in-the-Box needed cleaning…

    #ThoseWereTheDays

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    3. Trojan1967, thanks for the article. If I never saw that game I’d be thinking “what’s wrong with the football team?” But since I saw the game, I just know Scott’s a terrible journalist who can’t hide his disdain for USC. That article sounds like it was written by Tracy at BRO.

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      1. The article and the game were incongruous…Scottie needs to remember that the pursuit of perfection is the enemy of the good.

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  9. Worst half of the season is a stretch. The missed FGs go in and the impression is different. USC drove the field on all 3 drives it had (not counting when the clock ran out) and it took a half for Lynn to figure out UCLA was going the dinking and dunking route. Im no Riley apologist but the game wasnt as disappointing as it is being described. We should have blown them out yes but it was clear once USC went ahead in 2nd half UCLA had no chance to come back.

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      2. Michael did you see his last FG miss? Very high and to the right, which I take as him trying to adjust for our inability to prevent his kicks from being blocked.

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      3. I know — good call [I was so afraid of that being his mindset that I was whispering ‘just kick it straight, son’]……

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    2. KAM: The impression to the rest of the football world was that USC was losing at halftime to the worst UCLA team since 1971.

      DON: It was embarrassing.

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  10. Well, I think we know what grade special teams will get this week, despite Makai’s 35 yard punt return…

    “f” – lower case “f”, -along with Scottie talking about the need for a special teams coach…which he is so right about.

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