FOOTBALL

Lincoln Riley Talks Tough To Notre Dame

This is an amazing example of gall from Lincoln Riley.

He had the nerve this morning at the Alamo Bowl press conference to play the tough guy regarding to Notre Dame.

“Had Notre Dame lived up to their word and played us anytime, anywhere we’d be playing them the next two years.”

This is like a loudmouth at the bar who wants to fight someone after they left.

Riley spent the past two years saying he wanted to end the rivalry and now talks tough after the series has been cancelled.

Here is the kicker: If Riley is so tough, why will USC end up scheduling a cupcake to replace Notre Dame?

29 thoughts on “Lincoln Riley Talks Tough To Notre Dame”

    1. Riley teams gave up 162 points in 3 CFP games. 54 pts per game when forced to compete outside the Big 12.

      Linc ran away when Oklahoma joined the SEC and now he is running away again, this time from Notre Dame.

      No one serious is afraid of Riley teams on the line of scrimmage. Trick play on 4 & inches at a crucial time in a crucial game says it all.

      Bowden can help – already been making calls – if he leads the search for a new DC.

      Regardless, Riley’s cowardice is a stain on the program. SC didn’t cancel when Holtz’s teams hammered them and ND didn’t cancel when Carroll’s teams did the hammering.

      USC leaders are not blameless. They let the tail wag the dog. 30,000+ empty seats vs UNLV at ~$200 per ticket is about $6 million lost.

      More to the point, will a win over the Rebs get a 2-loss USC in the CFP? Guessing, but closing with a W over a highly ranked ND team would do the trick.

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    1. At one point Marcus Freeman said that ND would play USC the first week of the season. But Freeman doesn’t make that decision and ND doesn’t have problems finding early season match-ups with top teams. They have problems filling out the rest of the schedule when other teams are in the throes of their conference play. I suspect that ND changed their position, if they had one, when they got a guarantee that they would play in the CFP if they finished in the top 12. This gave them more leverage to say no to USC in week zero.

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    2. I know why, 67: They were afraid to compete.

      [Seriously, even though Scott is right about this being the toughest anybody has ever heard Riley talk, nothing he said was untrue]……

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      3. Not a fan of Riley but he is far from their worst coach. Would you rather have Clay Helton? How about Ted Tollner. We will have a very good team in the next two to three years.

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      4. I think Riley is an okay coach —far from the worst ever. But I bet Gabby was referring to the fact he’s the first to want out of the Notre Dame game… not exactly a badge of honor…

        #OfCourseNobodyBeforeHimHadJobDependentOnPlayoffs

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      5. KAM: Tollner was handed the punishment for the sins of John McKay and John Robinson, an NCAA probation.

        In 1982, the University of Southern California (USC) was placed on three years of probation by the NCAA due to serious rule violations, including the scalping of complimentary tickets by an assistant coach. As a result, USC was banned from bowl games and televised games for two years, significantly impacting their football program during that period

        DON: Tollner and Hugs never dreamt of ending the ND intersectional rivalry.

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    3. KAM: Because they knew Riley Coyote is a coward and didn’t want to lose to Notre Dame any more so they started this phony media campaign to destroy the tradition by moving it to August or playing in Mexico City..

      DON: …knowing the rah rahs and Fake News would back any ridiculous proposal.

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      1. True —but Notre Dame could have [and should have] called their bluff….

        #They Still Could…

        #Which Would Be Hilarious

        #Riley: “Uh, My Words Were Taken Out Of Context”

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    4. In order to play a Week 0 game you either have to (a) play Hawaii or (b) play it outside the US. ND didn’t want to jump through all those hoops after SC had already reached a verbal agreement on two setups for the next two years and then backed out of both of them. The bottom line is Riley didn’t want this game but didn’t want to look like a wuss for dropping it. Unfortunately, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

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    5. Week 0 isn’t even an option under current NCAA rules unless you’re playing in Hawaii or playing overseas. ND and USC don’t qualify. Riley saying he wanted to play ND is a flat out lie.

      Love to see him in the playoffs…December…South Bend..lake effect weather….and Freeman’s Irish will kerb stomp Riley’s Trojans.

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    1. Does anyone know why it is Barstow?

      When I was a kid, the family car broke down in August in Barstow. It was 105 or something like that. No Barstow again for Trojan67. Hopefully A/C came to that town…

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      1. 67: It was a failed attempt by Cowardly Gabby to save face. I challenged him to a boxing match, not an illegal street fight, in a gym in Pasadena. Gabby said this was too much of an advantage – my home gym in my neighborhood. People on the board mock him for this contrived excuse. He then posted under the alias of Frank Young that we should split the distance between Pasadena and Las Vegas and meet in Barstow. When asked where, Cowardly Gabby said the McDonald’s parking lot off Highway 15. No boxing gym, an illegal street fight. Obviously, he had no intention of meeting me for a boxing match.

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      3. Because she knows no one is driving 100 miles to fight someone over their keyboard warrior antics. She is the Chihuahua barking like a big junkyard dog from behind the fence.

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    1. Yes. Stanford is now a cupcake. So is Cal. These institutions no longer value a quality football program. No competitive NIL or sold out stadiums. This is why the BIG passed on them but accepted Washington.

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  5. Scooter,

    SC should have forced Riley to play nd. This is nothing but a cop out for SC. Horrible. Or force Riley to take a 30% cut in pay since they will lose money from the nd game that was to be played at the Coliseum next year.

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  6. Let’s not forget that when the negotiations started, and until early July, week 2 was open in ND’s schedule, but they scheduled Rice rather than SC for that week. Do you think they did that to try to force USC to take the November open date? A failed power play?

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  7. Two weeks in a row that Rams get screwed by officials.

    Blatent pass interference n Tutu and Nacua makes unreal catch but called out of bounds.

    At least Wolf isn’t’t bashing Rams/McVey.

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