FOOTBALL

USC Suspends Stephens For One Game

USC announced it suspended Desman Stephens for one game and released statements from Stephens and Lincoln Riley.

So they finally realized how bad this all looked for the program?

My question: Who wrote the statement?

82 thoughts on “USC Suspends Stephens For One Game”

    2. It IS his character and will follow him for a while. There are certain plays that fans never forget:

      1999 – Penn State’s Lavar Arrington tackling the Pitt punter and laying on top of him.

      2006 – Miami Hurricanes’ Anthony Reddick swinging his helmet & Brandon Meriweather stomping on a player during their brawl with Florida International.

      2009 – Oregon’s Legarrette Blount sucker punching a Boise State player.

      This one is not quite at those levels. But it won’t soon be forgotten, in large part due to the celebrating that followed.

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      1. Chase McDaniel called it the dirtiest play he has seen. That seems hyperbolic, but the celebration as he came off the field, and the continued celebration on the sideline made it way over the top. Every viewer must have been asking “who is in charge of these kids? With all of the coaching staff, where was the adult in the room?”

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      2. You just reminded me of that picture we all laughed at, because it seemed there were almost as many coaches as players!

        And yes! WHERE WERE THEY?!

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    1. We are no more a national disgrace than Utah was when Whittingham said, “Once we saw Caleb was injured, we went after him. It’s unfortunate but that’s football.”

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      5. Riley is now tied with Clay, the village idiot, with a 39-19 record after each had coached 58 games. And the comparison doesn’t end there. Helton had Darnold for two years to improve his record, Riley had Caleb for two years to improve his record.

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      6. Jayden is a very, very good quarterback —but both Clay and Lincoln need someone phenomenal to make up for their coaching deficiencies…

        #JaydenIsTheRightQuarterbackForUSC…

        #ButHeIsNotTheEXACTRightQuarterbackForUSC

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  6. Good night the blame isn’t just on Riley it should be directed against the entire defensive staff = someone had to stand up and ripped this clown a new one ….no one did that’s what is even more disturbing. No one saw the need to express what everyone attending and watching live was seeing – indifference.

    Did Riley have any connection to OK? He has none towards USC none towards how this looks to other coaches, reporters, analysts alumni.

    What a statement to all.

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    1. Agreed ….but….we need to remember that Dante wasn’t seriously injured –he got a concussion …and once he clears concussion protocol he’ll be back at QB.

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      2. Yeah….Lanning is playing this for all it’s worth. It’s another concussion. The kind of injury USC deals with 3 or 4 times every season….

        I hated watching it. It was cheap. Lanning has every right to be pissed. But he knew by the end of the game it was only a concussion. [The kind of thing everybody who has every boxed gets visited with every 3rd or 4th fight —- not fun but it ain’t gonna kill ya]….

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      3. KAM: MG, getting taken off the field on a stretcher means it is a serious injury.

        DON: Watching it in person, we didn’t know at first if he was dead the way the players were reacting and he wasn’t moving… I was waiting for him to hop up like the ending of “Heaven Can Wait” when Joe Pendleton in Leo Farnsworth’s body is replaced by Tom Jarrett.

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    2. Who is the head coach ? It’s ON HIM !

      You think for one second McKay would have tolerated that ? Robo ? PC ?

      I agree, Patterson, who was a head coach, should have chewed him out, or his position coach, but did you ever think the culture among the staff is like the head coach, soft ??

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  7. Whoa. He wasn’t seriously injured but he got a concussion? Really MG ? Our daughter “just suffered a concussion ” and was brain fogged for 2 months, couldn’t put a sentence together at times, would start talking and forgot what she was going to say

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    1. I sure don’t mean to minimize something like that, karma. I never had one like that. I’d just take Advil when the pain got bad —after 2 weeks I’d be okay.

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      1. Our daughter was an officer in the Army, was a paratrooper. One jump, the chute didn’t open, the spare did, still hit the ground hard, head smacked the ground, she saw more doctors than I can count, neurological PT, scans, x-rays, balance issues, hearing aids, migraines, numerous meds, all from a severe concussion. Thankfully she’s better, still gets occasional migraines, but for a year she was a mess.

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  10. “I’ve watched three of their TV games,” Lanning said, “I haven’t seen a game packed yet, but we were here, it was packed tonight. So I guess when the Ducks show up, that’s how you fill up the Coliseum.”

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      2. Update for my bud, SSSSS [just a cowardly alias, yes?]: Not that I owe you d i c k…but…In between my 3 second replies I’ve been preparing for conferences with insurance adjusters, emailing real estate agents in Kihei, Hawaii and [another] city & state—don’t worry…not Las Vegas, Nevada…. and packaging my and my wife’s sh*tload of stuff for a Big Move…..

        #Grannie’sTiredNow…

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      5. Thanks for asking. The hurricane seasons are getting to me [so are the politics –I hate seeing such lovely people getting screwed on a daily basis by such terrible representatives]….

        Now, I’ll be further from my in laws and closer to my own family [in other words, now it’s Susan’s turn]….

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      6. Best of luck with your move, brother. I am sorry to see paradise get hit with one f-jam after another. Back to CA I hope? You are used to bad governance and high cost of living…

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      8. release your pearls MickeyG…after that game long display of chickensh!t sideline behavior by Stephens and not one of the 50 SC coaches having the guts to tell him shut up and sit down, Lanning is required to give some back or look like a bich. his comments were mild compared to the truth about Stephens and the SC staff’s impotence. he would have been fully in the right to blast SC on both points.

        #Trying OutForJenny’sPRJob??

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  11. he’s supposed to just let Moore try and slide for more yards and trust the refs are going to mark it when he started the slide? Would it still be targeting if the ball carrier was a RB? Reminds me of the targeting call in the Stanford game when Kiffin was coach. The real crime was the roughing call – he launched at Raiola, a legit call. That cost us the game and should be the focus of corrective action by the defensive staff.

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    1. Coach Patterson: “Why on earth would I initiate ‘corrective actions’ at this point in the season? …

      #…”We’reDoingFine…..

      #…JustDon’tInterviewMeAboutIt”

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    2. You really think the targeting call is what cost the game?? The game was long gone by then. Jack Stephans II disgusting behavior and laughing after the hit eventually brought the entire team down.

      #settripping

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      1. yes – the game was tied at that point. The team had shaken off the Quackers emotional surge over a shoulder pad to helmet hit with Jayden’s NFL-level TD pass over the DBs head. That was the turning point .

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    1. UW beat (1-3) WSU. Barely beat Utah St 16-14 and beat Eastern Washington. They lost yesterday to Minnesota!

      So, yeah, USC being favored by 10 sounds about right.

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      1. So there is a chance?!?

        Report that Maryland fired its HC, buyout only $9 million.

        It goes without saying that if you lose by 50 to the gutties, the HC has to be fired.

        #OnlyCommonSense

        #AndNoOneWillEverHireThatCoachAgain

        #EvenHighSchoolFootball

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  14. Coach Riley Clarifies What He Meant By “The Window Is Open”…

    “I just meant that the window for qualifying for a bowl game is open.”

    #BeatWashington&PennState&We’reIn!

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    1. It is nothing short of hilarious how close Riley believed we were to being worthy of the CFP.

      He is clueless and has no business being anything other than an OC.

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  15. This is nothing more than a Wiley gentle tap on the wrist of disgraceful linebacker Jack Stephans II followed by a pucker on his forehead.

    This reflects bad on the entire program and is a harbinger of what is to come IMO.

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  17. DON: There was so much build-up of that Oregon game it feels as if the season is now over

    KAM: That and the SC kid taking out the Ducks’ quarterback might be too much for some Trojan fans to bear

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      2. Even I don’t expect that to happen, Michaal. Not only will we win. We’ll cover the spread.

        Riley will pile it on, thinking it will make the Oregon game look like a fluke. Akin to an online bully who tries to pick fights with those she believes are old & frail, thinking it makes her tough!

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  18. USC will win, but will find a way to make it close – I am thinking 6 or 7 point margin of victory, the defense gives up at least 3 plays of 20 yards or more, and the battle of the LOS is a tie.

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