FOOTBALL

Morning Buzz: If USC Was Smart, It Would Do This

Lincoln Riley said USC played “complementary ball” against Ohio State.

That’s interesting because Riley teams rarely play complementary football, it’s one of his trademarks like the Air Raid offense.

  • USC received a commitment from three-star defensive tackle Simeon Jones. He was previously committed to James Madison.
  • Purdue has dropped out of next year’s game with Notre Dame on Labor Day weekend. USC plays UNLV that weekend.

If USC was smart it would move the UNLV game to the end of the year and play Notre Dame to open the season. If USC was smart . . .

UPDATED: Notre Dame says it will now play Illinois that weekend. Notice how Notre Dame quickly fills schedule openings. USC still has an opening on its 2027 schedule.

  • The Big Ten’s games on Fox, CBS and NBC are down a collective 10.4 percent from 2025, according to the Athletic. Meanwhile, the SEC and Big 12 ratings are up. So many Big Ten games are just bland so it’s not surprising.
  • What has happpened to USC’s media relations?

Lincoln Riley only made himself and two players available for seven minutes after the Wisconsin game. Then Riley read an awkward prepared statement Saturday night.

After USC women’s basketball victory over UNLV yesterday, JuJu Watkins did not speak to the media in her first game in more than a year. Several media outlets made a special trip to Las Vegas for the game and got no access to the star player. This is not how you grow the sport or increase the USC brand.

12 thoughts on “Morning Buzz: If USC Was Smart, It Would Do This”

  2. Scott, Linc Riley already said he’d play Notre Dame “anywhere, anytime”. His complete avoidance at playing ND at every chance and at every turn is just him getting in ND’s head and winning the psychological battle, dontcha know? LR has made USC into the most respected program in all of college football and Lincoln Riley is a football genius…said it so himself.

    Day after day, alone on a hill
    The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still
    But nobody wants to know him, they can see that he’s just a fool
    And he never gives an answer

    But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down
    And the eyes in his head see the world spinning around

    And nobody seems to like him, they can tell what he wants to do
    And he never shows his feelings. And he never listens to them, he knows that they’re the fools. They don’t like him.

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    1. Love it. Not sure whether it’s more Dennis Hopper at the end of Apocalypse Now saying that if is the middle word in life, or what remained of the Spartans when they responded to Phillip II of Macedon when he warned them that if he invaded their city-state his army would destroy it. But I love it.

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      2. Apocalypse Now is a stellar film and Dennis Hopper nails his role.

        You can’t travel in space…you can’t go out into space. You know? Without, like, you know, uh, with fractions. What are you gonna land on? One quarter? Three-eighths?

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  4. USC broke the NIL $ barrier for tight ends with $5 million or so for Mark Bowman for 3 years.

    Looks like a great investment, there is no way IMO they would have beaten Ohio St last week without him, and not just his catch-and-run TD that might be the play of the year. Outstanding blocking, including a block that sprung Mosley on his TD.

    The pro football draft guys gave him a 92/100 score versus Ohio St, which they consider “elite/potential pro bowl” status.

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    1. I’m not a Chiefs fan even though I live in KC … but wow wouldn’t the local fans love to plug him in when Mr. Swift retires after this season (and I would guess Bowman wouldn’t suffer for having Mahomes delivering the rock to him).

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  5. Scott, the story should be more about why Purdue, a team in Indiana, doesn’t want to play the Irish. Maybe the ND schedule problems has more to do with ND being the princess and not the Big Ten schools who refuse to play them. And, just maybe Juju doesn’t want this season to be all about her but rather about the team and the other young stars. Dig deeper, Scott. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

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  6. If you hate USC so much, and apparently, you do, you should go cover ucla or some other university that has no great accomplishments.

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