FOOTBALL

My Analysis: Why Are People Giving Lincoln Riley A Pass For Indiana Loss?

I’ve seen a lot of excuses for losing the past five seasons but a new one emerged following USC’s 27-13 loss at Indiana.

It was a game full of chances for USC, which is not surprising the way Indiana has lived on the edge with five games decided by one score.

But I’m dumbfounded by the spin that has emerged after the loss: “It’s the players’ fault. Lincoln was blameless.”

Are you kidding me? If you don’t believe me, here is an example of the madness.

Teams are a reflection of their coach. Look at Curt Cignetti or Bob Chesney. Their teams play with character and discipline. But USC loses and the fanboys suddenly make the coach irrelevant.

Did you hear the devastating comment from the ABC sideline reporter at halftime? Cignetti told his players that Lincoln Riley teams play worse in the second half. Cignetti knew. The Trojans scored three points in the second half.

Yes, players dropped interceptions. Jayden Maiava turned in his usual awful road performance. The special teams was atrocious.

But players need to be coached. When has Riley, the nation’s QB guru, lived up to that title since Caleb Williams departed? Who was calling the plays Saturday? The players? Riley has been awful calling plays in the red zone for multiple seasons. He threw a bunch of money at Mike Ekeler to fix the special teams. I didn’t rate Ekeler when Lane Kiffin brought him to USC and he’s worse now.

What drives me crazy and what some of these delusional fans fail to see is that USC goes into these games with a defeated mindset, because their coach is not a leader of men.

Look at Cignetti. His teams have a toughness. They attack situations. USC plays on its heels with its glorified offensive coordinator glued to his call sheet.

Who is going to inspire the Trojans? Who will provide leadership in hostile road situations?

Indiana had third-and-three at the USC 42 late in the game. Cignetti doesn’t flinch. He trusts his backup QB to throw a deep ball to his star wide receiver. Everyone believes in each other. There’s no hesitation. Bam! Game over.

Cignetti plays total football. A suffocating, fundamentally sound defense is the backbone. USC’s defense is an afterthought and when it does happen to have spurts of playing well, they don’t last.

Was there a single series yesterday when USC’s defensive backs covered the receivers consistently? It was just a matter of whether the QB would get the ball to the receiver. People like Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge and Yogi Roth want to pretend Gary Patterson has USC’s defense ready to roll.

But when has the defense flourished against a competent quarterback?

For all the talk about the schedule, look at the quarterbacks USC faced this season. It’s embarrassing. And still, the Trojans lost three games. They lost to Oregon and Wisconsin, two teams UCLA already beat.

What USC needs is someone to come in and give the team a backbone. A guy like Jason Eck who won’t take the nonsense and will make sure the other team knows who they are playing.

Back in the 1970’s — yes I’m going there — when a team faced USC it knew what was coming. You were going to get hit and you would get pancaked if you weren’t ready to play.

Today, USC plays hard here or there. It might tackle someone. It might not. It probably won’t impose its will. It can’t do anything on a regular basis, especially running the ball.

These things happen every game. But some people want to say Riley was blameless vs. Indiana. It’s easier to put your head in the sand than face the real truths about the program, apparently.

30 thoughts on “My Analysis: Why Are People Giving Lincoln Riley A Pass For Indiana Loss?”

  1. It was hilarious when the commentor mentioned Cignetti’s comment!

    The GameDay crew knew, too. They said we had to get out ahead, because we have generally not come from behind under Riley.

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      2. I was one of them, my friend [now I have to pin my hopes on a season ending win over UCLA —which shouldn’t be as hard as beating Indiana at home]…

        #ButItAllDependsOnJaydenNotPlayingLikeAFrickingHeadcase

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  2. Absolutely right – hearing reading the same nonsense that it was Maiava or the dbacks but not Riley. 5 years he’s been at this – he’s has the personality of a bean counter i.e. an accountant…whose found a new way to add debits and transfers against cost – he’s no CEO and will never ever be a consistent head coach because he doesn’t have a clue on how to lead.

    Want to know who is the biggest road block dumping this piece of filth ? It’s his wife – no way does she want to trade PVE for Backinhell-TX

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    1. The best indicator of future behavior is past behavior.

      1-8 versus ranked teams on the road. That 1 “road” win being 14 miles up the 110 freeway from our campus.

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  4. All I know was that Indiana was definitely beatable. Again, USC can’t finish in the red zone and can’t even depend on make able field goals. Yes, Lincoln Riley is no leader of men. Look at UCLA 10-0, in top 5 and lead by a leader who is hungry for a championship. Lincoln Riley=mediocrity. Unload this imposter. We have more talent on the field than all the teams we lost to this season but due to coaching and the prevailing attitude we can’t get it done.

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  5. Riley’s not going anywhere. They won’t spend the money to buy him out, plus with playoffs expanded to 24 teams next year, it will be a lot easier to make the playoffs.

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    1. They will not allow $40M or so ($7M a year for 6 years) to keep them from firing him.

      The expansion is more of a factor than the money. They’ll probably wait to see how he does in the new playoff system.

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      1. Put up the money for an elite quarterback….not a new coach [although you could coax me into going along with that too]….

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    2. Maybe but no matter what he’s out by this time next year regardless of what he produces – imagine what he’s going to hear for the next 2 weeks at both the LA Memorial Coliseum and the Pasadena Rose Bowl.

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      1. Yup! Cuz even if he’s lucky enough to squeak in next year (because of the expansion), it’ll be one & done.

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    3. All true, so the Wiley-bashers’ words will be blowing in the wind. Besides, how is it Wiles’ fault that his field goal kicker misses 2 kicks, his defenders drop 3 interceptions, and his quarterback throws 3 picks?

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  6. You KNOW your QB puckers on the road and big games. So does Riley take the pressure off him ? Noooooooo. When SC has won this year, they ran more than they threw. They could have run the ball yesterday and once again, Riley refused to do it.

    Expecting the defense to be aggressive is laughable, their coach is soft, they practice soft, you practice against a soft offense. HOW CAN YOU PLAY AGGRESSIVE ??

    Cohen better be talking to agents behind the scenes, boosters for money to rid themselves of this 🤡, because this can’t drag on much longer, the sooner Riley is gone the better and she better hire someone who will play aggressive on both sides of the ball and not another throw it all over the field beta male.

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  7. wolfman is dead on correct, that 3rd and 3 call by IA to throw the bomb was gutsy and broke the trOJies back! that was a pete Carroll move if i ever saw one!!

    #BackInTheDay

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      1. ….because Jayden is thinking this thought as he throws it: “I don’t deserve to complete this…it’s wrong.”

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  10. I wish one of the reporters at the post game pc would ask ‘Do you think you are earning your salary given your record the past 5 years?’

    The excuses for this game are absurd. How is this game any different from what we’ve seen in the past 5 years? This wasn’t an an outlier.

    That said, SC will probably beat UCLA because UCLA has all the pressure and this game is all SC has.

    I like all these freshman, which is why I wish they would go somewhere else. They will waste their talents with Riley. Raleek is a key part of a championship contender.

    Let’s just cut Riley’s NIL budget next season, save it up and let the new coach go wild in the portal.

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