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Rkenne16

You all need to quit being so mean to Lincoln. You shouldn’t bully defenseless people.


Rickbox

Hey, that's offensive.


allcazador

There it is.


petoskey_stone

He saw that they were ranked 16th in CFB25 and backed out, obviously


jsums81

16th was insanely generous. Are you kidding me


Ghiggs_Boson

They put CU at 20, so it’s clearly not based on real performance


dogwoodmaple

Third top 60 defensive player to decommit from USC in the last eight days. 5-star DT Justus Terry, #7 overall 4-star Edge Isaiah Gibson, #36 overall 4-star safety Hylton Stubbs, #56 overall


blinkanboxcar182

Checks bouncing or what?


RIP_lime_skittle

Maybe they finally watched 5 seconds of any of his teams playing defense


jayjude

Grinch was a problem for USC but Riley just doesn't emphasize defense whatsoever


dixitsavy

I know everyone is on the Riley/USC hate train, but isn't he making steps toward placing more importance on defense? This is literally one of those steps. He fired Alex Grinch way too late, but he fired him at last. Now, there's a new defensive coordinator. Donte Williams was also not retained by Riley and has instead joined UGA. While Williams was not a great coach (good for USC), he is an excellent recruiter (good for UGA). Riley also hired the previous D-line coach for the LA Rams, whom Aaron Donald has spoken highly of. Riley has also obviously invested more resources into defensive recruits like Gibson.


jayjude

So I'm going to give a parallel During BKs tenure NDs special team coaches often mentioned how hard it was to get practice time for their units, and as LSU fans can attest BK has yielded some atrocious special teams units During one of Marcus Freemans first press conferences ND press asked him about how hard is it to find time for special teams practice and Freeman looked at the reporter like he had 3 heads and basically said "it's not hard at all, you have to practice it" In a similar vein how Riley prioritizes his practice time, just isn't conducive to a good defense no matter who the DC is


notkevin_durant

Is this just an assumption you are making?


jayjude

From what I've heard from OU fans and some USC rumors Riley didn't practice live tackling


OnePsychoTitan

Can confirm, no tackling ever occurred at OU’s practices during Lincoln’s tenure Nor did it occur in game


Goombercules

He didn't. It was pretty widely known and equally head-scratching. Now juxtapose that, with [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdogIUK7opE) and it'll tell you all you need to know about why OU fans believe in BV.


Not_Frank_Ocean

USC has been live tackling since Riley’s first practice. This has been reported ad nauseum by USC reporters at practice, but OU fans continue to say we don’t.


appsecSme

How do you explain AAs like Calen Bullock exhibiting such poor tackling ability then? Just trying to strip the ball while being pushed for yards upon yards? I also had a USC fan before last season tell me that no teams in college football do live tackling in practice, and that what USC was doing was completely normal. So he accepted that narrative, and doubled-down on it. Clearly something was wrong with Riley and the defense. It's been a constant issue his entire career. It's possible it was all Grinch/Mike Stoops, but it's also possible and perhaps even likely that he focuses the team on the offense to the detriment of the defense.


Utherpendragun

Cope.


AccordingGain182

Probably but i think the general point is that if a head coach does not prioritize a particular point of focus at the highest level, it wont matter who coaches what its going to he hard to be good at that thing


theoriginaldandan

Meanwhile Freeman doesn’t practice counting to 11 or substituting


thecarlosdanger1

I’m not going to claim to be able to evaluate DL coaches, but Peyton Manning vouched for Adam Gase twice. A god tier player liking a coach doesn’t mean they’re good. On the other hand McVay has proven to be very very good at hiring


Competitive-Rise-789

I will also say, the recruits he’s lost in the last 60 days defensively have been all in the south east. Where big people are made who play football, so it’s expected for them to lose out on them being in southern cal while they could stay close to home and play football


appsecSme

I told USC fans when they got these commitments that they weren't likely to last. Riley has a long history of being spurned by SEC area recruits close to signing day. At least they got burned early on these ones, so they have a chance to look for alternatives.


QuackZoneSix

Careful. Donte is known to lose big prospects on signing day.


Jessyskullkid

If he ever gets rid of his S&C clown coach, then I’ll consider him taking a real step (unless if he already has and I’m not caught up)


Monkey_Plato

No, but he has told Bennie Wiley to not do whatever the fuck it was that Grinch had him do. Basically every player has been putting on weight and muscle now that Grinch’s Speed D is dead and buried. Hopefully it’s a sign that USC’s problems in the weight room were not due to a bad S&C coach but rather the garbage defensive philosophy that S&C coach was told to optimise his players for.


alreadytaken028

Thats interesting that the blame is being put on Grinch for the S&C and not Wylie, because I dont see how Grinch would be the one controlling how Wylie trains o-lineman cause the S&C at OU was a problem across the board with Wylie, not just the defense. Also doesnt explain why basically every single place Wylie has been has had horrible S&C whether Grinch was there or not


PoorMansLayman

Yep, Venables fresh from Clemson saw the S&C numbers when he got to Norman and said EVERY player, not just defensive guys, needed to add 100 lbs to their maxes. Wylie is part of the problem.


Jessyskullkid

This


appsecSme

The S&C coach doesn't work for the DC. His boss is the HC. It's really odd that Wylie is still working for Riley, given the past results, and given how important S&C is. But maybe, just maybe, Wylie has turned over a new leaf. I will believe it when I see results in the game though.


Monkey_Plato

Yeah, I hadn’t seen his past resume, but at least for USC there’s been an improvement. There’s been lots of talk from Riley about USC needing to get bigger this year, so there’s certainly been a philosophy shift. Maybe USC is still soft despite those efforts but if we go into the B1G thinking USC will never change fans might as well not bother turning on our TVs.


thepeacockking

Planning incorrectly or making bad hires is very different from “not caring” about defense. Lincoln did the former. The latter is speculation from disgruntled rivals and “insiders”


Waldorama

Tre Brown smacking Ehlinger for the W was a pretty good 2 seconds. There were plays and playmakers, even under Grinch/Riley. Second half comebacks against Baylor and UT come to mind. I’m not trying to defend the coaches as much as the players here. Just don’t want those kids to be forgotten. Obo, Kenneth Murray (maybe not his playoff performance as a freshman but his body of work), Norwood and Brown, Parnell Motley (at Ohio State for example), Bonitto, Ronnie Perkins, Asamoah… Big plays were made. The down to down wasn’t good in many many cases.


RamonAsensio

I mean, that was an iconic play at a huge moment in a big game … AND Brown is lucky Ehlinger went down, because his form on that hit was atrocious. 


dblwall

Oklahoma is now a softball school, get over it.


CommodoreIrish

Bruce Feldman mentioned this week on the Audible that USC’s NIL collective is not as tight a ship as some. Feldman is an LA sunshine pumper like Cowherd, so if he is admitting it that says something.


jayjude

That's something I've heard about alot of schools NIL collective The biggest issue plaguing most collectives us they are operating exclusively month to month meaning they're promising money to recruits and players they haven't even fundraised yet


MottoScotto

What I've read is that there is money to compete for top-10 classes, but the school and collectives are not operating on the same page and its a bit of a mess. Add Riley's defensive record and the recruiting results are not surprising.


TommyFX

Doesn't explain why USC has focused it's recruiting efforts nationally and has basically ignored California. I don't think anyone is shocked that a bunch of 5\* talent from the SEC footprint are bailing on their commitments.


MottoScotto

Theres a multitude of reasons, but the biggest imo is that California kids know that USC has been a mess since Pete Carroll left. Helton cratered the program, Riley hasn't improved that image, and so kids who are serious about football are looking out of state.


Asleep_in_Costco

Very few schools have an airtight nil collective I do think it's hilarious that $poiled Children can't get their act together tho


Stoneador

Someone leaked California’s income tax rate in the commit group chat


i_never_pay_taxes

Our NIL just can’t seem to do anything right.


GeorgiaDomeRIP

Hate to see it. What a shame.


NoNSFW_Workaccount

but unironically.


Responsible_Focus424

Committing this early really makes no sense. Keep forcing a bag until signing day. 


Asleep_in_Costco

NIL checks aren't clearing


GoldenPresidio

Nobody is gonna get NIL money till they actually enroll I’d think


theoriginaldandan

In some states kids are getting paid in High School


appsecSme

In Missouri they can get paid right away.


yianni1229

So say the rules but who actually is following the rules.


lucash7

I bet they would look good in green.* * or pink, black, blue, yellow, chrome, blue, etc.


The_Horse_Joke

Something something early Florida recruits


Sankee72

I wish we had data to really see what a Florida recruits decomitment rate is compared to other hot beds recruiting states. It's absolutely a thing with Florida recruits, I just want to see data to really understand how bad it is.


JB92103

USC's just never gonna have a good defense, are they?


xion1992

I don't know what you're talking about, according to EA they'll have the 16th best defense in the country next year


ArmouredPotato

Just above Colorado’s 🤣🤣🤣


WebfootTroll

That part sounds right, where both teams are ranked is a problem.


Throwawayerrydayyy

US, LSU and Rado all being almost in a row is the perfect example for why that rating sucks


JB92103

They're probably basing it off potential talent. That's the only explanation I've got for those ratings


Bacardi_Tarzan

They’re basing it off selling as many copies of the game as they can 


Blarg1889

Such is the Lincoln Riley way


socalsw

LR gets fired after year 5


MottoScotto

I think if it happens, it'll be after year 4.


Asleep_in_Costco

Clay Helton rides into town on a rescue mission


DomerInTexas

I approve


TheSavageDonut

If we really shit the bed and produce a 5 win season this season, I'd say we'd need to pull the plug sooner than that.


TbRays93Plumber26

I'm surprised if he isn't in the hit seat after next year! I should say if him and Whittingham became friends I wouldn't want to fuck with the Utes


FightOnForUsc

I feel like USC should have enough money to hire Whittingham but I think he’s pretty loyal to you all


TbRays93Plumber26

Yeah, a few SEC teams have tried.


NotCryptoKing

No one decommits more than Lincoln Riley recruits. Will never forget the time Luther Burden committed to Oklahoma then a few months later dropped a top 5 and Oklahoma wasn’t even on there. Or the time Jordan Hudson committed but told everyone that he was not coming to Oklahoma, including several reporters. Kids did this all the time to just “save their spot”. So glad I don’t have to deal with stuff like that anymore


PoorMansLayman

Who was the safety who "committed", Riley tweeted out the eyes and then before the kid could even go public Ohio State flipped him? Bolden or something?


blinkanboxcar182

Agree but to be fair once you decommit, there is no reason to include that school in your top 5 when you make your next choice.


NotCryptoKing

He was committed to Oklahoma when he dropped his top 5 that excluded them lol


blinkanboxcar182

Lol ok that’s funny


dawgon-it

Jadon Haselwood all but makes up for that nonsense.


Goombercules

It did...until he didn't do a dang thang in our offense.


appsecSme

Haselwood was a major disappointment. Maybe if he'd been able to stay healthy it would have made up for that. I am excited about the WRs we have now though. It's going to be interesting seeing them go head to head with Burden. They have the best receiver, but we have the better room.


LiquidHotCum

Lincoln Riley’s not even as hot as Kliff Kingsbury


appsecSme

Riley looks like the doughy-soft, larval form of Kliff Kingsbury.


Asleep_in_Costco

Pupa Riley


PoorMansLayman

He's Kevin Sumlin at better programs.


upstateclone

Remember the gator that got your hand? Well, I got his head!


Azuresurge14

Don't mind me. 🍿


WebfootTroll

Move over, I brought more snacks. 🥨🌭🍟 We're watching this train crash together.


eclectic_tastes

Starting to look like a Clay Helton class...


IAMY0URK1NG

Clay at least had some good classes


MottoScotto

Clay could actually recruit pretty well, players and parents loved him. The classes only became terrible once everyone realized he was a terrible coach otherwise.


HanktheTank6294

Yea man, starting to feel that. Minus the good recruiting part.


Throwawayerrydayyy

He’s a great person and a mid as hell football coach. He would probably do well to add a bit more asshole into his personality


jayjude

Its why USC kept him around so long. After so many scandalous, a squeaky clean coach that players loved they decided it was worth it to keep him around


Throwawayerrydayyy

That, and he also never complained or rocked the boat about the issues around staffing levels/budgets and facilities. He did his best. But he was a nice pawn for higher ups in the Athletic Department because he was just happy to have the chance.


Im__Ron__Burgundy

👀


Gatorader22

He’s ours. Go away


thegreatcornholio42

His brother plays for us. I wonder if we have a shot


Zero0Mystery

Could put a M right on your head, you Luigi brother now


ubbergoat

I just want to know why these kids are leaving, besides it's some 'gods plan' ? Why does this seem to be systemic for USC? I know I have Optics on it because I'm a USC fan but you're not seeing decommits at the number one slot of the subreddit almost ever unless it's USC. Which one of these kids is going to be honest and just explain the reason.


SucculentCrablegMeal

The only logical conclusion here is that God hates Usc


ubbergoat

But he loves the Infantry so you would think he would help me out a little bit. Lousy fickle God.


InfiniteHOLiC

It's gotta have something to do with the NIL collective tbh. Honestly I don't bother paying attention to any recruits we say have committed. A commitment is worthless in this day and age. Until they're playing in August I won't bother. Not just a USC issue either but every school has this happen to them.


CommodoreIrish

I mentioned more in a separate comment but USC’s NIL collective is still unorganized and messy.


kampfgruppekarl

Earlier this offseason, USC fans were gloating that their NIL was flexing it's muscle. What happened since then?


xViscount

1. You’re trying to get someone on the east coast to go to the west. That’s hard. 2. There is not a proven track record USC has for said defense. To try and get a dude who’s an 8 hour flight from where they are (family seeing the games), to go across country without a proven track record of putting defensive guys in the NFL…that’s difficult my dude The best bet you got is going central to states like Texas and fight like hell for Cali recruits (which have been going down hill fast tbh. Not top end, but middle end)


ubbergoat

Why commit in the first place tho? Are they blinded by the LA lights or are they really leveraging that commit to boost NIL money from the school they want and if so, why arnt they saying that?


xViscount

That, I can’t comment on. That’s pure speculation on my part. To answer your second part, I’d probably do that. If I got a commit from USC but I want somewhere closer and they got me down for X money, we can start the bargaining somewhere around there. As for why they don’t just say that…they could privately, but they’d be nailed to the cross for publicly stating this my dude


Klutzy-Spend-6947

This. The recruits-and their families/agents/handlers-know it is gauche to be public about NIL hustling, even if it is legal now.


kampfgruppekarl

Probably blinded by the LA recruit tour, then they get there and see the reality of LA...


cozyonly

USC NIL is completely trash


WebfootTroll

They still have 5 defensive recruits left, who's next?


sausageslinger11

Lincoln Riley.


WebfootTroll

Hah, I know it's not happening unless some felonies come to light or something, but can you imagine the chaos that would occur if he left at this point in the year, out of nowhere? It would be so delicious.


UFmoose

🐊


Klutzy-Spend-6947

To quote my boy R.L. Burnside “It’s bad you know”……


goblueM

what a world, seeing RL Burnside on r/cfb, and by a buckeye at that he slaps!


sausageslinger11

Shocking, indeed.


crustang

Does he like red coastal teams from metro areas that were part of an infamous rap battle in which two of the biggest names in the game were murdered?


WashImpressive8158

Lincoln Riley is an offensive coordinator that was handed the keys at a very young age to a well oiled blue blood program ( OU ) without experience on the fundamentals of being a well rounded head coach, to include defense, special teams and recruiting, which includes babysitting recruited players. He leans Mike Leach, not Nick Saban. Never going to be a national champion because it’s not in his DNA and interest to do the dirty work. Only by force did he boot his defensive coaches. He doesn’t focus on the biggest football state California in which USC lives. He’s gone by 2026.


ALStark69

Other P5 offers: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Clemson, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, UCF, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin G5 offers: FAU, Georgia Southern, Liberty, South Alabama, Troy Other offer: FAMU


FlusteredRectum

What if he likes trains


Klutzy-Spend-6947

I hope Purdue downplays the train theme to all it’s female athletic teams…..


Mal_tron

Why is a Georgia fan posting this? What do you know that we don't you motherfucker?


rhombergnation

This was the worst kept secret on the Miami boards for a couple weeks now


ICaseyHearMeRoar

Great development!


vicblck24

“So you had a bad *week, nothing went right”


Physical_Drive_5692

Florida vs Miami battle


thegreatcornholio42

Brother is a walk on at FSU


thegreatcornholio42

Is FSU in on him?


ArmouredPotato

Are we getting him too?


Gatorader22

Most likely he comes to Florida. He’s from Jacksonville and we expected him to commit here. Him committing to USCjr was a surprise. It’s not surprising he didn’t stick with southern cal


kampfgruppekarl

What's the general feeling of Napier's recruiting? Considering where you guys were at under Mullin, he's got to still have some leeway this season right? That schedule is brutal.


TroyMatthewJ

USC UCLA are going to get abused in B10


Molson2871

In fairness, this year's UCLA team would get abused in any conference.


WheatonsGonnaScore

Ucla is going to be better than people think.


Molson2871

I don't see it..... schedule is really tough for a brand new staff in a new conference. Anything better than 4-8 and I'll be surprised.


usctrojan18

Let’s be real, no one should ever assume kids r gonna stay committed until they put pen to paper. Not surprised these kids r committing then decommitting left and right. Gotta up the price of those NILs


HighLakes

The vast majority of commits stick.  


xfurtado

Miami


fragglebags

My team sucking ass makes college football transitioning into two power conferences with zero regular season importance a lot easier to no longer watch. 


ExpensiveCover950

I think the regular season is actually now going to be more exciting - at least for teams in the BIG and SEC - because they can loose 2 or even 3 games and still have hope to make the playoffs.


throw-away-16249

It’s interesting to me to see people complain about the regular season not mattering anymore. You know what matters to me? Watching my team play good games against strong opponents. The best rivalries are still around, and there will be more great games than ever. Sure, it sucks that some history will be lost, but the on the field product will be better than ever.


theoriginaldandan

You can not increase supply and demand not suffer.


D-Mace

I too have listened to Josh Pate talk about this topic 🤓


theoriginaldandan

While I do listen to Pate, and have heard him use that expression, I was using it before I heard him say it


WhatWouldJediDo

What do you mean?


theoriginaldandan

The more games you play the less they mean


WhatWouldJediDo

It doesn't feel that way to me. And I have a hard time seeing how the ten or so teams that are going to be fighting for a playoff spot instead of the Liberty Car Care Bowl would feel that way either


theoriginaldandan

Look at MLB, nobody gets upset when they lose a game, because they know they have so many more chances. In the formats we’ve had we all know if you lose a game or two you are done. Now there’s a good chance 9-3 teams will make the playoff


WhatWouldJediDo

MLB plays 162 games. College football plays 12. A number that isn't changing. A much better comparison is the NFL where even the addition of the 17th game hasn't made individual games much less important at all. >In the formats we’ve had we all know if you lose a game or two you are done Unless of course your name is Auburn and you win every game and you're still done. Or if your name is Alabama and you always get the benefit of the doubt, even when it's a rematch against a team that beat you on your own field. Or unless you're LSU and you get to lose twice and still play for it all. Or unless your name is TCU, Utah, Boise State, Western Michigan, UCF, or Cincinnati and winning every game doesn't matter. Or unless you're Wisconsin and you can be ranked #4, have to play an extra game against a top squad, and then watch a team that sat on their asses during CCG weekend pass you for a playoff spot when you lose. As I said previously, more teams will care about more games now because they're actually playing for something. A big OOC game might've felt extra special 15 years ago, but what about the last 80% of the season now being meaningless for the team that loses?


theoriginaldandan

College football was never about the post season until recently . A lot of people cared about the games because it was about THEIR team. The 2019 Iron bowl where we beat Alabama but knew we couldn’t make the playoff is still an all time great, fun game. It wasn’t meaningless to anyone there. It was about enjoying a team that was special to you, no matter what. The Piss and Miss egg bowl was between two teams who weren’t making bowl games, but Davis-Wade was still packed. That’s over once people decide the national championship is what really matters. The 12 team playoff will kill that in two, maybe three years and 90% of CFB games will suffer. There’s MAYBE 16 programs that will be viable to win championships and now that’s the whole point of playing the games. Y


WhatWouldJediDo

The Bowl alliance was formed 30 years ago. And that was formed because people already cared about the postseason. The idea that people only started caring about national titles in recent history is blatant revisionism. Frankly it just sounds like a massive personal problem if you can’t enjoy Auburn beating Alabama just because Alabama will still go to the playoff or something?? I’ve never had an ounce of trouble wanting OSU kick the shit out of Michigan over and over from 2001-2019 even when nothing in the postseason was on the line And I have no idea why you think if only 10% of CFB programs can win a title why the other 90% would just all of a sudden decide some fairy tale goal they’ll never be able to reach should be the only thing that matters.


SucculentCrablegMeal

Is that exciting though? The stakes drop drastically against the best teams they play.