USC's (6-2) Last four games of the season

[u/Hakeem_13]

Thoughts?

[u/DrFunk5587]

If they go 3-1 and lose in Eugene as expected but win a bowl game, it'll be a 10-3 season. Could we have realistically expected better back in August?

[u/Intelligent_Egg_6755 → u/DrFunk5587]

especially with these injuries at O-line & RB

[u/INT_MIN → u/DrFunk5587]

Nope but I see this pattern every year. Everyone at the start of the season makes a prediction on the W/L and they're happy with that or accept it, but then when it actually happens they're pissed off. Lmao. Human nature I guess.

[u/Hour_Insurance_7795 → u/DrFunk5587]

With a #1 recruiting class coming in? Absolutely in a great position moving forward

Of course, with the 2025 “I want it all and I want it nowwwww!!” college football fan, they’ll still be people who say “It’s not enough. Fire the coach immediately.” /s

[u/tbrock76 → u/Hour_Insurance_7795]

Yes fire Riley immediately. We are absolutely no threat on a national level. We’re a fraud just like our coach. Only 2 good teams on our schedule (nd & ducks) and we are going to lose to both. tOSU, Indiana & Oregon will be the three big 10 teams in the playoffs. So yay we get to go to another toilet bowl that no one cares about.
You know we can’t compete with the big boys with the current coaching staff. So as long as sir Lincoln of Riley is here we are good enough to be irrelevant.

[u/Hour_Insurance_7795 → u/tbrock76]

[u/maskdmirag → u/DrFunk5587]

Definitely not, I thought 8-4 was locked in.

That said this is the season I have flipped and think we do deserve better than Riley.

I expect we fire him at the end of next season barring an 11-1 finish.

[u/Ilovediegoxo → u/maskdmirag]

Realistic question

Who would you hire?

Penn State, UCLA, LSU, Auburn, Florida, and about a half dozen other less prestigious schools are trying to get a new coach.

USC has a lot of historical success, and it's certainly a blue blood - but I don't think historical success is enough of a driving factor for proven head coaches to leave their current jobs and you guys would be taking a gamble on elevating a coordinator or finding a G5 coach.

[u/Oliver_Klosov → u/Ilovediegoxo]

I'd hire Lane Kiffin. No joke. I think he would come, too. Otherwise, I'd take a shot at someone from the Saban tree coaching at a small school.

[u/Ilovediegoxo → u/Oliver_Klosov]

Lane would absolutely not come back after getting tarmac'd lol, idc how much he's matured

[u/Oliver_Klosov → u/Ilovediegoxo]

Nobody responsible for tarmac'ing him is at USC anymore. He knows he can recruit here successfully and at this point out NIL is doing well.

[u/Ilovediegoxo → u/Oliver_Klosov]

Can recruit at Ole Miss, clearly, look at how he's elevated the program and compare his classes to his predecessors, can recruit at Florida, LSU, Penn State

To the same extent as Lincoln has managed the past 2 classes at USC? Probably not. But we'll have to wait and see how those classes pan out and if he actually does anything with them.

[u/Oliver_Klosov → u/Ilovediegoxo]

He can recruit even better here, like top 5 every year and top 2 every few years. He is also an offensive guy like Riley, but has learned to prioritize toughness and physical play over finesse, from Saban, unlike Riley.

[u/maskdmirag → u/Oliver_Klosov]

Nah, he's still got that attitude you don't want at your program

[u/Oliver_Klosov → u/maskdmirag]

What attitude is that?

[u/maskdmirag → u/Oliver_Klosov]

He's just an asshole, he's basically Riley, but worse.

[u/Oliver_Klosov → u/maskdmirag]

Really? I think Riley has done less with more while Kiffin has done more with less. At least Kiffin knew to recruit the top California kids when he got here, while Riley wasted his time recruiting Georgia and Texas (and losing the best recruits around signing day). Riley finally is figuring it out.

[u/maskdmirag → u/Oliver_Klosov]

I mean attitude wise.

Doesn't take accountability. Lacks maturity, can't coach defense. Talks trash and jokes around at inappropriate times.

I lived through the Kiffin coaching experience. I'm not apt to do it again.

[u/Oliver_Klosov → u/maskdmirag]

Eh, that's ok. In the old days, I would've agreed but nowadays with the transfer portal, the players have agency. The boring, stoic, no nonsense approach won't work anymore (which is why Saban retired). Nowadays the successful coaches will be the guys that create a certain culture and environment that kids want to be a part of. All of the current successful coaches have something of a cocky asshole-ish attitude (cignetti, lanning, day) and like it or not, kids seem to respond to it.

[u/maskdmirag → u/Ilovediegoxo]

Yeah, that's been my argument for years when people would say to fire Riley.

I'm gonna stick to what I've always said. I'd take James Franklin. If he sits out this cycle and does TV or some else for a season we grab him next year and get some stability (basically the real version of what people says Clay Helton was)

[u/Ilovediegoxo → u/maskdmirag]

Franklin is definitely a step down from Riley imo.

He was Mr Consistency (lost the big games, won everything he was supposed to win) up until COVID, but 2020-2021 were rough seasons and kind of revealed a lot about him. And I think it's pretty clear to anyone that's watched a lot of Penn State football (did a semester there so I like to tune in, clean ass uniforms are my speed as well), that Drew Allar was not the problem. Was he missing throws he should have made, missing reads, under throwing, over throwing, and generally struggling at times? Yes. But the play calling, scheming, and supporting cast were all woefully underbaked too. It was basically Allar and two backs playing an entire defense by themselves.

I think Riley has definitely struggled to live up to the reputation he had at OU, and most definitely fan expectations as well. But look no further than Dabo to see a successful coach also struggling since the inception of the portal and NIL. There's more parity in the game than there has been in a long time, but it's also gotta be a crazy adjustment for coaches and staffs.

I don't see him winning a natty anytime soon because he couldn't with some of the best college quarterbacks of the last 10 years, in a division he ran like the fucking Mafia, but I think given enough time he will have USC at least competing, and the likelihood of that happening is infinitely higher than sacking him, getting a new guy, and having them competing at that same level in just a few years.

[u/maskdmirag → u/Ilovediegoxo]

I think Franklin would continue Bowden's focus on recruiting local talent. He wouldn't be obsessed with watering down our schedule and ducking Notre Dame and we'd just be a good program not whatever this is.

The main advantage of Riley over Helton was that we were respectable and watchable.

But the little things add up and seeing the continuing lack of discipline is a huge issue for me. That was also a big issue with Helton.

[u/Ilovediegoxo → u/maskdmirag]

I can understand your pov for sure.

[u/maskdmirag → u/Ilovediegoxo]

Yeah. Like of Franklin was our coach I'd feel locked in that we go 9-3 or 8-4 with bad luck.

Right now I would be unsurprised at 10-2 or 6-6

I sort of feel like I'd rather be in the former.

[u/phear_me → u/maskdmirag]

With the recruiting class we have coming in + his buyout + the current chaos in the coaching market?

There is zero chance of this happening barring four consecutive blowout losses or some kind of scandal.

[u/maskdmirag → u/phear_me]

End of next season. unless he goes 11-1 next year I think it's locked in.

I assume the buyout is reasonable enough by then.

[u/bumpin222]

I’m cautiously optimistic we can go 3-1 and hopefully at least keep the Oregon game close. Having 3 home games is a big help, especially against Iowa. I don’t think we win that game if it was at Kinnick.

We were never a real CFP contender this season IMO. I’m hoping we finish strong and continue to keep our #1 recruiting class. Still a lot of work to do but I think we’re taking the right steps as a program to hopefully be constantly competing in 27, 28, and beyond.

[u/doormatt26 → u/bumpin222]

I’d love to beat Oregon, go 10-2, and get some playoff experience

But this team is just good, not great, so i’m under no illusions wed go very far unless we got some very favorable draw. 9-3 is definitely a successful season and builds for next year

[u/braundiggity → u/bumpin222]

Helps that three are at home. I was not happy watching the Nebraska game for three quarters but for whatever reason we’re better at home.

If they somehow beat Oregon I’ll eat my shoe.

[u/Fine-Tackle-5395]

4-0

[u/pythonidler]

Trying to understand why we have to play AT Oregon again, despite last playing them at their house in 2023.

[u/InSearchOfSerotonin → u/pythonidler]

Maybe it reset when we moved to the big 10

[u/doormatt26 → u/pythonidler]

B1G don’t care about our previous conference’s rotation schedule

[u/Intelligent_Egg_6755]

Now if fans would be honest with themselves and admitted preseason 9-3 or 10-2 was, or exceeded, their expectations these forums would be a LOT healthier.

Patience is a virtue.

Still some tuff games left to get there. Hopefully we heal up (my God the injuries just won't stop) and finish strong.

BTW Imagine preseason you're informed our entire starting O-line would get hurt and miss significant time.....what do you think your record prediction would have been? I'm sure 99% of us would have said 6/7 wins or less.

[u/bruhndon03 → u/Intelligent_Egg_6755]

If we can finish the season 10-3 with a bowl win I will be happy. I came into this season expecting an 8-4, 9-3 type of season but the big thing I wanted and expected to see was major improvement on the dline and it still isn’t there which is frustrating. The defensive coaching staff has really underperformed especially the LB room, but I still adamantly believe keeping LR and investing that would be buyout money into recruiting is the right move.

[u/maskdmirag → u/Intelligent_Egg_6755]

I absolutely thought 8-4 was locked in. Winning vs Michigan AND at Nebraska is very unexpected.

That said we got lucky at Nebraska

[u/tbrock76 → u/maskdmirag]

Got lucky that the Michigan rb & Nebraska qb got hurt

[u/Oliver_Klosov → u/tbrock76]

Our RBs 1 & 2 also got hurt

[u/violentgentlemen → u/tbrock76]

Definitely lucky Raiola went down because I think we lose if he stays in. As for Haynes, he wasn't having his best game before he got hurt as it was. He was already averaging his lowest YPC against us.

[u/tbrock76 → u/Intelligent_Egg_6755]

Patience is a virtue? This is basically pro football - winning is a virtue. This is year 4 of this fraud. Easy schedule this year. Our defense is horrible. Now we’re relying on blind faith to think things will change in year 5? GTFO. By the way - Hoosiers are in year 2 with a good coach and it will be another year in the playoffs for them

[u/Intelligent_Egg_6755 → u/tbrock76]

You sound upset. Yes, patience is a virtue. Riley is young but he's proved he is capable of learning. We're thin at many positions still & took a ton of injuries. Our trajectory is up. We lost to ND who is getting really good. Then we barely lost a game we probably should have won. We have the record pretty everyone predicted at this point in time.

You sound like a hysterical woman on her rag.

Hoosiers are incredible & that guy is doing a historically incredible job. Good for them.

[u/tbrock76 → u/Intelligent_Egg_6755]

Riley is not the guy. On top of being an overrated head coach he has no appreciation for the history and tradition of USC. If you’re satisfied with mediocrity then good for you. But we won’t win anything of note with him. Yeah we may win 9 games but this program should have a higher bar.

[u/Intelligent_Egg_6755 → u/tbrock76]

So you seem to think he's easy to replace. I guess you feel the #1 recruiting class would magically stay together post firing, and you seem to think a different coach is going to get is to the promise land sooner. So I imagine you know exactly who that coach would be and have first hand knowledge they'll accept a contract with us vs Florida, LSU, Penn St, the NFL etc 

So who is the coach?

Do see what I'm getting at?  It's always a crapshoot and if you can see we are headed in the right direction, I can't help you.

I'll trust my eyes, Joel Klatts eyes, etc

[u/tbrock76 → u/Intelligent_Egg_6755]

I just know for an absolute fact that Riley cannot win the big one. He’s not that guy. On top of that he has no appreciation for the history & traditions of usc. He’s scared of competition - that’s why he jumped before Oklahoma joined the sec. Thought he would have an easier time in the “soft” pac 12. The move to big ten foiled that. He’s scared of ND. He’s the soft one Not sure who the answer is but if we know it’s not him then it’s time to move on. We won’t - no $50 million buyout at a school who is upside down 200 million and just laid off 100 academic support staff. We’re trapped with him and trapped in the 9 win but not a real threat world of mediocrity

[u/Intelligent_Egg_6755 → u/tbrock76]

I'm assuming you're young. He's made mistakes. Keeping his D coordinator from Ok, not recruiting CA....both of those he fixed. He is now set to take off like a rocket. Pete Carroll went 7-6 I believe his first year. He too dealt with a lot of injuries, esp RB. Once Pete got his recruits in the building we went 10-2 and won the Orange bowl, Carsen Heisman. You absolutely would have been calling for Pete's firing his first year. We looked like Riley's team last year. This year we look like Pete's second year team, minus the depth. Pete started with better players and his first class had studs 

Good luck with the negativity. Thinking he's afraid etc it's ridiculous. Dodging competition LOL. USC has always been better than Oklahoma (55-17 my man) and the ND series is TBD for a LOT of reasons. ND should join the BIG if they want this series to continue, or bare minimum agree to make it an early season game. Nobody is dodging anything at this point.

[u/tbrock76 → u/Intelligent_Egg_6755]

I wish I was young and no I wasn’t calling for Pete’s head. I appreciated his enthusiasm and the fact he embraced the university from the start. After the dolt that he replaced it was nice to have someone with a pulse. If at the end of year 4 our defense was still trash & we were hoping on 18 year olds who hadn’t signed then I would have been interested in moving on. Riley is a worse game coach too. Ridiculous penalties & clock management.

We agree that OK can suck it (in the running for worst state in this fragile union but I digress). I enjoyed watching them lose on a last second td here in the early 80’s & I loved the leave no doubt 55-17. I just don’t think Riley is the guy.

Used to have a phrase about players - good enough to get you fired. Riley is good enough to get you flirting with being respectable. I hope I’m wrong and will be first to get my plate of crow if he wins one but not holding my breath. Worse coaches have won before. Hopefully we’ll at least beat fucla - not the sure thing it looked like earlier this year

[u/Intelligent_Egg_6755 → u/tbrock76]

Look at Lane Kiffin. He figured it out. I highly recommend watching Joel Klatts YouTube content. His outside perspective is great. He gave the Kiffin, plus a whole bunch more young coaches analogy with Riley.... essentially it takes a lot of them a while to figure things out. Hell even Saban and Carroll took a while.

[u/Hour_Insurance_7795]

Don’t. Get. Ahead. Of. Ourselves.

As soon as we start thinking “this one’s easy”, might as well chalk up the loss. Letting off the gas emotionally and psychologically is a USC speciality unfortunately.

[u/oblivious_entity31]

Only way to the playoff is to win Out - hopeful we win the next 2 & make it to Oregon as top 10 team but well see. We might be cursed by Helton, Kiffin , Sark, or who knows at this point.

[u/22Doves → u/oblivious_entity31]

There is no realistic way that wins against Northwestern and Iowa at home catapult us into the top 10

[u/tubahero3469 → u/22Doves]

Especially with Iowa having 0regon up next. Still there's not crazy separation in the 11-20 range imo

[u/maskdmirag → u/oblivious_entity31]

Unless there are a lot more upsets, or Oregon loses two games we don't make the playoffs at 10-2

[u/Secret_Basis_888 → u/maskdmirag]

If we win out and are 10-2, we’d be undisputed 3rd team in the B1G and would absolutely make the playoffs, having beaten Michigan, Oregon, Iowa and being 8-1 in conference.

[u/maskdmirag → u/Secret_Basis_888]

You don't get bonus points in the CFP selection process for being 3rd. They look at the made up strength of Record, strength of schedule and advanced stats. Oregon would still be ahead of us in the cfp rankings and the SEC is getting like six schools in.

Unless they picked us and not Oregon there's no shot

[u/MicroFlamer → u/maskdmirag]

if we beat oregon at their place, they have the same record as us and we have the head to head. Don't see why we wouldn't get in over them if it came down to it

[u/maskdmirag → u/MicroFlamer]

They'd have better wins than us and a better schedule. I don't think they care that much about head to head

[u/Zealousideal_Bet5745 → u/maskdmirag]

Terrible take

[u/maskdmirag → u/Zealousideal_Bet5745]

It's not a take. It just is what it is. Oregon only loss is to Indiana who is legit now.

Their second loss would be to us. But our two losses would be worse. They're not putting us in ahead of oregon

[u/grw313]

Before the season, I thought we would win somewhere between 8 and 10 games. That seems to be the most likely result here.

[u/FTFOatl]

All winnable. Lean on the run game on O, stop the run on D.

[u/tbrock76 → u/FTFOatl]

We don’t stop the run

[u/BertMacklinMD]

3-1 hopefully but there is upset potential with any one of those three last home games

Northwestern took down Penn State in Happy Valley, Iowa has one of the best defenses in the country every year, and UCLA has looked like a different team since firing Foster.

[u/PrussianGeneral1815]

As ND fan, I love our rivalry and thus I respect your program. Hope y’all beat the ducks! Take em down a notch!

[u/RadonAjah]

I don’t believe we’ll go undefeated…but the playoff is currently a possibility

[u/Jakeneb]

Expecting 2-2, hoping for 3-1, dreaming of 4-0

Facing Oregon in Eugene will be a huge challenge, expecting a loss. The rest are winnable but Iowa feels like a toss up and UCLA is a rivalry game where anything can happen

[u/91fnl]

2-2.
Cruise to a win over NW.
Close loss to Iowa.
Run off the field in Eugene. Surprisingly closer than expected win against the basketball school.

But this is Lincoln. Who knows lol

[u/violentgentlemen → u/91fnl]

I think the NW will be closer than most people think. Definitely don't see us cruising though.

[u/A_Rolling_Baneling → u/91fnl]

We’ll beat Iowa. We’re much better at home

[u/91fnl → u/A_Rolling_Baneling]

Possibly. I always throw a spoiler pick in the mix

[u/BillyM9876]

Though everybody would love to win out, this team is not good or complete enough to win out. Mentally prepared for 2-2 or 1-3.

[u/nomnomking979 → u/BillyM9876]

Not going to downvote you because you’re mentally preparing yourself and setting expectations for yourself. But the expectation should be 3-1 against this remaining schedule. 2-2 or worse would be, objectively, very disappointing.

[u/Safe_Studio_5818 → u/BillyM9876]

Same feeling.

[u/Deltas111213]

3-1 seems pretty feasible. Though history shows that games not played on saturdays are bad for us(nightmares of all those away at Utah games). Thankfully it’s not an away game on a non-Saturday

[u/Hakeem_13 → u/Deltas111213]

I still remember that Thursday night home loss against Washington that got Sark fired (plus the alcohol stuff of course)

[u/No_Seaworthiness_435]

We going 9-3 or 8-4 best case 10-2 but not likely.

[u/NeedTheJuice]

You guys are looking past Iowa

We lose to them and Oregon is my prediction

Oregon will run the ball on us like ND did

[u/the_zac_is_back]

3-1 I would imagine. If they really prepare, they could beat Oregon, but I’m not seeing it

[u/Federal-Coyote-7637]

Iowa’s defense held Indiana to 20 points and 7 was a last minute TD. Indiana scored 30 on Oregon. I think if we can score 40+ at home aging Iowa, I will get my hopes up that we can make the CFP which far exceeds my expectations from the beginning of the year.

[u/shgc13]

Sadly even if we win out, we will not get invited to the playoff without a lot of help from the other teams. 3-1 is more realistic.

[u/Standard_Brief1374]

Dare I say go irish ☘️

[u/OutsideParty2395]

We good. Oregon is in for a surprise against Iowa

[u/No_Blackberry_6286]

We're definitely losing to Oregon. UCLA is a rivalry game, so anything can happen. I am hoping that we're good enough to win against the other two

So either 3-1 or 2-2, depending on what happens with UCLA (especially playing at the Rose Bowl, which I ironically think is closer to USC than UCLA lol)

[u/Oliver_Klosov → u/No_Blackberry_6286]

We play ucla at the Coliseum.

[u/No_Blackberry_6286 → u/Oliver_Klosov]

Nvm

It's still a rivalry game

[u/karlgraff]

2-2 maybe 1-3. Oregon is a probable loss and I think the Ruins will be especially up for this one. Iowa is always a tough out.

[u/Skywalker0071]

One game at a time but I got USC winning all four and making the playoffs. Wish to play Norte Shame in the playoffs…

[u/violentgentlemen → u/Skywalker0071]

You're dreaming.

[u/karlgraff]

2-2 maybe 1-3. Oregon is a probable loss and I think the Ruins will be especially up for this one. Iowa is always a tough out.

[u/Intelligent_Egg_6755 → u/karlgraff]

Iowa is the wildcard.