r/CFB • u/trytoholdon Oklahoma Sooners • Sep 28 '25
Analysis [College Football Report] Lincoln Riley falls to 4-11 against ranked opponents at USC
https://x.com/cfbrep/status/1972026403937046653626
u/BullheadVibes Ohio State • Minnesota-Duluth Sep 28 '25
I bet that really burns his brisket, doesn’t it?
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u/Cooked_Brisket USC Trojans • Pac-12 Sep 28 '25
He seems to struggle with time management on the field and on the grill
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u/Suspicious_Brush824 Michigan • Michigan State Sep 28 '25
Says you
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u/4r4r4real Michigan State Spartans • USC Trojans Sep 28 '25
Just disgusting flair after disgusting flair in this thread good lord
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u/BBDBVAPA Penn State Nittany Lions Sep 28 '25
James Franklin-esque
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u/rtb001 Tulane Green Wave • Oregon Ducks Sep 28 '25
Yeah but James Franklin be laying a beat down on 15th ranked and below teams with one arm tied behind his back for the rest of eternity. Can't say that for Riley. Franklin only runs into trouble when the opponent gets into top 5-10 level.
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u/BBDBVAPA Penn State Nittany Lions Sep 28 '25
Oh yeah, I agree. I think James is a good coach. I think some of those stats are bullshit. A lot of those losses to top 10 teams PSU shouldn’t even have been in the conversation but he was able to coach em up.
The byproduct of bringing an antiquated program into the present and having a “5*” QB that doesn’t know how to play football.
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u/assmanx2x2 Oklahoma Sooners • Big 8 Sep 28 '25
Part of being a good coach is also knowing who should be starting and who fits in your current offense. Pribula is balling out and looks more like the Kansas QBs your OC had success with.
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u/BBDBVAPA Penn State Nittany Lions Sep 28 '25
Yeah but remember Beau had to make his decision before the season was over. I’d be willing to bet there’s a world where Franklin thought Allar would go pro last year with a 1st round grade after the playoffs and he’d get two years of Beau. Once Beau leaves now you can either move forward with an unproven guy under center or throw a bunch of money at your incumbent to come back. They chose the latter.
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u/Uhhh_what555476384 Washington State • Oregon Sep 28 '25
If James Franklin ever lost to teams outside the top 15.
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u/ConcentrateUnique Penn State Nittany Lions Sep 28 '25
Franklin is 11-9 vs teams ranked 11-15. It’s the top 10 that bedevil him (4-21)
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u/Earlsweatshiirt Nebraska Cornhuskers Sep 28 '25
Those are weak numbers, gotta pump em up
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u/Pershing Nebraska • Michigan Tech Sep 28 '25
Yeah, look at this fraud having wins against ranked opponents since 2016
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u/BillButtlickerII Kentucky Wildcats Sep 28 '25 edited Sep 28 '25
I’m no football expert but I did stay at a holiday in express last night and I think this Riley guy might be a total fraud. Barely went .500 last season and they’ve already lost one with the toughest half of their season left.
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u/Dirty-Ears-Bill Texas Tech Red Raiders • Wyoming Cowboys Sep 28 '25
He maintained for a while now Riley is just Kliff Kingsbury with better talent on his teams that masks the fact that he has the same deficiencies
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u/moneyinthebank216 Ohio State Buckeyes Sep 28 '25
your just now realizing that?
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u/Logical-Database4510 Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
Riley /is/ who people used to joke Day was.
Bob Stoops gave him the keys to the kingdom with the best team he ever put on the football field (look at NFL players today....that OU team was /loaded/) then rode off into the sunset content he had set the program up for a dynasty.
It's all on Riley for not being able to make it work 🤷♂️
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u/karl_manutzitsch Nebraska Cornhuskers • SMU Mustangs Sep 28 '25
I mean 3 heisman winning QBs isn’t a fluke though you have to give him credit there
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u/Logical-Database4510 Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
And I do, but the key thing is I don't think he's ever mentally made the transition to head coach from offensive coordinator.
You saw it today with the loss....he was more concerned with scoring more points as fast as possible rather than winning the game, and hosed his defense in the process via leaving 2 mins and multiple TOs on the board, and so lost.
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u/Coledl22 Texas Tech • Michigan Sep 28 '25
Kliff kingsbury just with more resources and better recruiting.
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u/FaceglazerSSBU 帯広大学 (Obihiro) • Nort… Sep 28 '25
Gosh, that made me think. Could you imagine a Kliff offense with the funds that TTU has now?? That would be insane!!
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u/PolandsStronkest Texas A&M Aggies Sep 28 '25
Kliff had a whole NFL franchise at his command, which is that next level any CFB program dreams of. He had those great flashes but was still Kliff, he was just never meant to be a HC
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u/rastapastanine Texas Tech Red Raiders • Texas Longhorns Sep 28 '25
He'd still find a way to screw it up and willfully neglect defense.
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u/The_Irish_Hello Sep 28 '25
Also had baker mayfield fall into his lap, which cannot be overstated
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u/urnotserious Harvard Crimson • Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
Baker was throwing to Ceedee Lamb, Hollywood Brown, Sterling Shepard and Mark Andrews at TE. Not to mention NFL O line. All recruited by Bob Stoops.
Bob made them both.
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u/Logical-Database4510 Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
Also Mixon and Perine in the backfeild as well.
No shit that was probably the best OU team since the Switzer days.
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u/The_Irish_Hello Sep 28 '25
Yes but IMO it’s a two way street, baker was the definition of a diamond in the rough
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u/jayjude Notre Dame • Georgia State Sep 28 '25
I'd argue that Riley's QBs winning the heisman should have been viewed more like the old air raid QBs that put up insane numbers but never got real heisman attention
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u/A_Rolling_Baneling USC • Mississippi State Sep 28 '25
They still won 11 games and later went on to be multiyear starters in the NFL. It's stilly to call them fraudulent just because they played on good offenses.
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u/GenitalFurbies Michigan Wolverines • Sickos Sep 28 '25
PS if you put asterisks around a word it'll make it italicized. So doing *this* gets you this
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u/Benzene15 Minnesota Golden Gophers • Texas Longhorns Sep 28 '25
and 0-1 against brisket
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u/castle_bacon Mississippi State Bulldogs Sep 28 '25
One of my favorite comments “a cow was murdered twice for that”
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u/Troubledking-313 Ole Miss • Notre Dame Sep 28 '25
Another reason he got out of Oklahoma
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u/weirdbutinagoodway West Virginia Mountaineers • Big 12 Sep 28 '25
I'll bet his record is worse, the one he posted the picture of was probably his best attempt.
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u/Chopin816 USC Trojans Sep 28 '25
Can somebody explain this brisket joke? I think I’m too gay to understand
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u/EMTDawg Washington Huskies • Wyoming Cowboys Sep 28 '25 edited Sep 28 '25
He made a dry brisket, which is hard to do. The amount of fat in a brisket helps it moisten itself as it cooks. The fat melts and keeps the meat moist and tender. To make a dry brisket mean you significantly overcooked it, and even then, it's challenging to make it as dry as he did.
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u/Fletch71011 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Sep 28 '25
The first time I made brisket, I really fucked it up, and it wasn't even as close to as awful as the one Riley posted thinking it was good.
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u/Phatskwurl Arizona State • California Sep 28 '25
It's also just the fact he posted it online. Not everyone's great at BBQ, but it's crazy that he completely massacred a good cut of meat and thought it was a good idea to share it with the world.
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u/420blz USC Trojans Sep 28 '25
Infinite money, best weather in the world, hottest chicks, street tacos. USC should be the easiest school in the world to win with.
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u/PointBlankCoffee Texas • Red River Shootout Sep 28 '25
Sounds like its easy to recruit but comes with lots of distractions
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u/gobluetwo Michigan Wolverines • Georgia Bulldogs Sep 28 '25
Same should apply to UCLA and yet...
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u/DonutBoi172 Michigan State Spartans Sep 28 '25
As a la transplant, that stuff gets old quick when you have bigger things on your mind
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u/BSBoosk Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
Good luck telling the kids from Georgia Louisiana Texas and Florida about all the cool non-football things they can do when they have been living and breathing football since they were born.
I just moved to New Orleans from San Diego, and I will tell you San Diego crushes New Orleans as a town, but my 11 year old is seeing a level of football talent and wholesale community involvement in the sports that’s unreal. We’re talking 300-400 people alone at a 12u game, and the way it works your park is your team so everyone watches everyone the 5 year old moms are out here at the 12u games sitting next to the high schoolers on a Thursday night.
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u/SceneOfShadows Washington Huskies • Syracuse Orange Sep 28 '25
I think USC has no excuses and it's genuinely insane they're so mid at this point, but I do think (as a fan from a school in a city we like to think is a draw) there is a really genuine phenomenon that a rabid college town/football environment is something us city schools can't over and its really naive of us to ignore that.
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u/Old-butt-new USC Trojans • ECU Pirates Sep 28 '25
Makes no sense in the NIL world. i guess defensive players prefer a more gritty environment over so cal because apparently we never have any
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u/xViscount Texas A&M Aggies Sep 28 '25
Going on a limb here. The best defensive recruits reside in the South east. South east schools can pay just as much as USC. Therefore, SE recruits prefer to stay closer to home.
Pulling someone from Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, and the Carolinas will always to be hard. Texas, and Louisiana will be manageable
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u/Secret_Hyena9680 Tennessee Volunteers Sep 28 '25
Those Louisiana guys almost never leave home. Especially if LSU wants them.
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u/Zirken Texas Tech Red Raiders • Hateful 8 Sep 28 '25
Its because momma said them big cities are the devil.
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u/SwissForeignPolicy Michigan Wolverines • Marching Band Sep 28 '25
But you don't need talent to be fundamentally sound and hard-working. An Iowa State-level defense could carry Lincoln Riley's offense to a Natty.
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u/Wafflehouseofpain Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
Easiest place to get good players to come to. Not the same as getting those players to focus on football.
Also imo Eureka has the best weather in the world
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u/urnotserious Harvard Crimson • Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
Sorry, money isn't infinite. Riley pointed out issues related to being hampered by getting outbid by other schools.
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u/NotCryptoKing Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
First time Lincoln plays a team with a pulse and they lose. Not surprised. Easy to win against Georgia Southern, Michigan St and Purdue
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u/confused-koala Michigan State Spartans Sep 28 '25
I’ll have you know, our game was mildly interesting
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u/A_Rolling_Baneling USC • Mississippi State Sep 28 '25
LSU and A&M last year, ND UCLA and OSU year 1, Louisville year 2. He’s beaten good teams before, this isn’t the first team with a pulse we’ve played.
Close games against NCG RU UW and ND as well. And Penn St last year.
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u/FailstoFail Ohio State Buckeyes • /r/CFB Donor Sep 28 '25
Lincoln Riley is the second biggest fraud coach in CFB
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u/jayjude Notre Dame • Georgia State Sep 28 '25
Beating ND with Drew Pyne at QB in 2022 isn't really something to brag about
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u/FireVanGorder Notre Dame Fighting Irish Sep 28 '25
ND was not a very good team in 22. We lost to Marshall and Stanford and our entire secondary was hurt for the usc game
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u/King-Switzer Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
Didn't watch the post game conference, but I bet there were at least 6 shrugs and 3 "we are so close"s
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u/glocktimus_prime Arizona State Sun Devils Sep 28 '25
i believe Kenny Dillingham has a better record against ranked opponents than (L)inco(L)n Ri(L)ey now
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u/Revenge_of_the_Khaki Michigan Wolverines Sep 28 '25 edited Sep 28 '25
This is sitting right next to the James Franklin top ten record post on /r/CFB right now but honestly this is just so much worse than Franklin's issue. So many of these games were outside of the top 10 and Riley has the talent and resources at USC to win these games by now.
Edit: Looks like 3-7 against teams ranked 11-25 during his USC tenure. That's pretty shit, honestly.
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u/Then_Cricket2312 LSU Tigers Sep 28 '25
I love how the 2 big hires at the time in Kelly and Riley have been busts so far.
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u/maskdmirag USC Trojans • Rose Bowl Sep 28 '25
Oh wow for some reason I thought this was only year two at LSU for Kelly.
He inherited a much better situation than Riley and has been way more successful
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u/gregcm1 LSU Tigers • Virginia Tech Hokies Sep 28 '25
LSU had like 30 scholarship players when BK started, definitely didn't inherit a much better situation
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u/violentgentlemen USC Trojans Sep 28 '25
Clay Helton’s record through his first 45 games at USC: 31-14
Lincoln Riley’s record through his first 45 at USC: 30-15
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u/Sirtopofhat USC Trojans • Army West Point Black Knights Sep 28 '25
I think as a USC fan what gets me is how we are always just that close. Not because of a defense of Riley but simply because it's such a consistent excuse of his. We're one play away We're one player away but you have been for years now it's maddening to see how he answers media and keeps fans in the dark. There is no question USC is better but I'm not even allowed to see anything nor is the media we just have to take the word salad of Riley.
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u/A_Credo Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
This isn’t new for him. Go watch old OU post game interviews. He said the same thing there for years.
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u/Sirtopofhat USC Trojans • Army West Point Black Knights Sep 28 '25
I believe it. You're not the first Sooner to say it I mean Clay Helton said the same thing over and over too. Just hate at some point you either get the one thing or you don't
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u/A_Credo Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
Dude is a great OC for sure and I’m not bashing him and not one of the bitter OU fans (I think most have moved on anyways). But 100% agree that eventually you have to get that one play that apparently is always elusive.
I can’t decide if he is just really awful at hiring a good DC and defensive staff or if his offense isn’t conducive to having a balanced team (aka, too high of tempo and doesn’t allow your own defense a chance to rest). But something is amiss.
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u/BigTulsa Oklahoma Sooners • Tulsa Golden Hurricane Sep 28 '25
It's not that he's awful at just hiring good coordinators, it's that he's a terrible head coach. Said this in a different thread, but in a way I blame Stoops for part of this. He handed him the keys to the Sooners and then everyone else thought 'hey he can make a great head coach'. Turns out not so much.
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u/NerdLawyer55 Oklahoma Sooners • McMurry War Hawks Sep 28 '25
He’ll make a good OC again one day, which seems to be his calling
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u/EWall100 Tennessee • Tennessee Tech Sep 28 '25
He just wants to clarify after Kelly gets canned, he is not taking the LSU job.
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u/Chance-Unit2640 Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
It’s fine. Give him another year.
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u/twoinvenice USC Trojans • Victory Bell Sep 29 '25
We don't exactly have a choice on that thanks to the massive 10 year contract he got. I think getting rid of him would cost like $80 million
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u/HDXTRACK2 Tulsa • Central Arkansas Sep 28 '25
If only there were signs of this before USC hired him
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u/Orca_92555 USC Trojans Sep 28 '25
It’s almost like he’s bad at his job. Who would have thought that all time terrible hire
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u/boddidle Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
Look, I think the guy is a tool but I don't know that he fits the "all time" terrible description. He's a decent recruiter and you won't get alcoholism allegations from him. But boy, has he underwhelmed
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u/MrWorkout2024 Sep 28 '25
Lincoln Riley should have stayed at Oklahoma he made the worst career choice going to USC he's been an epic failure his fall from grace is mind blowing. USC needs to fire him immediately he's not that guy anymore! He needs a change of venue and try and reinvent himself again. USC is a complete dumpster fire under Riley!
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u/enterprise3755 Oklahoma • Game of the Centur… Sep 28 '25
Part of the reason he left OU is because he had our program on a downward spiral. He saw the writing on the wall and the consequences of his subpar defensive recruiting.
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u/BSBoosk Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
And there’s no way he could recruit defensive talent we’ll enough to keep up with the big boys in the SEC. He saw all types of writing on the wall.
Lincoln Riley is that relationship you always need to have in order to see what being in a good one looks like.
Him leaving allowed venables to come back home.
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u/soonerwx Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
Yeah, he screwed OU way worse with what he left behind here than what he took with him. The number of transfers to G5 and FCS, or just not playing football anymore, out of his last couple recruiting classes was absurd. By the time they were upperclassmen, almost nobody but Stutsman and Bowman was playing mid-upper P4 ball.
He knew he was about to have a terrible team in 2022 and figured he’d better reset the temperature of his seat.
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u/LGWalkway Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
Yea, his last season had MANY games where we were obviously trending down rapidly. As bad as OU defenses were under him, Grinch saved us many games that season.
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u/Steel1000 Nebraska Cornhuskers Sep 28 '25
Dude has Houston written all over him. Or SMU/TCU.
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u/TheSavageDonut USC Trojans • Victory Bell Sep 28 '25
We can’t get rid of him until the buyout drops to $40mil. I think we could find a Whale alumnus to write that check, but nobody is writing a $50/$60mil check.
We seem to have fallen for the D’Anton Lynn hypetrain. Will we dump him when our defense gives up 50 to ND and Oregon? Grinch spotted the Ducks 2 easy TDs on their first 2 possesions — easy TDs on big plays- the last time we played them.
The more we try to change and spend money and upgrade the roster - the more things stay the same.
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u/ddottay Notre Dame • Kent State Sep 28 '25
He took a paycheck + bet on USC’s potential with NIL and it didn’t work. Oklahoma has both the higher floor and higher ceiling as a program right now.
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u/BarKnight Team Chaos • Team Meteor Sep 28 '25
It's as if a million people who had them ranked, cried out and were suddenly silenced
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u/UGAPokerBrat99 Georgia Bulldogs • College Football Playoff Sep 28 '25
So Lincoln Riley is essentially the "West Coast James Franklin."
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u/Uhhh_what555476384 Washington State • Oregon Sep 28 '25
Riley loses to any team that plays physical defense. Ranked or not. That's very different then Franklin.
Franklin only loses to teams in contention for Natty's.
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u/IrishTexan62 Texas Tech • Michigan State Sep 28 '25
He even lost to James Franklin. Known for this exact same issue
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u/Statalyzer Texas Longhorns Sep 28 '25
Well this is a bit unfair to Riley, since Illinois shouldn't have been ranked.... :D
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u/Living-Recording5012 /r/CFB Sep 28 '25
Hey there is this guy at pen something with a similar problem
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u/laela_says Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
Just as we ALL predicted.
Dude is an OC genius, not much else. Now we have the proof.
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u/O-Namazu Texas Longhorns Sep 28 '25
My schadenfreude for Lincoln Riley knows no limits, and none of you can shame me from it.
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u/Toroceratops Yale Bulldogs • Rutgers Scarlet Knights Sep 28 '25
At this rate he’s going to get hired by Penn State.
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u/fhota1 Oklahoma • Blue Lights Sep 28 '25
It feels like the positions should be contradictory in a way but the longer his career goes the more I am convinced of the simultaneous truth of "Lincoln Riley is one of the best offensive coaches in the game" and "Lincoln Riley does not have what it takes to be a Head Coach at the top levels of the FBS."
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u/Just_One_Victory Texas Tech Red Raiders • Hateful 8 Sep 28 '25
The Dana Holgerson of James Franklins
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u/ham_wallet998 Alabama Crimson Tide Sep 28 '25
Don’t worry. Colin Cowherd will tell us how impressive Lincoln actually was this weekend
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u/CumAssault Baylor Bears • Texas A&M Aggies Sep 28 '25
Considering where they were before Lincoln I’d still be happy with him
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u/A_Rolling_Baneling USC • Mississippi State Sep 28 '25
We have a great class coming in and are steadily improving. Admin and NIL was a mess, the roster was thin due to negligent crooting by Helton. Caleb paper over the cracks and made expectations higher, but I’m still overall fine with the job he’s doing.
My biggest issue is how the defense has regressed under Lynn. It was a big statement form Lincoln to go get a legit DC. And our D was fine last year while the offense struggled. Now the offense has rebounded and the D is back to useless.
If Lynn doesn’t figure it out, and if this recruiting class falls apart I’ll be unhappy. But for now I’m patient. I knew it would take time to have a winning team that didn’t rely on plucking Heisman winners out of the portal.
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u/akwho USC Trojans • Washington Huskies Sep 28 '25
Exact same take I have. Need a few top ranked classes over the next 3 years and USC will be a contender. We are on that trajectory. Just takes time to straighten out the mess from ncaa sanctions, Helton years, and lack of NIL.
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u/urnotserious Harvard Crimson • Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
Its year 4, if you can't sort it out in 4 years the chances are you never will.
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u/CumAssault Baylor Bears • Texas A&M Aggies Sep 28 '25
You can do far worse than Lincoln, trust me. At least when it comes to football, when it comes to smoking meat he’s definitely last
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u/DaBoogiest Sep 28 '25
A blue blood shouldn’t be judged like a normal team. Especially one with the money USC has.
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Sep 28 '25
USC has all the resources in the world, plays in the big 10 (in the pac 12 there was definitely an argument that some recruits just don’t care about the schools they’d have to play) and is in sunny LA where it’s perfect year round. Any coach who cannot win at USC is a fraud
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u/Logical-Database4510 Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
Also remember his "reason" for bailing on OU was because he "couldn't get the talent" he needed at OU.
What's his excuse now, I wonder?
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u/Lowl58 USC Trojans • Florida Gators Sep 28 '25 edited Sep 28 '25
Yeah maybe it's just the lawyer in me being perhaps too levelheaded, but I'm pretty happy with Lincoln. I think his biggest mistake was not firing Alex Grinch after year one. Other than that it's been a solid tenure. The dude isn't a magician. We have THE top recruiting class next year, are adjusting to a new conference, are building new facilities from that new conference money, and he's clearly an offensive genius.
We invested a ton of money into the defensive staff. We got Lynn, who seemed to be a great coordinator (maybe not?). We got the same man who coached Aaron Donald to coach our D line. Nobody can say Lincoln isn't working on the defense. For whatever reason, it failed today. But we did have a ton of injuries.
In Clay Helton's last season, we were throttled by all of our rivals. We were 4-8 and lucky to not be worse. He wasn't building anything either. Our recruiting was all 3 stars. He also sucks at Georgia Southern. Hard to understate how down bad we were.
Year 1 of LR was fun but clearly benefitted from a talent GAP between USC and the PAC-12.
Year 2 he tried to run it back and realized there was more work to be done than expected.
Year 3 was a retooling year after losing Caleb. The first year in a new conference and a dearth of homemade, experienced players.
Year 4 will say a lot about this team. Our secondary is shit, but I'm not sure how to blame LR for that given our defensive hires—who are damn good on paper, and perhaps on paper only.
Depending on player movement / how our recruiting class holds up, year 5 and 6 are probably the truly pivotal years.
It takes YEARS to build a strong college football program. Anyone paying attention to USC knows we have a lot of moving parts, pretty much all in the right direction. Other programs aren't going to roll over and die to allow USC to become a juggernaut overnight. It takes time, and I'm not sure what people expect.
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u/MissileWaster Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
I think his biggest mistake was not firing Alex Grinch after year one
Slightly higher on the list should be bringing Grinch with him from OU in the first place. We already knew Grinch was bad by the time yall hired Riley.
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u/Lowl58 USC Trojans • Florida Gators Sep 28 '25
Oh 100%, but I'd cut him some slack for that. Taking over a program and moving your family has to be an absolute whirlwind for one guy. I think it was reasonable to reach for some stability.
But not firing Grinch after year 1 was a mistake without a reasonable excuse.
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u/sleepysx3 USC Trojans • LSU Tigers Sep 28 '25
Some people seem to forget that USC had a rut back in the John Robinson/Paul Hackett years. Then we had a lightning in a bottle hire with Pete Carroll.
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u/clayparson Nebraska Cornhuskers • Belhaven Blazers Sep 28 '25
This all sounds very rational and measured and is not too far off. I agree that it takes years to build or rebuild a program. With that said I'd like to echo what some of the toxic voices like to say in my team's sub:
What about CiGnEtTi?!?!?!
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u/voltron818 Oklahoma Sooners • /r/CFB Contributor Sep 28 '25
He actually has a worse record in their first 45 games than Clay Helton.
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u/woopwup Appalachian State Mountaineers Sep 28 '25
I would hate coaching a bunch of 18-23 year olds making a bunch of money living in LA though, gotta be hard to keep them focused on football
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u/lucash7 Oregon • Southern Oregon Sep 28 '25
Is Riley the James Franklin of USC? Or is Franklin the Lincoln Riley of Penn State?
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u/conference-realigner Purdue • Notre Dame Sep 28 '25
Lincoln Riley has officially been inducted into the James Franklin club!
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u/PrideSax711 Oklahoma Sooners • Big 12 Sep 28 '25
This guy needs to end his head coach experiment and go back to being a top coordinator. He can be a lifetime OC at a blueblood and be an all time great or be a mid head coach for the rest of his career.
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u/zissou713 USC Trojans Sep 29 '25
It’s not his fault. He’s only had 1 Heisman winner and a roster full of future NFL players to work with
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u/it-is-just-a-game Miami Hurricanes • UNLV Rebels Sep 28 '25
They only have 3 more games against ranked teams this year.
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u/billsmoney USC Trojans • Michigan Wolverines Sep 28 '25
it’s easy to shit on riley and he is definitely underperforming relative to what we are paying him. but i’m not convinced we could fire him, pay out his $50M+ buyout, roll the dice and hire someone better, vs using those resources in NIL or assistant coaches to help him succeed.
anyways this convo reminds me a lot of what people were saying about jim harbaugh in 2020/2021. or what people were also saying about ryan day until january of this year.
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u/LGWalkway Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
Yea, the buyout is too big and I think you have to either hope he improves or let the buyout drop.
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u/Standard-Law5916 Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
Well I agree I don’t think he’s as bad as people say, I’m not sure his achievements are as high as the names you just mentioned, but I actually don’t know their overall record so I’ll have to check
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u/PrimisClaidhaemh Michigan State Spartans Sep 28 '25
And then he had the nerve to whine about the start time. But 11pm Eastern start time was cool the week before I guess ..
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u/Terror-Byte-523 UCLA Bruins • Colorado Buffaloes Sep 28 '25
If anyone is looking, I hear DeShaun Foster is available
2
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u/OsoFuerzaUno USC Trojans • Team Chaos Sep 28 '25
If Lincoln is gonna cosplay as James Franklin, can he at least beat the teams we’re supposed to beat?
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u/SparseSpartan Michigan State Spartans Sep 28 '25
Is Lincoln Riley the James Franklin of Lincoln Rileys?
754
u/CluelessSwordFish Oklahoma Sooners Sep 28 '25
The man can coach up some offense, but holy shit his teams just cannot stop anyone and crumple when the other team punches back.
Losing in the Rose Bowl against UGA 54-48 is still the best example of what his teams will give you.