I like Erik’s point about the ceiling of top teams being lower. As bad as we were this year we were able to compete w top 10 teams. Talent doesn’t have to stay buried at the bottom of the depth chart anymore
Branch didn’t run crisp routes and didn’t squeeze the ball when he needed to and Hudson didn’t try hard enough to block for his teammates…not going to miss them. Called way too many plays where they threw sideways to Lake, didn’t call nearly enough plays for Duce, didn’t run enough. No wonder we couldn’t get TDs in the red zone. All added up to at least 5 of the losses. Then Jakobi cries, secondary didn’t finish/gang tackle, not enough RPOs for Jayden, Cobb GUESSING which gap to fill and no pass rush (except the last 2 games when Greene, Shelby, and Kam played a lot), also adding up to at least 5 losses. We just didn’t have enough players who were consistently doing their job. Sounds like the coaches also had lapses in focus. We’re fine with Jayden, but LR needs to call better situational plays.
If you need a Heisman QB to win, you are a crappy coach/OC. Maiava has the arm talent and the physical talent and he just needs to develop. He can be really good after he forms more of a connection to the receivers and the tight ends more.
Mr. McKinney as well, per an internet search, and his technical knowledge of podcasting is first class. Bless all three of them. They are quite cheeky at times and have a precocious sense of USC football history and avoid any oversimplification of any issues of the program. We long for that championship season right along with them during each episode. Happy holidays, gentlemen. Hope reigns eternal.
IMHO, Miller is tough as nails; but with the RPO, he wanted to shine. I heard numerous times LR saying we need to run the ball. Before games or HT. But SC/ Miller kept throwing. With Jayden, he stuck with the run option more often than not. Now, Redzone. I am under the impression Riley wants QB/WR TDs. Aka Payton Manning throwing from the 1 yard line 4 times. Can't wait for ducks to lose in the CFB. Fight on!!!
gentlemen do not underestimate that "junior high team" next year led by Clay Helton. Sept. 6, 2025 Georgia Southern at the Coliseum is the potential doomsday for LR.
Will we have a offensive line that can consistency go down the field opening holes on rushes chewing up 4-5 yards a carry and hold onto the ball? I don't think so. And I dont beleive LR has the ability to change his offense. He is Air Raid heavy and is unable or unwilling to change. He will continue to force square pegs into role holes and make excuses when that doesn't happen to win a game.
My major problem is what Eric, Marc & Chris have been saying is the same thing over and over again, show after show. But it was all they could talk about because the playcalling & execution of this team never went anywhere except the running game with Woody Marks and even then it was abandoned. But where were the WRs? The consistency never allowed this team to put the games away when it was possible. And when it failed, the team somehow lapsed out and allowed the opponent to come back and win the game at the end. It was the same week in and week out. Riley's offense works on quick hits & scores. It doesn't systematically take the ball down the field and work on the clock. When it tried to do so, a fumble or pick happened to stop it.
They are going to go after and find a guy just like Jake Jensen. Every QB in the portal of course wants to start, but they all wont. Do you think Jake Jensen is leaving because he wants to be a starter. I guarantee you he is. Now maybe he finds a home in the Big Sky or the RMAC program, but he’s not going to start at any D1 school. Why not stay at SC, earn your degree, back up JM, earn some mop of time and call it a career, thats not all that bad a thing in my opinion. The TE position was used much more this season than I recall in any recent season, and it still wasn’t enough. Depth is a positive, but lets use them more.
No we aren’t. Helton is fundamentally the reason we are in the position we are in. Riley is actually building for the future along the trenches. The defense is going to be a national top 10-15 defense and no way does Riley field a mediocre offense like this past season. We need only a slight improvement with the offense to go along with the defense we will put together.
P.S The NCAA post all NIL Collective on their website. Oregon's NIL isn't that much more than a lot of other teams. In fact, there are other schools with more money. I wish you guys would let go the excuse that Oregon has a lot of money that is why USC is losing recruits. #1 reason why USC is losing recruits is a the fact that players want to go to winning program. There are some players who just chase the cash.
Oregon is the number one reason why usc isn’t successful rn they out recruit us and they have better NIL than us(Phil night), it’s close to home for western kids and they have a better culture than us as of now
They are going to go after and find a guy just like Jake Jensen. Every QB in the portal of course wants to start, but they all wont. Do you think Jake Jensen is leaving because he wants to be a starter. I guarantee you he is. Now maybe he finds a home in the Big Sky or the RMAC program, but he’s not going to start at any D1 school. Why not stay at SC, earn your degree, back up JM, earn some mop of time and call it a career, thats not all that bad a thing in my opinion.
There is no such thing as a 2-3 year plan any more. There can be nothing by a this-year plan. This must have been recorded earlier today, before both Branch brothers left, and Josh Henson got a job elsewhere. Recruiting high school kids to "develop" makes less sense, when they can leave any time. Eric, Mark and Chris talk like everything is going fine, but this is a total disaster. We're going to be 6-7 this year, just adding to the deterioration of this program.
To be honest even if USC scored in the 4th quarter or held on to the 4th quarter leads, we are still not happy. We never dominated nor separated. I still give Riley the benefit of the doubt that he knows what he sees. I would not be surprised at all if Riley reveals the secrets 2 years down the road.
We don’t have a QB right now !! The offense is tragic! The WR accept for Lemon was garbage couldn’t get open for nothing ! We loss momentum on Defense when lucus and other linebacker went down
24:10 We got 1 creative play from Coach for $10 million. lol
USC is officially a women's basketball school.
not the way they got their asses handed to them by the goddamned irish.
LMAO
😂
M Lemon is the real deal! He should be on the field as much as possible .
I like Erik’s point about the ceiling of top teams being lower. As bad as we were this year we were able to compete w top 10 teams. Talent doesn’t have to stay buried at the bottom of the depth chart anymore
USC currently has a bunch of #2 WRs.
What’s changed since the season started?
Great Podcast 👍💯
Branch didn’t run crisp routes and didn’t squeeze the ball when he needed to and Hudson didn’t try hard enough to block for his teammates…not going to miss them. Called way too many plays where they threw sideways to Lake, didn’t call nearly enough plays for Duce, didn’t run enough. No wonder we couldn’t get TDs in the red zone. All added up to at least 5 of the losses. Then Jakobi cries, secondary didn’t finish/gang tackle, not enough RPOs for Jayden, Cobb GUESSING which gap to fill and no pass rush (except the last 2 games when Greene, Shelby, and Kam played a lot), also adding up to at least 5 losses. We just didn’t have enough players who were consistently doing their job. Sounds like the coaches also had lapses in focus. We’re fine with Jayden, but LR needs to call better situational plays.
You are cooked bro.
If you need a Heisman QB to win, you are a crappy coach/OC.
Maiava has the arm talent and the physical talent and he just needs to develop. He can be really good after he forms more of a connection to the receivers and the tight ends more.
I don't know what to expect
Chris great take on what bowl games are today glorified spring practices
Sc needs a motivational coach like Pete Carroll. Get more recruits with that personality
Play good this year in Vegas? Will we even have enough players to play?
The old CLR offense at Oklahoma and the first year at USC ran the ball more than they passed it.
Branch is not a True WR
If Riley can't figure out what to do with him, what?
PISSED OFF AT WHAT RILEY IS DOING!!!
This doesn’t make sense ! They didn lane wrong and lane is a beast and this dude is not better!!
Suburban Jethro Bodine aka Chris Arledge counted the number of TD scored by Zachariah Branch on one hand.
Hey, leave Chris alone !!! He's an awesome guy and loyal Trojan alumnus.
Mr. McKinney as well, per an internet search, and his technical knowledge of podcasting is first class. Bless all three of them. They are quite cheeky at times and have a precocious sense of USC football history and avoid any oversimplification of any issues of the program. We long for that championship season right along with them during each episode. Happy holidays, gentlemen. Hope reigns eternal.
Arledge looks more like Fearless Fred from the Betty Boop cartoons. 😊
Duce has very avg hands and doesn't use his body to his advantage, overrated imo
IMHO, Miller is tough as nails; but with the RPO, he wanted to shine. I heard numerous times LR saying we need to run the ball. Before games or HT. But SC/ Miller kept throwing. With Jayden, he stuck with the run option more often than not. Now, Redzone. I am under the impression Riley wants QB/WR TDs. Aka Payton Manning throwing from the 1 yard line 4 times. Can't wait for ducks to lose in the CFB.
Fight on!!!
College football is becoming the best team money can buy. Right now that is Oregon, Ohio State, Georgia, and Texas.✌️
LOOK MY TAKE IS RILEY IS A OFFENSIVE CORDINATOR AT BEST!!
LEMON IS THE BEST! YOULLS JUDGEMENT IS OFF !!!
Moss even though we all like him was not the talent to make the difference
We have to learn to be different!!!
is eli sanders actually a good pickup?
gentlemen do not underestimate that "junior high team" next year led by Clay Helton. Sept. 6, 2025 Georgia Southern at the Coliseum is the potential doomsday for LR.
Jayden needs his confidence built back up! He needs to learn how to read a defense
Will we have a offensive line that can consistency go down the field opening holes on rushes chewing up 4-5 yards a carry and hold onto the ball? I don't think so. And I dont beleive LR has the ability to change his offense. He is Air Raid heavy and is unable or unwilling to change. He will continue to force square pegs into role holes and make excuses when that doesn't happen to win a game.
My major problem is what Eric, Marc & Chris have been saying is the same thing over and over again, show after show. But it was all they could talk about because the playcalling & execution of this team never went anywhere except the running game with Woody Marks and even then it was abandoned. But where were the WRs? The consistency never allowed this team to put the games away when it was possible. And when it failed, the team somehow lapsed out and allowed the opponent to come back and win the game at the end. It was the same week in and week out. Riley's offense works on quick hits & scores. It doesn't systematically take the ball down the field and work on the clock. When it tried to do so, a fumble or pick happened to stop it.
The Helton era isn’t looking so bad anymore.
Our guys aren’t getting developed and/or used correctly and it’s showed this past week
They are going to go after and find a guy just like Jake Jensen. Every QB in the portal of course wants to start, but they all wont. Do you think Jake Jensen is leaving because he wants to be a starter. I guarantee you he is. Now maybe he finds a home in the Big Sky or the RMAC program, but he’s not going to start at any D1 school. Why not stay at SC, earn your degree, back up JM, earn some mop of time and call it a career, thats not all that bad a thing in my opinion. The TE position was used much more this season than I recall in any recent season, and it still wasn’t enough. Depth is a positive, but lets use them more.
I have a feeling during and after next season we are going to wish we still had Clay Helton
No we aren’t. Helton is fundamentally the reason we are in the position we are in. Riley is actually building for the future along the trenches. The defense is going to be a national top 10-15 defense and no way does Riley field a mediocre offense like this past season. We need only a slight improvement with the offense to go along with the defense we will put together.
P.S The NCAA post all NIL Collective on their website. Oregon's NIL isn't that much more than a lot of other teams. In fact, there are other schools with more money. I wish you guys would let go the excuse that Oregon has a lot of money that is why USC is losing recruits. #1 reason why USC is losing recruits is a the fact that players want to go to winning program. There are some players who just chase the cash.
Oregon is the number one reason why usc isn’t successful rn they out recruit us and they have better NIL than us(Phil night), it’s close to home for western kids and they have a better culture than us as of now
Right now you run the ball and pass the ball. It's not binary. In Riley's offense, when it clicks the run game and pass game support each other.
They are going to go after and find a guy just like Jake Jensen. Every QB in the portal of course wants to start, but they all wont. Do you think Jake Jensen is leaving because he wants to be a starter. I guarantee you he is. Now maybe he finds a home in the Big Sky or the RMAC program, but he’s not going to start at any D1 school. Why not stay at SC, earn your degree, back up JM, earn some mop of time and call it a career, thats not all that bad a thing in my opinion.
There is no such thing as a 2-3 year plan any more. There can be nothing by a this-year plan. This must have been recorded earlier today, before both Branch brothers left, and Josh Henson got a job elsewhere. Recruiting high school kids to "develop" makes less sense, when they can leave any time. Eric, Mark and Chris talk like everything is going fine, but this is a total disaster. We're going to be 6-7 this year, just adding to the deterioration of this program.
Shocking year. Hype was just hype. Not falling for that again!
oh, my god. stop interrupting each other, and erik turn off that goddamned walkie-talkie in the background.
Replace Dennis Simmons the dummy receiver coach doesn’t know how to coach up Zach Branch
You guys are so much better at sensible analysis than the guys at that other recruiting org. Appreciate keeping it positive.
He doesn’t know how to recruit! We have money and don’t know how to use it!
Great point on the pass attempts mark. Was looking at that the other day. 7 yards per pass, for BOTH miller and jayden
Henson has been let go....ie he went to Purdue...guys the line was terrible...call it like it is...don't you lose your credibility...please
When this many guys bail to the portal, something isn’t right.
What did Riley promise Jayden? Riley will get a backup QB for Jayden but not an elite QB out of the portal to be the starter.
To be honest even if USC scored in the 4th quarter or held on to the 4th quarter leads, we are still not happy. We never dominated nor separated.
I still give Riley the benefit of the doubt that he knows what he sees. I would not be surprised at all if Riley reveals the secrets 2 years down the road.
We don’t have a QB right now !! The offense is tragic! The WR accept for Lemon was garbage couldn’t get open for nothing ! We loss momentum on Defense when lucus and other linebacker went down
usc is broken til riley is replaced.
missed real problem no line backer leadersrhip no defense domination
He doesn’t know how to recruit! We have money and don’t know how to use it!
Jayden needs his confidence built back up! He needs to learn how to read a defense