Hello Trojans! Going to the game this weekend from Ohio and wondering what the best gameday experience is? Also open to any other recommendations in LA! Thanks in advance!

Buckeye fan coming in peace.

I’m planning on driving down from the bay this Saturday for the Ohio State/USC game. Planning on driving down either late Friday or early Saturday.

What is the best area to get a hotel at? I hear parking is a nightmare so I’m thinking I’ll take the metro in to the coliseum. Hoping to not spend a ton on a hotel but also want to make sure it’s in a safe area as I’ll be with my wife.

Appreciate and info!

I know this guy doesn’t have college coaching experience but give the guy a chance. Carson Palmer is a fucking pimp and he has made massive changes with his team at Santa Margarita Catholic High School winning the open title in Cali which is all the best teams in Cali in his first season. He has the ties and the love for SC and could bring back some of that fire and accountability this team needs.

That’s just my take, why not go that route? I could be wrong but fuck it.

It's Winter of 2021. Someone travels from the future, and tells a very excited you, who's team has just signed LR to a 10-year deal, that in two seasons the CFP will be expanded to 12 teams. They then say it's 2026, and USC has still not made a single playoff APPEARANCE.

What would your first question be, besides "What stocks to buy?"

I found my new favorite nickname for Riley…LinkdIn! The internet is still undefeated!

In all seriousness, I do wonder if we did cut ties with CLR, what that would mean for Bowden? I figure, any “big name” HC candidate would want his own GM. Are we willing to sacrifice a guy who reinvigorated our recruiting and landed a #1 class?

The only HC name where that wouldn’t be an issue would be Marcus Freeman. Him and Bowden are best friends and I’ve always wondered about whether Bowden would be able to lure Freeman out West.

Watching USC go 7-5 year after year doesn’t interest me. I know there are diehard thick and thin fans/alums but the combo of hired Hessian soldiers and top 25-50 rankings is off putting for me. Other teams fans charge the field like they just beat the Ditka lead Bears, but in truth they just beat an Iowa State or Virgina Tech or Pittsburgh.

That is who USC is. In the past 46 or so years, we had a 6 year golden moment. We are a top 50 program, we are no longer a blueblood team, and the headwinds against us becoming a top 5 program are too severe.

My 2cts.

I genuinely think, and to no credit of LR’s (this is just me thinking logically here), that if he gets the axe, we’re really just resetting the cycle. Another decade of hopeful seasons and some decent W/L records, before the next coach loses one too many and faces the firing squad. Hire, lose, fire, repeat. A vicious cycle. Of course, we’ve faced a lot more adversity than most programs due to sanctions and whatnot prior. But in my mind, doesn’t it take time to develop a program? Isn’t this all just in the shadow of Pete Carroll and the Leinart/Bush era? All this boils down to… does LR have what it takes to get something going before his contract is up? And if not, do we just re-enter this cycle once again?

With USC at two losses BEFORE the guantlet that awaits them in the closing weeks of the regular season, people are naturally pondering who could be a good fit as Lincoln Riley’s successor at head coach.  I have my thoughts on that, but right now I have an even better question:

Why would anyone even want the job?

Consider this: 2027 will mark 18 years since the Pete Carroll era ended at SC.  That’s the same period of time that existed between the end of John Robinson’s first tenure and the hiring of Pete in 2000.

Famously, Pete was not close to USC’s first choice during that coaching search.  If I recall, he was more like fourth or fifth.  Enough guys had failed during that 18-year span — four, to be exact, including Robinson in his second stint — that by the turn of the century, no one really wanted the job anymore.  Then Pete led the Trojans back to glory and everything reset.

Now fast forward to the present.  USC has once again had four full-time head coaches since their most recent period of excellence.  The first three failed and, depending on how these next several weeks play out, their current coach may be on his way out. 

And I ask the question again: why would any coach with decent options want the job?  

Sure, on paper, it’s one of the best jobs in America.  The combination of location and tradition is unmatched in college football.  It’s a pathway to the NFL (or back to the NFL) if you succeed.  In fact, it basically is like coaching an NFL team if you succeed.  

On the other hand, it almost seems to be cursed or, at the very least, a position that gives one less than a 50/50 chance of succeeding.  If I were, say, Bob Chesney, I would stay at UCLA. If I were James Franklin, I would stay at Virginia Tech.  

Why come to USC just to fail like 80 percent of the coaches do?

My wife is a Trojan. I have been going to games with her since the late 90’s. Saw some great games and seasons in the PC era. We lost our seats and were separated from friends in the Col remodel but stayed in a different section for LR and Caleb Williams and seeing Big 10 teams. But with so many bad game times etc gave them up before last season. I was afraid that we would miss exciting games and USC’s return to greatness. I believed the pre season hype., top recruiting class, QB coming back etc
Have not missed it a bit. Was a wonderful decisiob;

…makes me feel better ✌️

Don’t think the chain of events is a coincidence : Baylor lost to Kansas by a point, meanwhile we are humiliated at Wisconsin , EVERYONE DONE, the media shitstorm and articles keep coming today. Our outlook is horrible, five at this stage, no!

So then today Baylor coach is fired and all these articles about LR as a potential, despite buyout. But the most interesting one to me is the CBS article that was posted three days ago saying “Riley has the most absurd contract of the bunch, but also has quietly investigated leaving most.” (posted the link in a recent thread)

The other articles out today mention Baylor being in LR’s home state and in a conference he’s already had province success with so sort of like him going home.

I basically think this could mean there have been talks for a while, and after all the bad press, perhaps Baylor fired their coach because LR plans to go / leave amicably sometime this season or at the end of it!

Would be the best case scenario for admin and LR for it to go down like this. Fans and alum would be happy.

Makes total sense, right?!?! Trying to hold out hope for next season because given up at this point!

Thoughts?!

USC's website for football parking directs you to use JustPark to reserve campus parking for games. We went ahead and did this for Saturday's game to avoid any issues game day (plus we like the walk to the stadium). However, the email confirmation from JustPark says we must leave the parking before 6:30pm. The game starts at 4:30pm, so I'm assuming this is just a typo?

The email also says that parking is only guaranteed for 2 hours prior to the game start, so we'll try to get there by 2:30pm.

But any information or experience with JustPark would be helpful!

If not Carson, I want a defensive minded head coach!

Just like us Marc is sick of this Bs 🤦🏿‍♂️

Ohio State’s defense is ranked #6, Indiana’s is #8, UCLA’s is #10, and Wisconsin’s is #13 nationally. If this is how we’re going to play against the top 15 defenses in the country, we’re cooked.

And it looks like we’ve been dropped out of the top 25.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/rankings

I know that we all would love nothing more than to have Lincoln Riley fired immediately , but no one thinks it’s gonna happen because of the buyout. However, shouldn’t he have a mitigation clause in his contract? Presumably he does, which would require him to try to get another head coaching job, and that could offset the buyout owed significantly. Thoughts?

Since this season will likely end in disappointing fashion (or really, just about on par since Pete left if we’re being honest)….

Who do you want to see as the quarterback for next year?

Obviously, Jonas Williams is the front runner right now since he’s already in the quarterback room.

Lots of disappointing/reclamation project former 5 stars will likely be in the portal. LR clearly needs a superpower at QB to win, so wonder if he goes for a boom or bust player in this category:

- Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele (probably the one who’s shown the most here)
- DJ Lagway
- Arch
- Tavien St Clair
- Bryce Underwood
- Faizon Brandon

Lastly, current good starters who could be available:

- Julian Sayin (if OSU decides to move on from him, unlikely but depending on his hurt elbow)
- Braden Atkinson (the other OSU lol, probably looking for a bigger pay day)

And before anyone brings it up, I personally don’t think it’s feasible to cut a $70 million check to LR (plus staff) when you need to also pay the players so much now. I mean some way somehow, even Luke Fickell has figured it out this season. Literally the hottest seat in P4. With year to year results no longer guaranteed in this landscape, I see SC running it back and just hoping for different results lol.

Tonight was a pure, unadulterated shit sandwich.

I’ve been thinking about where this 24-7 disaster against an unranked Wisconsin team ranks among Lincoln Riley’s worst defeats since taking over. While the Tulane collapse was a historic defensive meltdown, I honestly think tonight takes the crown for his most embarrassing and concerning loss yet.

Here is my "Mount Rushmore of Riley Disasters" stacks up:

1. Tonight: Wisconsin 24, USC 7

This wasn't a classic Alex Grinch defensive collapse we used to get where the offense dragged us along. This was a complete, systematic failure of Lincoln Riley’s calling card. Coming off a bye week with extra time to prepare, the offense looked completely toothless and uninspired. We scored 7 points in 60 minutes, missed two field goals, turned it over twice, and got absolutely bullied at the line of scrimmage to the tune of -17 total rushing yards. It was an offensive humiliation.

1. The 2025 Alamo Bowl: TCU 28, USC 27 (wasted time to attend this one)

We held a 95% win probability late in the game before Riley went into absolute "turtle mode." His ultra-conservative shell in the second half stagnant-ized the red-zone offense. Combine that with a defense that missed four tackles on a single 3rd and 20, and a guaranteed win turned into an embarrassing postseason choke.

1. The 2023 Cotton Bowl: Tulane 46, USC 45

In terms of legendary defensive failure, this is the gold standard. Caleb threw for 462 yards and 5 touchdowns, and it still wasn't enough because the defense allowed Tulane to score 16 points in the final 4 minutes and 7 seconds of the game.

Tulane was a more heartbreaking collapse, but tonight is easily the most alarming. It proved that when a Big Ten defense takes away his initial script, Riley has absolutely no answers.

Don't think anyone at SC reads this stuff, but real talk from an alumni I was ready to mail my two degrees back to the university in the second half. Fucking embarrassing.

Legit wondering why we signed such a long contract

The last time I posted a list of college coaches people said it was AI and cried that I don’t understand ball after the Washington win but I’ll bring a short list up again. I don’t think we fire, Lincoln Riley because the university is running a huge deficit and the buyout is too big. Please add any names you actually think we can get.

Spencer Danielson out of Boise State, you can get him on the cheap and he’s a defensive minded head coach
Or
Jason Eck out of New Mexico, he’s turned them into a really good team and he’s an old offensive linemen who played in the big 10 so he can get our line shaped up
Or
Matt Entz out of Fresno State, they’re having it down yet, but he’s a proven winner who knows the school
Or
Glenn Schumann george’s defensive coordinator, we might take the coordinator route if we don’t like any of the head coaches out there

I don’t think we should go for a big name, because the school won’t pay for it again. Those are the best for outside of the big names, so I believe those are the ones we will go for.