Yes, Helton left a dumpster fire. No question. He made USC relevant again. And that's great as we head into the Big 10.
But Lincoln Riley is still an experiment and I fear he peaked at Oklahoma.
The Tulane game. The lack of toughness. The poor defense. The over reliance on having an elite QB to win every game. The penalties. The so so recruiting - especially in the trenches. Next year could be a painful season when you look at the roster. Transfers may help but it won't be enough.
Hope I'm wrong, but when the season starts at ND, I think the wheels come off. San Clemente may well be right with his 4 loss prediction. I see 2-3 but once a slide starts it's tough to stop.
Next two game weeks and games are an opportunity to fix a few things. Colorado environment will also help prepare for ND and Oregon.
But fixing a few things likely isn't enough. We still have grinch. My personal hope is that Caleb does what he did last year all over again. He could get the team to the PAC 12 championship alone if he stays upright. But that's not because Riley is some great coach. And it feels unlikely at this point.
Any way you cut it, Riley very well may not be the right coach as we head into the Big 10. His sticking with Grinch alone is a disaster. Imagine this team with a real defense. But that's on Riley.
Let's see what happens but that ASU game showed why Riley probably isn't the guy.
nothing will get fixed. Riley has had 2 offseasons to fix the obvious lack of physicallity issues that were apparent under helton. Not only has he failed here, he made ZERO effort. Once again, ex qbs do not make proper OCs or HCs. They prefer to pretend that everyone gets to wear the funny off-colored uniform and that physicality is no longer part of the game. This is how you identify loser coaches.
I can already tell that usc is not hitting during the week, even during a bye. "got to protect the players." No, you are putting them at risk because they aren't used to the physicality that they are going to face on game day. You win your games in practice - big on big - not on saturday. This is the same old Kiffin-Sark-Helton-Haden bullshit that Riley beleives in. We already know how this ends, but USC has one hell of a payoff this time. Hope the woman AD has the guts to make the call when the time comes...