SC Fans Should Be All Riled Up

Overwhelmed and Not Elite 

By Jason Burrell |South Bay Black Journal

For USC fans, this (Saturday’s game)was hard to watch. Not just Oregon 42, USC 27. Not just another long night in Eugene. It was the feeling that we had seen this movie before with Lincoln Riley. Big stage, real stakes, elite opponent, and USC looks like a good college program that wandered into a grown man’s fight. 

Oregon ran for 179 yards. USC ran for 47. That is not a typo. It is also not an accident.

The Pattern in Big Games

This is not about one road loss. It is about a pattern that keeps showing up whenever USC faces a heavyweight. At Notre Dame, USC got mauled. The Irish ran for 306 yards. Jeremiyah Love went for 228 by himself, and they took a kickoff back one hundred yards right after USC grabbed momentum. 

Then you go to Eugene, the Ducks didn’t play their best game, but they still controlled the night, racking up rushing yards, and special teams stayed consistent and steady. Their defense completely stifled the Trojans’ running game, limiting their typical offensive explosion.  The one thing SC’s consistent with is errors.

At some point, it is not bad luck. At some point, it is who you are!

Offensively, USC throws for three hundred and thirty plus and hits big perimeter plays, but everything feels hard. Every throw is contested. Nothing is easy. No free access throws. No seams. No layups. You are asking Jayden Maiava and Makai Lemon to play hero ball while everybody knows where the ball is going.  That is not a sustainable offense. That is a scheme without answers. 

We have seen this version of Lincoln Riley before

If this Oregon game felt familiar, it is because it mirrors the Rose Bowl against Georgia.  Riley has always lacked a good defense, poor fundamentals, missed tackles, and a poor defensive scheme.  His teams lack the physical edge, and inadequate blocking is still lacking elite talent defensively.

So what did USC really hire?   

A coach who can jump out early but cannot finish. A coach who has never shown he can win the biggest games with complete football. Four years in, he looks exactly like what he has always been, a gifted play caller, not a complete head coach. 

Lane Kiffin in 2011 vs Lincoln Riley in 2025

Here is where the truth hurts!

In 2011, USC went into Autzen Stadium on probation with reduced scholarships and limited depth. Lane Kiffin took Matt Barkley and two major receivers (Robert Woods and Marquies Lee- Lee was a true freshman)  into one of the toughest road environments in the country and walked away with a 38 – 35 win. They were not more talented than Oregon. They were tougher, more detailed, and more locked in. 

Fast forward to last Saturday. USC enters the same building with a staff that is paid like kings, modern facilities, NIL opportunities in Los Angeles, and a head coach who arrived with a playoff résumé. Oregon, missing top receivers, still puts up 42! They run the ball when they want to, control the line, and USC is hanging on for dear life, just trying to keep the score respectable.

Oregon looks like a program. USC looks like a scheme. 

I am not saying Lane Kiffin is perfect or some flawless savior. What I am saying is this. On that night in 2011, coming off sanctions, his team played with more mental toughness and grit in that building than Lincoln Riley’s team just did with far more money, no sanctions, and freedom behind it. 

That has to bother you if you love USC.

A Player-caller, not a program builder

This is not personal. This is an evaluation.

Lincoln Riley is a great scheme guy, not a culture builder.

Leaders handle all three phases. They demand discipline. They correct special teams. They live in the details. They refuse to let the same mistakes show up over and over. They rip into players when there is a selfish penalty that costs the team. They care about the kickoff unit as much as they care about 3rd & 7. 

What we see instead is an offense that can always produce numbers and a defense and special teams that collapse in the biggest moments. Different coordinators. Same issues. 

Riley has also not approached Southern California recruiting with the same level of urgency this job requires. For his first three years, USC’s roster did not even resemble a Southern California roster. 

Meanwhile, Oregon (CBF playoff), Boise State (CBF Playoff), Arizona State (CBF Playoff), and others loaded up on Los Angeles kids while USC watched it happen! 

Oregon learned how to build physical depth. USC leaned on quarterbacks and portal fireworks. Notre Dame took an opposite approach. Marcus Freeman embraces recruiting, loves physical football, believes in special teams and defense, and has improved every year. That is why they ran for 306 yards on USC and housed a kickoff like it was nothing. 

That is what leadership looks like!

USC Has Made Other Coaches Rich and Gotten Very Little Back

The Other hard truth.

USC has written SEC sized checks to Lincoln Riley and his staff. 

USC has invested in facilities, NIL, staffing, and everything the modern era demands. USC has given him financial power, recruiting power, and brand power. 

And what has USC received in return?

No conference titles.

No playoff appearances.

No physical identity. 

No defensive identity.

No special teams identity, and nothing that says “This is USC football every single week.”

What remains is a team that can produce pretty passing numbers, exciting receivers, and highlight plays while folding in the trenches when it matters most. 

Overwhelmed and not elite. That is the brand you are selling when you allow 179 rushing yards on one Saturday, 306 on another, and lose the special teams battle in both.

That is not USC. That is not the standard! 

This is not about hate; it is about honesty

Some may say this is harsh. It is not. The worst thing you can do is lie to a blue-blood program. USC is a good team. Oregon is an elite program. Notre Dame is a National Championship contender, under a head coach who clearly embraces leadership, recruiting, and physical football. Georgia is on an entirely different level!

Lincoln Riley has had four years, a massive salary, Los Angeles talent, and every resource he could ask for. Yet he still appears to be a play caller who can get quarterbacks drafted, not a head coach who can take a team to Autzen or South Bend and expect to win on toughness, depth, discipline, defense, and special teams. 

Just because you win some games, that does not make you a leader of men. When you blow a thirty-one to fourteen Rose Bowl lead, when you give up 306 on the ground to Notre Dame, when you get run out of Oregon in year four, you do not get to hide behind schemes or press conferences. 

USC fans know what toughness looks like. They have seen USC walk into Autzen and win on grit. They have seen a head coach who is more than a play caller. They know the difference. Right now, USC is none of that. 

Right now, they are exactly what the title says. 

Overwhelmed and not elite!