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What a night it was for USC football in Las Vegas. The Trojans, who had to listen for eight whole months about how bad they were on defense and how irrelevant they were in the larger workings of college football, had a chance to make a statement. Lincoln Riley, every coach, and every player had a chance to shut up the carnival barkers and the loudmouths in the media who lazily assumed that USC would not play good defense and would not have the toughness or accountability to change course as a program. Never mind the fact that Riley fired Alex Grinch and hired some really credentialed new coaches. Never mind the fact that Aaron Donald’s former position coach with the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, Eric Henderson, joined this USC staff. Never mind the fact that D’Anton Lynn, who completely transformed an average UCLA defense in one season, now got to work with USC players who have more upside than what UCLA had a year ago. The national media ignored all of it and simply assumed that the past would determine the future, that what existed in the past two years would somehow “automatically” continue into the future, even though actual changes were being made to reshape USC football and prevent another 2023-style disaster from happening.
Hello! USC can actually play defense. We thought the Trojans would be competent on defense this year, and we certainly saw a ton of competence against LSU. Was this a perfect performance? No. Was it a winning performance and a huge leap from what we had to endure for most of last season? Yes. Let’s go to our first USC report card of the 2024 college football season.
LINCOLN RILEY GRADE: B-MINUS
Sep 1, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley reacts in the first half against the LSU Tigers at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/usc-football-report-card-titanic-060735472.html
Author : Trojans Wire
Publish date : 2024-09-02 06:07:35
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