Lincoln Riley’s old colleague is out to beat him: What to watch in USC vs. Nebraska

Former Houston coach Dana Holgorsen, who once coached alongside Lincoln Riley at Texas Tech, will make his debut as Nebraska’s new offensive coordinator against USC on Saturday. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press)

The two coaches spent enough hours together, tossing around Air Raid ideas on the same Texas Tech staff from 2004 to 2007, to understand each other’s tendencies at a pretty deep level. But after all those years and all the games their teams have played since, Lincoln Riley is less sure than ever what to expect from Dana Holgorsen on Saturday when USC faces Nebraska.

That’s because two weeks ago, Holgorsen wasn’t even on Nebraska’s staff. The longtime coach was working as an offensive assistant at Texas Christian after being fired as Houston’s coach. In the first week of November, Holgorsen joined Matt Rhule’s staff at Nebraska in a similar role.

One loss to UCLA later, Holgorsen climbed the ladder to coordinator.

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“Coach Rhule obviously has a lot of trust in him, and I’d understand why,” Riley said. “If you’re going to do it, you’ve got to do it with somebody that has the experience and success level that Dana’s had.”

The sudden switch is the sign of a struggling offense. The Cornhuskers haven’t scored more than 20 points since late September. But the uncertainty is still enough to keep USC’s defensive coordinator busy.

“It adds some time at night,” D’Anton Lynn said. “But you have to cover all of your Ps and Qs. … You have to go off what you see on tape, obviously watching some Houston stuff. What were they good at? What did they do there that they already do at Nebraska? Then, what were his staples in a span of two weeks that he could incorporate?”

USC, at least, should be qualified to…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/lincoln-rileys-old-colleague-beat-114516278.html

Author : LA Times

Publish date : 2024-11-15 11:45:16

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