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All right, listen, this is just for Trojan fans. But here's about twenty minutes my thoughts on the season overall, because you know, I'm into that recruiting stuff and portal stuff, and I think it's one of my favorite parts and volume that I just if I'm in the mood, I went for an hour walk, got a coffee and thought, had so many thoughts ruminating in my head, and I thought, you know, I want to get it out there. So
I'm going to be watching football all day anyway. So let's talk about Lincoln Riley that time out late in the game. After the game, he went out and said, listen, ten minute on the field, you know, pick your poison, we call the time out. It all worked out. I did not like them moving away from the running game at the end of the first half and early in the third quarter. I think they have found a star running back in Brian Jackson, who's got a Lendale White feel.
I think they've really found he looks like the most formidable power back they have had since the Pete Carroll era. I think you have a star in the freshman Brian Jackson out of Texas two thirty five, powerful, decisive, hits the hole moving forward. That's a Sunday player that looks like a Sunday running back. He's not gonna blow down the sidelines. He's not a speedback, but he is a power back and he can find the whole decisively. I really like him. More on that later. But Lincoln Riley's here.
He's got a long contract. They put three hundred million into the facilities, the collectives up to eighteen million. They can buy some of the best players. In my opinion, the need for this program is a general manager above everything. The current people in place are allies of Lincoln Riley. To me, that's not good enough. If you want to compete with the big boys, you have to go hire a former NFLGM. You know, there's a lot of people. You could hire Chris Peterson and just say Chris, you're
the general manager. Run the program. That'd be one of the first guys I called. I'm not sure he has any interest. He now works at Fox as a broadcaster. But that's the number one need of the program. To get to the big boys, you got to get a general manager, and the current people in place, to me, aren't at the level necessary. The second thing I would talk about is I didn't like all the play calling.
I thought going away from Brian Jackson in the run game a couple different times wasn't prudent, but it all worked out. Let's talk about the season that just passed. You beat eight and four LSU to start, and you beat eight and four Texas A and M, and you lost in overtime to a Penn State team that's vying from the national championship. The Maryland lost was awful, Rutgers Washington, don't get me wrong, but you went to against the SEC. I think that's as many wins as Oklahoma had against
the SEC. And again you had Penn State in a tough spot. Penn State's a better team, clearly so. And also the schedule last year, the schedule with first year starter Miller Moss. You opened up LSU and then you're at Michigan a couple of weeks later next year. The schedule is about as easy as you can get in the Big Ten. Missouri State and Georgia Southern to start a notch below LSU at Purdue, Michigan State at Illinois, and then idle. You all have two weeks to prepare
for Michigan and their freshman quarterback. That's a lot different than LSU and a couple of weeks later at the Big House with Miller Moss. That's a whole different scenario. So the schedule plays into their favor. Two weeks to prep for a powerhouse in Michigan. That's good. Quarterback Jaden Mayava. He's a little too reckless for my taste, but he's a sophomore and from UNLV to USC, he stepped up in competition, started late in the year. He's never had
a real off season. With Lincoln Riley, I don't necessarily think they're going to bring a quarterback in. He's a sophomore. I mean, you saw from first half to second half the difference in him last night. I mean, he's got when he steps into it, he's got an arm. He looked anxious. He's a player that's I think as good as his confidence. I thought he was very confident late. He lacked confidence early when they fell behind. Too many balls are thrown in harm's way. But again, he's a sophomore.
He's never had an off season program with Lincoln Riley. They're also bringing in a five star high school kid from southern California. I'm not sure they're going to go outside the program. Will he get better? Absolutely? Is he an elite college quarterback? To me, very debatable, i'd lean know, but you know, you start looking around at the teams vying for national championship, not all of them have NFL quarterbacks. You don't have to have an NFL quarterback the positives
on the roster. Let's go back to Brian Jackson. Six feet two thirty feels like a Lendale White would be my comp really really big time player. I mean that go there. They got backup offensive lineman and he is finding big holes. Decisive, not a burner, but decisive power back. Kind of a one step cut guy like Zach Charboney was at UCLA. Sort of a goes one cut off to the races. I like him a lot. Jacoby Lane,
mackay Lemonar obviously elite receivers. I think too much is made of Deuce Robinson and Branch transferring out of the program. I thought it was too cluttered. Last year Hudson as well, I thought it was too cluttered. I think I think that the reality is guys want touches and wide receiver Nfler College has always been a little higher maintenance positions. Guys want touches. Jacobe Lane's a Sunday player. He'll come back as a junior one more year at US. That's
your number one. Lemon is a one, A outstanding. Then you're gonna have upgrades at tight end. The tight end position I think will be have more dynamic playmakers next year. Some of the kids in the program now are bigger, stronger. Lincoln Riley doesn't use a tight end a ton anyway. But you know, when I look at what USC brings back in the skill department, even the quarterback moves pretty well.
I like their foundation. It's also my biggest complaint this year is they just didn't have enough NFL bodies on the offense, offensive line and defensive line. They just didn't have any depth. Next year they bring back Elijah Page. He'll play he'll be a top two or three left tackle in the Big Ten. Probably is last year at USC, hopefully not. Tobias Raymond is certainly I thought last night he's your right tackle. Been in the program three years,
big hard working kid. Long and then Justin Tuhanu, who got duty last night as a freshman from Huntington Beach. I think he's tremendous. I've been telling a couple of people in the program, I'm like, that's your kid. So you have three capable starting offensive tackles this year. I thought it was Page, who was a red shirt freshman. That's just not good enough in the Big Ten. I think you could probably bring in a transfer if you
wanted to compete for a job at right tackle. But you're bringing into excellent, four star offensive tackles who can red shirt and then play. I really honestly feel good about the offensive tackle position for the first time in maybe twelve to fifteen years. Between Page, Raymond, and tu and new those are NFL bodies. However it plays out for their careers, I don't know, but I feel really good about that. The other thing that's been I remember
years ago talking to Urban Meyer about this. I said California, whatever it is, just does not produce. For a state of thirty eight million people, it does not produce a lot of great defensive line bodies. Maybe it's the diet hell, I don't know, it's the California diet. Who knows. And we had talked about that. I remember at the time saying, if I ever went to USC, he goes. You know, you just got to live in Houston, in Atlanta, and you know areas of the country that produced three hundred
and twenty five pound defensive linemen. For whatever reasons, California doesn't produce a ton of those players. You often have to leave the state, and that's what Lincoln Riley's done. I think Floyd Bouchard, Miami Beach defensive tackle that will come in this year as a true freshman, probably won't play a lot. He'll be rotational. Looks like an SEC interior defensive lineman. Jakeem Stewart, another from the South Louisiana looks like an SEC defensive linement. Some of this stuff
is aesthetics. We've just been too small in the trenches. Two and seventy five pound defensive linemen Jamal Jarrett from Georgia's coming in as a transfer, big body, Keishawn Silver from Kentucky, big body. So I just I feel like the look of the defensive line looks more like you get at a Michigan or a Clemson or in LSU. Are they all great players? Probably not, But that has been my complaint now for several years running. We just don't have enough left tackle NFL Sunday bodies in the program.
I think now we have three. We don't have enough NFL bodies in the defensive interior. Now we have three or four. So and there's a couple of freshmen this year that played a little bit. They did play in the Bowl. So I think that's very promising to me because I think when you move into the Big ten,
the weather's overrated. I mean, let's be honest. College football games are September, October, November, and you maybe have one in December, right, you know, if usc made the playoff, you know they maybe have a cold game on the road somewhere up north. That's that's fine. Remember your your last regular season game is gonna usually be potentially with the UCLA so Homer away. The weather's fine. I think the weather aspect is overstated. I do think what the
Big Ten is and you've seen this with Oregon. Oregon has had elite offensive and defensive line recruiting with Dan Lanning and Mario Cristobal and the transfer portal. They're bigger, they're bigger and they have more size up front. Oregon's fast, that's their bread and butter. And USC teams again, plenty of receivers and corners, safeties, wide outs in southern California. But the big bodies are what the Big Ten has.
And as college football schedule is now longer, you go to a twelve team playoff off the regular season, there's no reason to load up and play an LSU to start the season. You're just begging for injuries. Would I've said this, I'd move Notre Dame off the schedule. There's no reason if I have to play Ohio State, Oregon, Washington will be better, Michigan Penn State. Why schedule potential losses.
Have a couple of cupcakes early or winnable games. Get your quarterback, get your young freshman looks, get your offensive line right. By week three or four or five. When you have to go to an Illinois you know, don't be a romantic Let baseball have all the purists get the Notre Dame game. Look at USC schedule going forward, plush the twelve team playoff. You're trying to get into that thing. It's like political races. You can talk about where you stand on this, shue this issue, and where
you stand on that issue. Get elected, all right. Have policies that most people can embrace and put their arms around. The game is get elected not being strident and a purest and precious on certain issues that can alien and alienate a large part of your contingency. It's the same in football schedule to win games. Nick Saban for a decade. Look at that out of conference schedule. He wasn't going on the road his last eight nine years at Alabama if he didn't have to. Why would you do that?
Why would you ever want to go to South Ben against Marcus Freeman and that roster. It's idiotic. Why do you want to play LSU Play them in the playoff if you have to, But just don't outthink the room soft early schedule, cross your fingers on where you get your buy and get to the playoff. That's all that matters, not the romance of playing Notre Dame and the four Horsemen,
get over it. That's not the game. Nick Saban always understood that, you know, make sure they had their buys before some of their biggest games, the LSU game and it was Cupcake City. Any moment he could give, you know, starters thirty snaps instead of sixty or seventy against Georgia or Florida or somebody in the SEC. So the schedule's weaker next year. I'm not sure what they're going to do at quarterback. I think they're going to go with the guys they have. They have a start at running back,
two stars at receiver, ample size up front. Some of it's very very young, but that's okay. I just think you have to take a deep breath on this stuff. Lincoln Riley's not going anywhere. I thought that win, to finish with the winning record mattered. It makes the off
season better. They've already gone to the portal for a running back needed they needed a back up running back now that Brian Jackson looks like the starter for a kicker, two interior defensive linemen and a corner again, I could see them bringing in maybe a senior offensive tackle, not a left tackle, but just for rotational purposes, injury purposes. It's a long shlog of a regular season. I think
they need a linebacker, an active, rangey linebacker somewhere. I like some of the young freshmen that will now be sophomore as a red shirt freshman at linebacker. I think they've recruited it pretty well the last couple of years, but they probably know need to go get sort of an upper class linebacker. But this the first year Lincoln Riley had the program. The first two years it was very much about the transfer portal, and I am disappointed
with a Southern California recruiting. Not gonna lie about that. But you know, you start looking around college football, it's a new world. Ohio State had two huge regular season games. Oregon Michigan lost both that are in the playoff, and the Penn State game close. You know, the world's changed. You're gonna lose games. You can look at USC schedule. You know you could see a game at Notre Dame that's going to be really tough. You know Notre Dame.
Riley Leonard's going to the pros. You know, there's rumors that they they may be in the portal for a quarterback at the college level that many of you have seen play for a big program. So I won't give that away yet, but don't be surprised if a very very well known college quarterback transfers to Notre Dame wants the playoffs, and I think they're in a good spot. I just I got to tell you, Brian Jackson, that running back, that was a revelation. That's a real thing.
That's a big ten running back. That's not a guy that's moving around in shifty and you know, five eight and like one ninety five and can make you miss in space. No, No, that's six foot two thirty five, plant the foot, decisive head down four yards become six. That was a real revelation to me. And the O line and d talent, the aesthetic, the optics is big, long Sunday looking bodies. So there you go. That's what I got this morning. I don't know what that was,
but that's what I got this morning. You know what, Saturdays, I'm not gonna shower it. I don't think I'm gonna sit and watch football. I got a little gumbo in the fridge and I'm gonna dive into that thing. It's not gonna be the healthiest day for me. Hey, I can't eat blueberries in Canalo three hundred and sixty five days a year. May have a shot of bourbon, some gumbo. Let's live a little right fight on Trojan Fans. The volume College Football Reactions presented by JLab. Jaylab has the
best audio products in the game. They're ready to take care of you this football season, traveling to watch your favorite team, or just streaming the game at home. Find the Blue Box at Walmart, Target, Best Buy, or go to JLab dot com. Love their stuff. The Blue Box