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Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal hell that for me. I'm

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Speaker 1: a man, I'm for I've heard so many players say,

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Speaker 1: well I want to be happy. You want to be

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Speaker 1: happy for dake Edo State?

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Speaker 2: Is that whoo whoo?

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Speaker 1: And them and tie.

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Speaker 2: Darre Rubiste, welcome back, my friend.

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Speaker 1: How are you? I'm good, Ty, I'm very good. I'm

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Speaker 1: very excited for this. I don't know what we're calling

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Speaker 1: this series of episodes. One of my favorite things that

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Speaker 1: we do is we come up with but two years

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Speaker 1: ago it was like, why aren't they six and six

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Speaker 1: or why aren't they nine and three? I forget what

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Speaker 1: we actually called the episodes. I know, will it ever happen?

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Speaker 1: Was something we did?

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Speaker 2: Did that last year?

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Speaker 1: That was last year's and like you know, in the

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Speaker 1: year before, it was right, like, what's the barrier to

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Speaker 1: double digit wins? What's the barrier to being like a

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Speaker 1: consistent comfortable Bowl team or whatever. I don't know what

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Speaker 1: we're calling this year, but I know that most, if

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Speaker 1: not every year, we're going to figure out a way

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Speaker 1: to include USC in this series just so we can

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Speaker 1: have Ryan Abraham on the show.

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Speaker 2: I think that's right. Why don't we call it trending up?

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Speaker 2: Trending down, yeah or something. We can workshop that title,

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Speaker 2: but I think that's the question that a lot of

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Speaker 2: people are asking this time of year. It is that

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Speaker 2: time of year where, yes, it is lighter on news.

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Speaker 2: We have talked about that ed nauseum, but you can

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Speaker 2: truly zoom into a team and ask some probing questions,

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Speaker 2: trying to figure out is this team headed in a

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Speaker 2: good direction? Is it not headed in a good direction?

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Speaker 2: And unfortunately for USC, we have found ourselves in this

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Speaker 2: situation year and in year out, especially over the last

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Speaker 2: few years, where we're wondering just that where is this

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Speaker 2: program headed. Lincoln Riley's a high profile guy. He's clearly

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Speaker 2: had a ton of success, at least on the offensive

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Speaker 2: side of the ball. He's been in playoff games, he's

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Speaker 2: pumped out Heisman winners and first round talent, and yet

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Speaker 2: we still have these lingering questions about is he going

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Speaker 2: to get the job done? At USC? It was a

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Speaker 2: big splash higher when they went out and they got him,

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Speaker 2: and he's got a very healthy buy out to keep

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Speaker 2: him there for the foreseeable future. Is he going to

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Speaker 2: be able to get over that hump? That's why we're

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Speaker 2: going to bring Ryan on Today.

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Speaker 1: It's sort of like when you are catching up with

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Speaker 1: somebody that you know very well that you have a

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Speaker 1: long history with. I'm talking about Ryan, but kind of

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Speaker 1: talking about Ryan, but this series of episodes could be

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Speaker 1: this is our alt title. You know, when you meet

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Speaker 1: up with somebody and you say how you doing and

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Speaker 1: they say I'm good, And then if they're a close

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Speaker 1: enough person in your life, you could potentially say, Okay,

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Speaker 1: but how are you really doing? How are you? How

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Speaker 1: are you just great? How is everything? Just let it

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Speaker 1: all out? And that's to me. I'm trying to I'm

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Speaker 1: trying to get to the core, how are you really doing?

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Speaker 1: And I don't know if that's me as I'm aging

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Speaker 1: and wanting to be there for people or being so

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Speaker 1: optimistic with all things ANC State last year that I

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Speaker 1: really wish that we could have asked NC State No,

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Speaker 1: but how are you really doing? How's it really going?

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Speaker 1: And so I don't know how you put that like vibes, Colin,

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Speaker 1: how are you really doing? In a title?

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Speaker 2: But I like where your head is at. Well, if

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Speaker 2: you've got a better idea for a title, you know,

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Speaker 2: not yet, We'll see. You can always ride in I'm

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Speaker 2: talking to verballerhood now soliverbo at gmail dot com. You can,

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Speaker 2: of course go to verballers dot com. You know, that's

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Speaker 2: our Patreon community where you can get add free episodes,

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Speaker 2: bonus content, discord access, playing games, and whatnot. If nothing more,

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Speaker 2: Hit follow hit subscribes that you don't miss any of

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Speaker 2: these episodes. We're going twice week all throughout the off

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Speaker 2: season here. And yeah, as you said, we're excited to

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Speaker 2: have Ryan Abraham from USC football on to ask some

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Speaker 2: of these questions with respect to USC. We've been setting

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Speaker 2: up interviews for the next couple weeks, I guess is

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Speaker 2: probably the right way to phrase that. So we'll bring

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Speaker 2: on other people from teams from other disciplines within the

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Speaker 2: sport to keep it interesting here as we go through April,

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Speaker 2: before you know, it'll be spring football. We can talk

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Speaker 2: a little bit about that. We of course have our

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Speaker 2: episode coming up with Nate Tice. We haven't said this

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Speaker 2: to Nate yet, but we've been doing it for five years,

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Speaker 2: so I'm assuming Nape will come back and talk to

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Speaker 2: Usxice about what he has learned in his self study

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Speaker 2: getting ready for the NFL Draft.

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Speaker 1: Did you see Mike Tye is now involved in the

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Speaker 1: Nate Tice broader universe.

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Speaker 2: I did, well, I know it's his dad, so it

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Speaker 2: is se on some level he's involved.

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Speaker 1: But he's responsible for Nate Tys. Let's be honest. But

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Speaker 1: uh and that not his media success but his existence, right,

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Speaker 1: he responsible nobody. I saw them talking offensive linemen and

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Speaker 1: that Mike Tys, obviously given his background, was weighing in

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Speaker 1: and scouting uh, draft eligible offensive line man. Very cool

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Speaker 1: to see. That's great.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, we'll have to ask Nate about that when

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Speaker 2: we bring them on, but that is coming up here.

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Speaker 2: We will keep you, I promise, engaged throughout the month

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Speaker 2: of April. I'm ready, all right, Dan, without further ado,

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Speaker 2: we are very pleased to welcome back one of our

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Speaker 2: longtime friends here, one of the true podcasting OG's at

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Speaker 2: least in the sports world.

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Speaker 1: But he's twenty eight years old. Ty Let's be very clear.

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Speaker 2: Got a very early start, a very early start. Ryan

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Speaker 2: Abraham from over at usc football dot Com.

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Speaker 1: How are you, Ryan? How goes it?

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Speaker 3: I'm doing all right? Yeah.

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Speaker 4: I think we're getting close to the twenty year mark

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Speaker 4: for our podcast. I think we I think we both

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Speaker 4: started like two thousand and eight, like Ye's getting up there, geez.

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Speaker 1: I think we owe him like a smoking jacket like

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Speaker 1: SNL does the special jackets for the five time hosts.

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Speaker 1: We need some sort of luxurious velvet or valure situation

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Speaker 1: to honor I think the law. Like it's probably Bruce

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Speaker 1: and Ryan both down there in the South Bay, like

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Speaker 1: I would imagine. I don't know who else there is.

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Speaker 2: Among the among the earliest guests that I can remember.

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Speaker 2: I think Bruce was pretty early on the curve. Ryan

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Speaker 2: was definitely in there. Stu Mandel, Yeah, Stu Mandel and

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Speaker 2: Andy we had Andy on Andy Trum.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we got to get the valure jackets.

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Speaker 2: We need to put the spreadsheet together, but we could

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Speaker 2: probably figure out a smoking jacket situation.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what's our what's our jacket budget?

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Speaker 3: Tye?

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Speaker 2: Just ballpark lot as much as it needs to be.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, you guys are huge now. When we started, it

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Speaker 4: was just like this small little podcast. Now you guys

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Speaker 4: are like a big deal. So that's great to be

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Speaker 4: on again.

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Speaker 1: That's what I tell my wife, Rian, That's what I

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Speaker 1: tell my wife. Where are we starting? Ty Well?

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Speaker 2: I wanted to start here because last season, as you know,

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Speaker 2: was USC's first in the Big Ten other than the

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Speaker 2: four and five conference record, whatever it was obviously that

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Speaker 2: was not ideal. Was the move a positive experience for USC?

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Speaker 2: For you covering USC? How do you feel about that

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Speaker 2: now in retrospect?

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Speaker 4: I mean personally it was fun because of a bunch

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Speaker 4: of new road trips. Now I miss some of the

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Speaker 4: Pac twelve stuff. It's just weird, like watching like Arizona

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Speaker 4: State News or Colorado News and it's not really being

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Speaker 4: part of what I'm covering really now. But to be

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Speaker 4: able to go to Minnesota or you know, see the

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Speaker 4: Big House for the first time, some of those trips,

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Speaker 4: you know, that was cool. That was like a cool,

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Speaker 4: cool experience. I think a lot of the fans we

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Speaker 4: talked to, you know, being at to do that. But

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Speaker 4: there was a lot of trips, you know, I went

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Speaker 4: with the Maryland. There's just a lot of flying and

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Speaker 4: a lot of time zones you have to cross. I

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Speaker 4: think for USC, you know, they were trying to get

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Speaker 4: things right, especially on the defensive side of the ball,

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Speaker 4: and there were some positive you know reviews from what

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Speaker 4: Danton Lynn was able to do coming in, but having

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Speaker 4: some of those road losses where you were winning in

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Speaker 4: the fourth quarter and weren't able to close it out.

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Speaker 4: I mean, obviously that's going to leave a bad taste

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Speaker 4: in your mouth. But the schedule was a lot more

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Speaker 4: manageable than I thought coming in. You know, Michigan wasn't

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Speaker 4: as good as as everyone thought. They certainly had a

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Speaker 4: chance to win that game. I think it was, you know,

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Speaker 4: kind of dipping your toes into the Big Ten waters

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Speaker 4: and they were like, Okay, we can play with these guys.

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Speaker 4: But they got to figure out a way to get

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Speaker 4: some of these wins on the road. And I think

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Speaker 4: this year the schedule is kind of similar. But I

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Speaker 4: think it was okay for the first year, but you

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Speaker 4: would have liked to, you know, had better than a

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Speaker 4: five hundred record, Like you said, four and five in

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Speaker 4: conference isn't going to cut it. I mean, it's nice

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Speaker 4: getting a couple wins against Sect during the season of

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Speaker 4: the ball game, but they needed to do better, especially,

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Speaker 4: you know, to be Maryland's only Big Ten win. You

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Speaker 4: don't want that, like to wear that for the rest

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Speaker 4: of the Austin and that's where USC is now.

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Speaker 2: No, No, nobody wants that. I was thinking back a

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Speaker 2: little bit when I knew you were coming on to

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Speaker 2: that moment when USC was first announced to the Big

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Speaker 2: Ten and this title wave of think pieces that were

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Speaker 2: published online to the tune of are they going to

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Speaker 2: need to adapt their style to play in the Big Ten?

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Speaker 2: What will USC need to do to adapt to this

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Speaker 2: more physical brand of smash mouth football? Like there were

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Speaker 2: so many of those you could have powered the earth

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Speaker 2: if you could harness the energy from them for like

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Speaker 2: a decade. It was kind of ridiculous, kind of funny,

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Speaker 2: kind of made you wonder, other than the travel which

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Speaker 2: you just alluded to, was there any kind of adaptation

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Speaker 2: that USC needed to, I don't know, put in place

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Speaker 2: in order to compete in the Big Ten? Or was

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Speaker 2: that mostly just for.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's mostly takes. I mean, if you

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Speaker 4: look at USC's offense, it fell off a cliff compared

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Speaker 4: to where Lincoln Riley's offenses have been. He's always had

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Speaker 4: top five. I think there was one year they were

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Speaker 4: number six in the country and then I think they

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Speaker 4: were down in the thirties or something like that. Of course,

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Speaker 4: they switched quarterbacks, you know, two thirds of away through

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Speaker 4: the season, but I don't think that was like an

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Speaker 4: adjustment to Big ten play. I just think was you know,

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Speaker 4: they had sort of neglected the defensive side of the

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Speaker 4: ball for a long time. You know, that first year

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Speaker 4: when Lincoln Riley won eleven games. They brought in some

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Speaker 4: superstar talent through the portal, but most of it was

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Speaker 4: on the offensive side, you know, like Jordan Adison and

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Speaker 4: Caleb Williams obviously went in the Heisman and all that.

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Speaker 4: I think they really did a good job trying to

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Speaker 4: address things on the defensive side. I'm not saying that's

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Speaker 4: why you sort of fell off offensively, but you know,

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Speaker 4: he's always had this kind of quarterback that was you know,

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Speaker 4: so many got you three number one overall picks and

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Speaker 4: all the Heisman winners and all that, and they just

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Speaker 4: didn't have someone like that season, and it, for whatever reason,

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Speaker 4: it didn't work. So I don't think it was an

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Speaker 4: adjustment per se. I think it was just sort of

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Speaker 4: like they had to fall off on the offensive side

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Speaker 4: of the ball. I think they are trying to, you know,

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Speaker 4: address some of the big body issues. I think they

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Speaker 4: weren't big enough on the defensive line last year, and

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Speaker 4: that could be some other reason why they weren't able

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Speaker 4: to you know, kind of close things out in the

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Speaker 4: fourth court. I think they've done a pretty good job

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Speaker 4: addressing that in this offseason, but maybe not adjustments as

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Speaker 4: much as just they've had their own growing pains. It's

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Speaker 4: you know, USC was a mess when Lake and Riley

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Speaker 4: took over. You get a lot of success right away

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Speaker 4: and then sort of fallen off since then. So I

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Speaker 4: think they're trying to address a lot of the their

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Speaker 4: eternal issues, fixing what's inside USC more than like adjusting

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Speaker 4: to what it's going to be like in the big ten.

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Speaker 1: Let's be clear, USC's defense in twenty twenty four was

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Speaker 1: not a disaster. They had moments that I'm sure they'd

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Speaker 1: like back, but it had been for large stretches of

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three a disaster.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Now there are reasons that are very easy to point to,

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Speaker 1: like they got off the field on third down way more,

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Speaker 1: and it was very noticeable that they were blitzing a

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Speaker 1: lot more successfully under Danton Lynn. When you look at

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Speaker 1: USC and the improvements that they made in twenty twenty four, obviously,

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Speaker 1: as you alluded to, as you mentioned, it's Danton Lynn

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Speaker 1: and the defense probably just doing boring things more often

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Speaker 1: just boring tackles on the edge. When you think about

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Speaker 1: how the defense improved and you know, whatever removed the

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Speaker 1: context of they didn't necessarily play a bunch of explosive

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Speaker 1: offenses like they did in the Pac twelve. What was

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Speaker 1: it about Danton Lynn's stamp on this defense that led

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Speaker 1: to more boring success?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, I mean you alluded to with the

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Speaker 4: third down success. They weren't really good on fourth down,

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Speaker 4: but you know, some of the because they got a

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Speaker 4: lot of third down stops. And to me, for years,

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Speaker 4: the linebacker production had been so poor and they've had

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Speaker 4: some talented guys there, but that you know, if your

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Speaker 4: defense is good, usually the linebackers are making plays, if

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Speaker 4: it's batting the ball down, you know, whatever it is,

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Speaker 4: or you know, making that tackle that you need to

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Speaker 4: make and not letting the safeties and the secondary kind

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Speaker 4: of make those. It's just USC has had like their safeties,

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Speaker 4: you know, leading the team in tackles and things like that,

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Speaker 4: and it just didn't get the kind of production from

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Speaker 4: the linebacker spot. But they brought in matt Ense, you

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Speaker 4: know who was they really over hired in the defensive

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Speaker 4: you know, coaching room where matt EN's won national championships

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Speaker 4: at the FCS level, and when I listened to him

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Speaker 4: and talk about, hey, I'm the head coach of the linebackers,

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Speaker 4: I was like, Okay, they're not real deep there, but

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Speaker 4: they're going to get a lot of production out of them.

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Speaker 4: And they did, and now they got get Rob Ryan.

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Speaker 4: I think you're going to get a similar result there.

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Speaker 4: So to me, it was really the linebacker room. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: they weren't real deep on the defensive line. They were

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Speaker 4: pretty deep in the secondary last year, but they weren't

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Speaker 4: getting the production from the linebackers and we were not

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Speaker 4: getting that. I think it's really hard to have a

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Speaker 4: good defense. So I thought they got better, not maybe

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Speaker 4: talent wise, but really production. They did a much better job.

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Speaker 4: And I think it was the coaching and the scheme

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Speaker 4: from Danton Lynn and they're hoping they can continue that

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Speaker 4: to lose ants. He's now the head coach at President State.

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Speaker 4: But I likeb Ryan or Lotte, just watching a couple

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Speaker 4: of practices, seeing him yelling at a guys and stuff like,

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Speaker 4: all right, I feel like they're pretty good there at

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Speaker 4: that spot as well, but you need those linebackers to

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Speaker 4: be good and they just weren't for especially the first

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Speaker 4: couple of years of Lincoln Riley's time.

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Speaker 1: It's pretty difficult to diagnose, as you mentioned the fourth

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Speaker 1: quarter struggles, especially on the road. Pretty you know, whether

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Speaker 1: it's a conditioning thing, whether it's a depth thing, whether

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Speaker 1: it's a preparation thing, whether it's obviously quarterback and turnover thing.

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Speaker 1: In the moment, what did you feel like was the

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Speaker 1: reason or main reasons for the inability to close out?

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Speaker 1: And I guess with the benefit of time, you know,

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Speaker 1: what is what do you feel like Lincoln Riley and

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Speaker 1: USC what are they doing to address being better prepared

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Speaker 1: and better closing out those games? Like they had an

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Speaker 1: opportunity to close out a team that ended up in

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Speaker 1: the college football playoffs SEMIS in Penn State at home

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Speaker 1: and obviously couldn't get it done. What what key needs

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Speaker 1: to be turned? What button needs to be pushed?

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Speaker 4: In your opinion, you know, it's almost like a lack

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Speaker 4: of confidence with the team in general, and I think

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Speaker 4: offensively you just always felt that, Okay, whoever you got

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Speaker 4: the ball and the lot, you know you're going to

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Speaker 4: go make a play and score a touchdown. It just

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Speaker 4: didn't seem like they had that confidence, and that's something

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Speaker 4: not just in the fourth quarter. I mean, you shouldn't

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Speaker 4: be in a close situation with Maryland at the end

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Speaker 4: of the game. You know, they're just that's not that

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Speaker 4: good of a team. So I think there's two things

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Speaker 4: you really have to like be able to put away

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Speaker 4: teams that you're better than you're they're certainly more talented

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Speaker 4: than on the road or whatever. But so I think Dan,

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Speaker 4: it's a lot of just like the confidence in this team,

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Speaker 4: like knowing they just didn't seem to, hey, we got

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Speaker 4: a little better here, We're doing this okay here. But

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Speaker 4: I don't know if it all came together where they

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Speaker 4: all just feel like, hey, we're this will and machine.

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Speaker 4: We know what we're going to go out and do. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: maybe we played poorly in the first half, We're going

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Speaker 4: to come out and make some plays. And it just

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Speaker 4: did seem like that that was lacking a little bit.

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Speaker 3: I don't know.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I don't think it was a team that

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Speaker 4: was out of shape. I think they did a much

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Speaker 4: better job on the off season when they got rid

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Speaker 4: of Alex Grench, who liked a smaller kind of quicker defense.

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Speaker 4: The guys got bigger and stronger, and yeah, I mean

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Speaker 4: everyone does that in the off season, right, but they

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Speaker 4: actually looked like, oh, these guys look different. But I

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Speaker 4: didn't feel like they were running out of gas at

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Speaker 4: the end of the game or anything. So I think

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Speaker 4: it's a combination of things, but just really having a

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Speaker 4: lot of confidence and like, hey, we can put this together,

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Speaker 4: go out and win. You know, losing some of those

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Speaker 4: early it almost seemed like that impacted later on too,

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Speaker 4: Like if they would have won that Michigan game where

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Speaker 4: they looked like they certainly could have won, it would

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Speaker 4: have been a big win in the big house.

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Speaker 3: You might have some different results going forward.

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Speaker 4: But it seemed to me then like a lot of

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Speaker 4: just sort of lack of confidence that they could close

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Speaker 4: these out. And once you start losing those close road games,

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Speaker 4: it just kept happening and happening. It's just it's sort

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Speaker 4: of like a you know, self fulfilling prophecy.

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Speaker 1: I guess it's It's an interesting situation too, because of

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Speaker 1: how USC opened this season. I think it was in

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Speaker 1: Vegas against LSU where I was like, Oh, this USC

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Speaker 1: team with a confident Miller Moss, the defense is making plays,

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Speaker 1: the receiver room looks stacked. What happened to the firepower

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Speaker 1: on offense last season? And I guess where does it

357
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Speaker 1: stand now? Because it really like two good running backs there,

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Speaker 1: Quinn Joyner and Woody Marx obviously Jacobe Lane and Makai

359
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Speaker 1: lemon zach Rya Brandt, Like it just seemed like Miller

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Speaker 1: Moss had so many options. He played so confidently in

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Speaker 1: that huge spot. What went wrong in terms of like

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Speaker 1: the confidence of this offense of you know, a Lincoln

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Speaker 1: Riley offense. It's just like something you could always count on.

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Speaker 1: And it looked like they were going to have another

365
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Speaker 1: year where like, oh, it's gonna be a top fifteen

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Speaker 1: offense and be super interesting.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, there was a lot of optimism. I mean one

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Speaker 4: of my writers, Connor Morris, set like preseason predicted USC

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Speaker 4: to go seven and five and then he got absolutely crushed.

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Speaker 4: When USC beats LSU, You're like, oh, seven and five whatever,

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Speaker 4: and they ended up going six and six. So like, yeah,

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Speaker 4: he was victory lap later. But he was actually overally optimistic.

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Speaker 4: But I think watching that game, they did all the

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Speaker 4: things you would want to do. I mean, they came

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Speaker 4: up with some big defensive stops. Miller Moss gets a

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Speaker 4: drive at the you know end of the game. There

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Speaker 4: was it just seemed like they had a lot of

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Speaker 4: confidence going forward, like seeing what this team was able

379
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Speaker 4: to do, they weren't able to. There was just all

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Speaker 4: these critical mistakes at the wrong times, I think, and

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Speaker 4: and I think in some of those games, like we

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Speaker 4: had mentioned, you should have been able to pilot more

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Speaker 4: points and put some separation between teams that you were

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Speaker 4: overmatched and just weren't able to do. And you know,

385
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Speaker 4: that was a neutral site game in Vegas, but the

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Speaker 4: road games, they just never seemed to put it together

387
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Speaker 4: and have everything kind of working. And then some of

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Speaker 4: the players that we thought were going to have these

389
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Speaker 4: breakout years, like a Zachariah Branch just seemed to speaking

390
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Speaker 4: of confidence, he just never seemed to have it with

391
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Speaker 4: special teams, you know, returning kicks and punts. He just

392
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Speaker 4: was making the wrong decisions, wasn't getting open, wasn't breaking

393
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Speaker 4: tackles or you know, getting away from things, And it

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Speaker 4: just seemed like a little thing here and a little

395
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Speaker 4: thing there, and it kind of all sort of came

396
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Speaker 4: together where there just wasn't It just didn't come you know,

397
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Speaker 4: you're you got a lot of good ingredients and it

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Speaker 4: just never came the dish never came together.

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Speaker 3: And it's hard, especially when you get.

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Speaker 4: That early win and you feel like, hey, this is

401
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Speaker 4: this is something that you can really build on. There

402
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Speaker 4: was a lot of talk like, hey, this team could

403
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Speaker 4: make a run at the college FOOTBA playoffs. I thought

404
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Speaker 4: they could, but you can't lose the Minnesota game and

405
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Speaker 4: the Maryland game, things like that, and just and it

406
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Speaker 4: kind of fell apart and then they was never able

407
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Speaker 4: to kind of right the ship after that happened, and

408
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Speaker 4: you make the quarterback change and all that, and it

409
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Speaker 4: just ended up being a mess that you know, this

410
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Speaker 4: was not a team that should have went six and six.

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Speaker 4: So to me, you have to look back up at

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Speaker 4: the head coach and like, hey, what did what could

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Speaker 4: you have done to kind of keep this together? Because

414
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Speaker 4: it just you there was a there was enough there

415
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Speaker 4: that you could have had a good season, maybe not

416
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Speaker 4: great season, but it just fell apart to end up

417
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Speaker 4: having a bad season.

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Speaker 1: By the way, ty let me jump in real quick.

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Speaker 1: A lot of that is a lot of teams reflect

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Speaker 1: their head coach. And just when you were saying that,

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Speaker 1: I was just thinking like what could you see from

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Speaker 1: Lincoln Riley's temperament, Like was there a reflection of his

423
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Speaker 1: temperament as you know, he was growing frustrated and talking

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Speaker 1: about like we were two minutes away from being like

425
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Speaker 1: eight no, and like it was was there that kind

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Speaker 1: of like locker room responding to Lincoln Riley not necessarily

427
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Speaker 1: in a positive way because he didn't seem to be

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Speaker 1: projecting a ton of confidence on the sideline.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's a good observation. And part of it,

430
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Speaker 4: you know, his baby is the offensive side of the ball,

431
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Speaker 4: and sometimes it was you felt like it wasn't necessarily

432
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Speaker 4: going out and trying to do what you needed to win.

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Speaker 4: It was almost trying to like prove a point.

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Speaker 1: Right.

435
00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:48,399
Speaker 4: They go into that Washington game and Washington's secondary was

436
00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:51,080
Speaker 4: great and you could run all over them, and USC

437
00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:53,359
Speaker 4: had Woody Marx, who I think it's going to probably

438
00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:56,320
Speaker 4: be a Day two kind of draft pick, was really ineffective.

439
00:19:56,359 --> 00:19:58,639
Speaker 4: They've been really good at getting like transfer running backs

440
00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:01,199
Speaker 4: in and having been affected him he's the MVP of

441
00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:03,960
Speaker 4: the team last year, and they end up throwing the

442
00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:05,800
Speaker 4: ball I think thirty times in the first half and

443
00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:09,200
Speaker 4: running at eight and just really fell behind against a

444
00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:13,479
Speaker 4: pretty mediocre Washington squad, almost like doing if Washington came

445
00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:15,560
Speaker 4: out and said, hey, we want this offense to do

446
00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:17,960
Speaker 4: our opponent. We want them to come out and throw

447
00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:19,400
Speaker 4: the ball over the place, and that's what they did,

448
00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:22,000
Speaker 4: made mistakes and then they started running it more in

449
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,040
Speaker 4: the second half. But stuff like that Dan, where you're

450
00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:26,040
Speaker 4: just like, well, the obvious thing to do is just

451
00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:27,800
Speaker 4: go out and run the football and you're probably going

452
00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:29,760
Speaker 4: to have a lot of success. So I think when

453
00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:32,960
Speaker 4: they weren't having the like kind of top five offensive success,

454
00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:35,560
Speaker 4: some of it looked like they were trying to like

455
00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:39,240
Speaker 4: prove a point or show people things, and it's not necessarily, hey,

456
00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:41,159
Speaker 4: we're focused on winning the game. We're focused on like

457
00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:43,719
Speaker 4: some kind of image that they want to project. So

458
00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:45,719
Speaker 4: I think I think that was part of it too.

459
00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:48,199
Speaker 4: They just that doesn't help too when you're trying to

460
00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:50,320
Speaker 4: like show something as opposed to just go out and

461
00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:52,359
Speaker 4: try to win the game. Whatever you need to do

462
00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:54,520
Speaker 4: with your personnel and coaching staff and all that.

463
00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:58,560
Speaker 2: Brian usc made some big moves, some big news frankly

464
00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:02,160
Speaker 2: this offseason, at least in some circles, by hiring away

465
00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:04,680
Speaker 2: Chad Boden from Notre Dame to come in and be

466
00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:08,600
Speaker 2: the GM of the USC football program. Was just wondering

467
00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:13,320
Speaker 2: if you could give us some insight, some understanding of

468
00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:18,240
Speaker 2: the way USC was set up previously and how bringing

469
00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:22,200
Speaker 2: in somebody like Chad Boden is now going to affect

470
00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:26,800
Speaker 2: the overall process under the covers, how they're identifying talent.

471
00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:29,320
Speaker 2: Have you noticed any kind of shifts since he got there.

472
00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:32,240
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's it's big, and it's not just him.

473
00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:36,280
Speaker 4: I think they've really upgraded their overall personnel staff. They

474
00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:41,320
Speaker 4: have three former Division one general managers and that's only

475
00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:42,840
Speaker 4: been a position for a couple of years, but three

476
00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:46,320
Speaker 4: of them, you know, on their staff, and I think

477
00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:48,600
Speaker 4: a lot of it. You know, with Lincoln Riley, the

478
00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:52,240
Speaker 4: success they had at Oklahoma brought all most of those

479
00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:56,119
Speaker 4: people over. But the whole personnel game has changed. And

480
00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,400
Speaker 4: we've seen this from USC. I mean, no matter who

481
00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:01,119
Speaker 4: the coach is, who the ideas, they've been sort of

482
00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,320
Speaker 4: slow to adapt when there's big shifts in the sport.

483
00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:07,520
Speaker 4: If you remember, like the early signing period when that

484
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:10,520
Speaker 4: became a thing, I mean it was Clay Hilton as

485
00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:12,359
Speaker 4: the coach. They had all these guys they were trying

486
00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:14,800
Speaker 4: to get a sign in February. They didn't realize that

487
00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:16,800
Speaker 4: December was going to be the de facto so they

488
00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:19,399
Speaker 4: were sort of left like, hey, what happened?

489
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:21,679
Speaker 3: Why did everybody sign? They didn't see that coming.

490
00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:25,000
Speaker 4: And you know, they've had a lot of success, traditional success,

491
00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:28,040
Speaker 4: and you'd sort of like to keep doing things the

492
00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:30,880
Speaker 4: way you were doing it, but you know, the sports

493
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:33,359
Speaker 4: changed a lot, and I think it's changed on the

494
00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:36,479
Speaker 4: personnel side, and USC was sort of behind as far

495
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:39,480
Speaker 4: as the NIL game. They weren't even getting their collective

496
00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:43,399
Speaker 4: involved in the recruiting process until that Tennessee court case

497
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:45,120
Speaker 4: and then they were allowed to do that. So they've

498
00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:47,919
Speaker 4: been sort of definitely, I think in the whole this

499
00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:51,240
Speaker 4: NIL world, you know, behind the curve there. And I

500
00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:52,960
Speaker 4: think Jen Coen has a big part of that. The

501
00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:56,080
Speaker 4: athletic director. She's come in and just really has been

502
00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:59,040
Speaker 4: kind of seeing trends and trying to get ahead of

503
00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:01,560
Speaker 4: them as opposed to reacting to them a year or

504
00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:03,920
Speaker 4: two later. And I think the one thing she saw

505
00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:08,840
Speaker 4: was they're not the recruiting aspect wasn't cutting it. They're

506
00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:10,560
Speaker 4: going to be a portal player, but not big. They

507
00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:12,600
Speaker 4: really want to get more into the high school recruiting.

508
00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:15,680
Speaker 4: They've sort of neglected some of the Southern California major

509
00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:17,440
Speaker 4: high schools, which are some of the best programs in

510
00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:20,360
Speaker 4: the country, like the Modern Days and Saint John Bosco

511
00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:23,400
Speaker 4: and Dan Knows. Oregon's been the beneficiary of that a lot,

512
00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:26,439
Speaker 4: you know, coming into Southern California and just pillaging and

513
00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:29,040
Speaker 4: taking the best players. And I think it's a different

514
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:31,000
Speaker 4: error where you can't Pete Carrol it and just put

515
00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:34,560
Speaker 4: a fence around. But they were not getting a lot

516
00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:36,320
Speaker 4: of these local guys. They got to be at least

517
00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:39,119
Speaker 4: in on some of these guys, and I think they've

518
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:41,960
Speaker 4: done a good job of raising money now so they

519
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:44,520
Speaker 4: actually have like some sort of war chest to be

520
00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:47,280
Speaker 4: able to compete for some of those guys. But also

521
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:49,560
Speaker 4: it's I think, you know, Oregon has a lot of money,

522
00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:52,880
Speaker 4: but they also recruit. I mean, they're just relentless recruiters.

523
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:55,520
Speaker 4: They're doing a great job at that. It's great having

524
00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:57,360
Speaker 4: the resources, but you have to put in the work too,

525
00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:00,159
Speaker 4: and I think USC was lack of the resources. They

526
00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:03,359
Speaker 4: picked up on that and then but they didn't have

527
00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:06,719
Speaker 4: the personnel staff and I think they've completely shifted that

528
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,240
Speaker 4: this offseason and you know, now they have the number

529
00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:11,720
Speaker 4: one recruiting class in the country for twenty twenty six.

530
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:14,080
Speaker 4: We'll see how long that can go. But they're just

531
00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:17,040
Speaker 4: it's a whole different story on the recruiting trail, and

532
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:20,080
Speaker 4: I think Chad Boden is a big part of that.

533
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:22,120
Speaker 4: I know Notre Dame would have loved to keep them,

534
00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:25,600
Speaker 4: and I think it was Jen Cohen and Lincoln Riley

535
00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,439
Speaker 4: identifying like we need this is a glaring issue that

536
00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:31,679
Speaker 4: we need to fix, and just having personnel staff that

537
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:35,800
Speaker 4: are focused on this new way to recruit players where

538
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:39,400
Speaker 4: financiers are involved, and of course the house settlement, which

539
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:41,600
Speaker 4: we might know about you know soon or whatever, like

540
00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:44,400
Speaker 4: how that's going to impact things. So I think Jen

541
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:46,719
Speaker 4: con has been a huge part of that, realizing like,

542
00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:50,840
Speaker 4: we have to put these resources into making football better

543
00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:53,679
Speaker 4: and you have to recruit at a higher level. So

544
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:55,359
Speaker 4: they went out and spent a lot of money on

545
00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:58,399
Speaker 4: staff members to bring them in and make it better.

546
00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:01,560
Speaker 4: So you have coaches coaching, and you know they're part

547
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:04,359
Speaker 4: of it, but you really have this personnel staff that

548
00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:07,119
Speaker 4: we're seeing the major schools from across the country. Have

549
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:09,840
Speaker 4: USC really didn't have that and now they do and

550
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:13,040
Speaker 4: you're seeing kind of benefits right away. There's there's advantages

551
00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:15,160
Speaker 4: of being at USC in southern California and all that,

552
00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:19,560
Speaker 4: but those don't go as far. They help, but they

553
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:23,520
Speaker 4: don't go as far as if you don't have the resources,

554
00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:26,320
Speaker 4: if you don't have the right people making the right

555
00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:30,879
Speaker 4: calls and being able to figure out like, hey, you know,

556
00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:34,280
Speaker 4: you know Bailey from Stanford is in the portal, He's

557
00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:35,960
Speaker 4: going to ask this for this much money. Do we

558
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:37,560
Speaker 4: want to bring that guy in or do we want

559
00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:39,800
Speaker 4: to bring in three other guys for you know, a

560
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:41,800
Speaker 4: third of the price. And do you have to make

561
00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:43,960
Speaker 4: those kind of calls with the resource you know, everyone

562
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:46,960
Speaker 4: has limited resources. You have to make those kind of calls.

563
00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:48,760
Speaker 4: And I don't think they had the right people in place,

564
00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,000
Speaker 4: and now they do, so we'll see, you know, if

565
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:53,080
Speaker 4: they kind of finished this recruiting class strong. But it

566
00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:56,200
Speaker 4: looks much better. Looks it's like a whole different story

567
00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:58,760
Speaker 4: from any of the years we've seen Lincoln rather recruiting

568
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:01,400
Speaker 4: out of high school. And I don't think it's a coincidence.

569
00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:04,080
Speaker 4: You got Chad Bowden in there with his staff really

570
00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:05,440
Speaker 4: kind of driving that charge.

571
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 2: We often use the word alignment on this show and

572
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:14,320
Speaker 2: talking about the marriage between college football head coach the

573
00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:19,040
Speaker 2: administration that is supporting the cause. You may have answered

574
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,680
Speaker 2: this already based on your previous answer there, but what

575
00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,240
Speaker 2: is that alignment like between Lincoln Riley and Jen Cohn.

576
00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:27,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's pretty good.

577
00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:31,520
Speaker 4: I mean, there's certainly frustrations on if you're in the

578
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:34,560
Speaker 4: athletic department, you know, and you're spending eleven million dollars

579
00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:36,840
Speaker 4: on a head coach, you don't want to be thirteen

580
00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:39,520
Speaker 4: and eleven the last two seasons. But you know, Jen

581
00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:42,119
Speaker 4: Cohen takes over and her football team's thirteen and eleven.

582
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:46,320
Speaker 4: So I think they work together to build that defensive

583
00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:48,600
Speaker 4: staff and they did a really good job of that.

584
00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:51,639
Speaker 4: And then I think this offseason, you know, pushing for

585
00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:55,080
Speaker 4: the personnel staff, and I think that's helped too. So

586
00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:58,520
Speaker 4: I mean, I think there's she's a problem solver. You

587
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:00,359
Speaker 4: look in and like, hey, this is an issue. Defensive

588
00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:03,160
Speaker 4: steps and issue fix it? Oh, personnel stabs an issue

589
00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:06,159
Speaker 4: fix it. It's taken time and you're getting there. But

590
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:08,879
Speaker 4: I think they you know, it's sort of one of

591
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:11,440
Speaker 4: those things where they have to they have to get along,

592
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:14,399
Speaker 4: they have to work together to make things, you know,

593
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,840
Speaker 4: just work. Because there's there's people calling the athletic department saying,

594
00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:20,120
Speaker 4: we want to get let it rid of Lincoln Riley.

595
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:21,919
Speaker 4: And I mean some of them, some of the Dieard

596
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 4: fans that don't like the air raid or whatever. We're

597
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:26,960
Speaker 4: saying that from the very beginning. And then he goes

598
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:28,520
Speaker 4: out and wins eleven games and the heights of and

599
00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,080
Speaker 4: all that, and you know, now they're coming back like,

600
00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:33,399
Speaker 4: look see they're bad, they're soft or whatever, and so

601
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:35,840
Speaker 4: there's fans that aren't happy, and she'll, you know, her

602
00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:38,640
Speaker 4: office will be fielding calls like that. But he also

603
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:41,439
Speaker 4: has got this, you know. I think ESPN report there

604
00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:44,000
Speaker 4: was like an eighty or ninety million dollar, like you know, buyout,

605
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:45,639
Speaker 4: like you're not doing that like Jim but more than

606
00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:47,920
Speaker 4: Jimbo Fisher money, Like, oh, you're not doing so.

607
00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:50,240
Speaker 2: I was going to ask you about that actually, because

608
00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:54,119
Speaker 2: that was my next question. Reportedly ninety million dollars in

609
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,400
Speaker 2: terms of the buyout. I'm not trying to stir any

610
00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:00,920
Speaker 2: sort of discord in the USC community. I I'm genuinely

611
00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:04,840
Speaker 2: asking because we heard some of the irate fans out

612
00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:07,320
Speaker 2: there on the internet, people who have wrote into us

613
00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:10,359
Speaker 2: asking is this guy on the hot seat? Should he

614
00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:12,960
Speaker 2: be on the hot seat? Is there any universe in which,

615
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:16,280
Speaker 2: given that buyout, Lincoln Riley would actually be on a

616
00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:16,800
Speaker 2: hot seat?

617
00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:19,960
Speaker 4: Yeah, I can't see it, you know, talking to people

618
00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:22,560
Speaker 4: their sources in the athletic department. I mean that number

619
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:24,960
Speaker 4: i'd heard was real. Now I think this year it

620
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:28,240
Speaker 4: would be less. Maybe it's like eighty or the high seventies,

621
00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:31,840
Speaker 4: but it's still that's a lot north of money, has a.

622
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:32,600
Speaker 2: Lot of cabbage.

623
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:32,840
Speaker 3: Man.

624
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:35,880
Speaker 4: There's not a lot of oil tycoons in southern California

625
00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:37,679
Speaker 4: that were willing to like put that money up like

626
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:39,760
Speaker 4: they did at Texas A and L. But I yeah,

627
00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:43,719
Speaker 4: so I think there's a possibility, like if it's a

628
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:47,440
Speaker 4: bad season this year, that maybe they could try to

629
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:50,840
Speaker 4: put something together. But just and a lot of fans

630
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:53,040
Speaker 4: would come, you know, on our show and my podcast

631
00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:55,520
Speaker 4: or whatever and be like, hey, they after fireman. It's

632
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,360
Speaker 4: like I'm not saying, you know, if you're getting paid

633
00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:00,600
Speaker 4: that much money, you shouldn't be thirteen eleven over a

634
00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:03,640
Speaker 4: couple of seasons, but there's also a reality of they

635
00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:07,080
Speaker 4: went in, you know, the previous administration, you know, empty

636
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:10,240
Speaker 4: the pocket, you know, like we're gonna make this huge,

637
00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:12,959
Speaker 4: the biggest higher US he's ever had since like the

638
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:15,600
Speaker 4: twenties when they hired Howard Jones, who had, like I think,

639
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:18,600
Speaker 4: won a national championship at Yale. USC has never hired

640
00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:21,160
Speaker 4: a proven head coach in the last hundred years, like

641
00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:24,640
Speaker 4: they've hired assistants and things like that. So proven or not,

642
00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:26,800
Speaker 4: what I mean, he's he's someone that made the playoffs,

643
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:30,880
Speaker 4: he's someone that won Heisman's So I completely understand you're

644
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:33,000
Speaker 4: going out and you're going to sign a very favorable

645
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:36,160
Speaker 4: contract for this person because they've never hired someone like that,

646
00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:38,640
Speaker 4: But then you have some poor results and now you're

647
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:40,320
Speaker 4: on the hook for it. So I don't think he

648
00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:43,640
Speaker 4: can realistically be on the hot seat. Maybe if they

649
00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:46,560
Speaker 4: have a bad season twenty twenty five, they could figure

650
00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:47,160
Speaker 4: something out.

651
00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:48,680
Speaker 3: I don't know, but it's uh.

652
00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:51,240
Speaker 4: The way the contract, from what I was told, the

653
00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:53,680
Speaker 4: way it was structured, is like, you know, fully guaranteed,

654
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:56,520
Speaker 4: like you said, you know you're when you can you

655
00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:59,360
Speaker 4: can spend seventy million dollars on a lot of roster

656
00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:01,360
Speaker 4: things and things like that, and just so, I think

657
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:04,000
Speaker 4: the focus is more about, you know, Jen Cohen's willing

658
00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:06,320
Speaker 4: to spend money to try to make the program better.

659
00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 4: Personal staff, defensive staff, whatever you need to do. It

660
00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:12,640
Speaker 4: behooves her to make him successful. Obviously he wants to

661
00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:15,320
Speaker 4: be successful. The fans wanted to be successful. So I

662
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:17,720
Speaker 4: think that's sort of where the focus is instead of

663
00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:20,840
Speaker 4: like trying to figure out how to raise you know,

664
00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:23,920
Speaker 4: that massive amount of money to you know, go hire

665
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:24,600
Speaker 4: another coach.

666
00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:25,200
Speaker 3: Crazy.

667
00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:28,680
Speaker 1: And one of the things a coach can do to

668
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:32,640
Speaker 1: ensure that he has job safety is put together an

669
00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:37,600
Speaker 1: incredible recruiting class. And that's what Lincoln Riley has this year.

670
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,440
Speaker 1: But what we're not talking about is that last year

671
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:44,440
Speaker 1: Lincoln Riley put together the best class in America. Of

672
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:49,400
Speaker 1: the commitments, I think, right I did somebody else do

673
00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:52,960
Speaker 1: a better job? No, I think Lincoln Riley's class was

674
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,400
Speaker 1: the best class in America. Better than Texas is, better

675
00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:58,680
Speaker 1: than Alabama's, better than Georgia's if you just look at

676
00:30:58,680 --> 00:30:59,440
Speaker 1: the de commitments.

677
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:02,200
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was certainly better than their own class. And

678
00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:05,520
Speaker 4: I think some of that, you know, they hired Eric Henderson,

679
00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:09,160
Speaker 4: who you know, famously coached Aaron Donald with the Rams,

680
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,400
Speaker 4: and they their focus was just out of state, which

681
00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:17,760
Speaker 4: even this new era of recruiting, it's still easier to

682
00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:20,840
Speaker 4: recruit local guys than out of state guys. And I

683
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,400
Speaker 4: think some of it was splashy stuff, trying to get

684
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:26,640
Speaker 4: these huge guys in Georgia and things to you know,

685
00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:29,120
Speaker 4: and then they end up not sticking around, you know.

686
00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:32,880
Speaker 4: And yeah, I think that was a lot of flash

687
00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:35,360
Speaker 4: and a lot of trying to be, you know, build

688
00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:39,520
Speaker 4: a recruiting class with excitement. And what I'm seeing now

689
00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:41,440
Speaker 4: is they're going to get some out of state guys

690
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:43,880
Speaker 4: and you know, maybe they decommitted or not, but they're

691
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:49,200
Speaker 4: really trying to build from within and certainly within southern California.

692
00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:52,360
Speaker 4: So it's it seems like there's much more substance to

693
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:54,640
Speaker 4: this class, and even if they have like kind of

694
00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:57,200
Speaker 4: a poor season, you feel like a lot of it

695
00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:00,240
Speaker 4: would still stay together, where last year it just was

696
00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:03,040
Speaker 4: it was and it wasn't even like lasting flash. It

697
00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:06,120
Speaker 4: was like flash that sort of fell apart kind of quickly.

698
00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:08,640
Speaker 4: But you're right, like they that's a big part of it,

699
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:13,120
Speaker 4: and just getting stars isn't you know, it isn't a

700
00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:16,240
Speaker 4: way to build a recruiting class. I think the way

701
00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:18,800
Speaker 4: they're doing it now, you're mixing in like three star

702
00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,400
Speaker 4: local kids that just like USC or whatever, right, and

703
00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:23,400
Speaker 4: also bigger name guys. I think that's the way you

704
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:26,480
Speaker 4: sort of really build a recruiting class. But yeah, last

705
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:30,800
Speaker 4: year that the commitment class was insane, but I don't

706
00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:32,800
Speaker 4: think it was realistic to get those guys. It was

707
00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:35,680
Speaker 4: more like almost like social media recruiting than anything.

708
00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:40,400
Speaker 1: Else, right, which obviously backfired tremendously. And depth is hit

709
00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:42,280
Speaker 1: because it seemed like USC was going to have a

710
00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:44,840
Speaker 1: very strong class last year and then guys commit to

711
00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:47,480
Speaker 1: Georgia and Miami wherever that were committed. And it makes

712
00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:50,040
Speaker 1: sense that USC should be able to build more talent

713
00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:53,400
Speaker 1: and more depth focusing on the West coast, focusing locally.

714
00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:56,440
Speaker 1: But what is the state of the roster right now

715
00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:01,400
Speaker 1: when there have been some disappointing class now for USC?

716
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:04,920
Speaker 1: Is their star power? Are there young guys who are

717
00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:09,480
Speaker 1: turning heads early on in spring practice, like you know,

718
00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:13,560
Speaker 1: are there concerns about like, yeah, he's fine, but he's

719
00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:15,800
Speaker 1: not going to be a difference maker in the big ten.

720
00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:19,000
Speaker 1: Like what is the state of like the general star

721
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:20,320
Speaker 1: power on this roster.

722
00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:22,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's kind of mixed.

723
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:26,920
Speaker 4: I think the defensive line does look bigger, stronger, faster.

724
00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:30,200
Speaker 4: I mean they brought in a couple transfers that have helped.

725
00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:32,600
Speaker 4: I mean a three hundred and fifty pounder Jamal Jarrett

726
00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:35,720
Speaker 4: from Georgia, who you know, plate Sparingley was hard getting

727
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:38,200
Speaker 4: in shape, but he looks like he could be a

728
00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:40,880
Speaker 4: difference maker for USC. So I think there's some position

729
00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:44,040
Speaker 4: groups that look better. I mean, I like their linebacker

730
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:48,240
Speaker 4: room with like Eric Gentry and Desmond Stevens, but it's

731
00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:51,840
Speaker 4: not very deep and you expected them to maybe get

732
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:54,040
Speaker 4: a guy from the portal there. So that's where you

733
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:56,680
Speaker 4: like the starters, but there's not a lot of depth.

734
00:33:56,760 --> 00:33:59,880
Speaker 4: I think the same thing. On the offensive line. They've

735
00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:03,400
Speaker 4: recruited better. They've brought in more bodies where it was

736
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:05,720
Speaker 4: really in bad shape when Lincoln Riley took over. So

737
00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:08,040
Speaker 4: you know every year they bring in a couple of

738
00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:10,640
Speaker 4: transfers and they've sort of helped out there. I like

739
00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:13,400
Speaker 4: their running back you know room a lot, and the receivers.

740
00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:16,600
Speaker 4: They they lost some bigger names, but it's more of us.

741
00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:20,480
Speaker 4: You know at Jacoby Lane and mkayle Levin. They look like,

742
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,120
Speaker 4: you know, superstar guys that can be out there and

743
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:25,560
Speaker 4: then sort of filling in with some transfers and some

744
00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:27,040
Speaker 4: younger guys around them.

745
00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:29,960
Speaker 3: I mean on quarterback spot, I don't know.

746
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:32,239
Speaker 4: I mean, Jid Mayava, there's I think there's a lot

747
00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:36,000
Speaker 4: of upside there. But you saw that, you know, the

748
00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:38,640
Speaker 4: pick sixes in the Notre Dame game. He probably had

749
00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:42,040
Speaker 4: three terrible quarters in the game against the bowl game

750
00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:43,680
Speaker 4: against Texas A and M, but they end up you know,

751
00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:45,680
Speaker 4: winning that game. He went three and one as a starter.

752
00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:49,480
Speaker 4: But it's you know there's a lot of mistakes there too,

753
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,040
Speaker 4: and you hope that this offseason that you know, Lincoln

754
00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:54,160
Speaker 4: Riley has been a quarterback whisperer, that you can kind

755
00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:56,640
Speaker 4: of get him going. They have puts on long Street,

756
00:34:56,680 --> 00:34:59,719
Speaker 4: the five star freshmen, and they bring in uh, you

757
00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:02,359
Speaker 4: know Sam Hewart who is the former five star, and

758
00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:04,640
Speaker 4: he might be competing for the backup role. But you

759
00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:06,439
Speaker 4: know there's I don't know, if you feel great about

760
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:09,480
Speaker 4: the quarterback spot, you hope that he can kind of

761
00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:12,160
Speaker 4: turn that around. So there's I mean, I think it

762
00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:15,120
Speaker 4: goes from position to position, depends on the group. There's

763
00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:17,520
Speaker 4: some spots you like and there's some that you're like,

764
00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:20,359
Speaker 4: there's some concern there and maybe they you know, bring

765
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:22,680
Speaker 4: in They probably could use a cornerback to come in

766
00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:24,279
Speaker 4: and start. They lost a lot of guys from the

767
00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:27,080
Speaker 4: secondary last year out of the portal, and if they

768
00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:29,279
Speaker 4: could get a plug and play linebacker, I think that

769
00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:32,319
Speaker 4: would help certainly with their depth. I don't think they're

770
00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:34,640
Speaker 4: going to bring in a quarterback, but who knows what

771
00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:37,440
Speaker 4: if you brought in someone you know, there's a Riley

772
00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:39,240
Speaker 4: Leonard or someone out there that you end up bringing

773
00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:42,080
Speaker 4: in and like completely disrupts the like what they're they're

774
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:44,319
Speaker 4: doing there. So I think there's some options. There's a

775
00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:47,800
Speaker 4: couple spots I think they could use, certainly some more depth.

776
00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:50,840
Speaker 4: But I think roster wise, it's not it's not terrible.

777
00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:53,080
Speaker 4: I don't know if it's great, but I think they've

778
00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:54,880
Speaker 4: done a pretty good job filling in some of the

779
00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:57,560
Speaker 4: holes that they had, you know, coming out of last season.

780
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,399
Speaker 1: Something I'm desperate to see and I'm sure you, I'm

781
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:05,120
Speaker 1: sure SC fans are is an offensive line and just

782
00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:07,640
Speaker 1: a group of five dudes who You're like, that's an

783
00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:08,359
Speaker 1: offensive line.

784
00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:08,680
Speaker 3: Yep.

785
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:10,239
Speaker 1: They are understanding assignments.

786
00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:10,520
Speaker 3: Yep.

787
00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:11,640
Speaker 1: They are not blowing this.

788
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:12,000
Speaker 3: Yep.

789
00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:14,560
Speaker 1: They are you know, busting open lanes for running backs.

790
00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:17,239
Speaker 1: And while the running backs were good last year, you

791
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,799
Speaker 1: saw in that Michigan game early, you saw against Notre

792
00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:24,080
Speaker 1: Dame at times that this has just not been a

793
00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:27,160
Speaker 1: strength of this team for two three years. Now you

794
00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:29,200
Speaker 1: look at what you know, Caleb Williams was dealing with

795
00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:32,520
Speaker 1: and what his you know, the draft evaluations in scouting

796
00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:35,439
Speaker 1: reports are like, man, you can't fully even evaluate Caleb

797
00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:38,640
Speaker 1: Williams because of the line in front of him. And

798
00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:41,640
Speaker 1: now this year, looking at their schedule, the back half

799
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:45,759
Speaker 1: is Oregon, it's Iowa, it's Michigan, it's Notre Dame. Is

800
00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:49,239
Speaker 1: there reason for optimism that even if Jade Mayava takes

801
00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:51,759
Speaker 1: this step forward, even if you know Jacoby Lane and

802
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:54,799
Speaker 1: Makai Lemon take this expected step forward to star receivers?

803
00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:58,200
Speaker 1: Are are these guys gonna have time? Are these guys

804
00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:00,560
Speaker 1: gonna have space? Is there any is going to be

805
00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:02,919
Speaker 1: a believer in this offensive line finally this year?

806
00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:03,399
Speaker 3: Yeah?

807
00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:05,440
Speaker 4: No, I think it's a really good point. And you know,

808
00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:10,120
Speaker 4: it's funny. We got an interview with on our show.

809
00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:13,360
Speaker 4: We got him live, jeanre Reid. They call him Big General.

810
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:16,439
Speaker 4: He's a transfer from Syracuse. He was like a zero

811
00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:19,480
Speaker 4: star recruit, went to JC, ended up going to Syracuse

812
00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:22,200
Speaker 4: and like killing it. He's gonna be USC starting center.

813
00:37:22,239 --> 00:37:25,640
Speaker 4: And just talking to the guy, it was pretty amazing

814
00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:28,200
Speaker 4: to kind of hear his story and what he's you know,

815
00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:30,160
Speaker 4: coming into And we got to talk to him after

816
00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:33,279
Speaker 4: practice on Tuesday as well, but we got him for

817
00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:35,480
Speaker 4: like forty minutes on our show and it was great.

818
00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:39,520
Speaker 4: And I think seeing a guy like that and the

819
00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:40,960
Speaker 4: calls he's getting, you know, how he's going to try

820
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:43,680
Speaker 4: to bring everyone together. I think that's why there's a

821
00:37:43,719 --> 00:37:46,799
Speaker 4: lot of confidence that this offensive line can try to take,

822
00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:51,000
Speaker 4: you know, a step forward. I mean, Jonah Manheim was

823
00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:52,920
Speaker 4: just such a good player for us. He played all

824
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:56,160
Speaker 4: over the place and you know, tried different spots. It's

825
00:37:56,239 --> 00:37:57,759
Speaker 4: tough to you know, some of the guys they lost.

826
00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:00,040
Speaker 4: I think it's going to be tough to replace. But

827
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:02,879
Speaker 4: just hearing him, you know, Big General talk about what

828
00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:06,000
Speaker 4: you know they were doing there, and I do like

829
00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:09,200
Speaker 4: they you know, they they got Zach Hanson moving over

830
00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:12,439
Speaker 4: from tight ends to coach the the uh the offensive line.

831
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:14,040
Speaker 4: I think, you know, the players we've talked to and

832
00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:16,319
Speaker 4: people inside the program are you know, like like what

833
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:18,560
Speaker 4: he's kind of bringing the table. So I think there's

834
00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:22,040
Speaker 4: some optimism there, but that's you know, you got to

835
00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:23,560
Speaker 4: run the ball, you got to be able to protect

836
00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:25,839
Speaker 4: the quarterback a little bit, and they just haven't been

837
00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:29,040
Speaker 4: great at doing that, you know, the last couple of years.

838
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:30,600
Speaker 4: So it's it's a it's certainly going to be a

839
00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:33,120
Speaker 4: focus and you know, hey, if they have success, it's

840
00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:36,080
Speaker 4: probably because the offensive line is playing well. But the big,

841
00:38:36,080 --> 00:38:38,080
Speaker 4: big general Jeanrey Reid is the one guy we want

842
00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:40,120
Speaker 4: to watch. I think he just really impressed me so

843
00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:42,879
Speaker 4: far from what I've seen, and I think he can

844
00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:44,960
Speaker 4: be a kind of a difference maker and the transfers

845
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:47,400
Speaker 4: and offensive line sometimes they're hit or miss. He's the

846
00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:48,640
Speaker 4: guy that I'm like, all right, I think he's going

847
00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:50,760
Speaker 4: to end up doing a lot of good things for USC.

848
00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:53,319
Speaker 1: If I were to tell you that this team made

849
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:57,440
Speaker 1: incremental improvements everywhere and didn't look crazy sloppy at the

850
00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:00,160
Speaker 1: end of games, but finished eight and four, is that

851
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:00,640
Speaker 1: good enough?

852
00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:05,399
Speaker 4: Depends what you know, defining good enough. It's a it's

853
00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:07,400
Speaker 4: a manageable schedule, you know, like, are you going to

854
00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:10,160
Speaker 4: beat was Oregon and uh Notre Dame?

855
00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:11,800
Speaker 3: Yeah? That Notre Dame is the other one that you're.

856
00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:12,719
Speaker 1: Like, right, ye're both on the road.

857
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:14,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, probably you.

858
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:17,279
Speaker 4: Know end up being losses, but like, yeah, you're not

859
00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:22,040
Speaker 4: playing Ohio State, so there's certainly that helps two more

860
00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:24,640
Speaker 4: games on that. I mean, you know, Nebraska could be better.

861
00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:27,240
Speaker 4: There's a lot of teams on the schedule that you're like, okay,

862
00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:31,400
Speaker 4: could be kind of coin flippy. Eight and four depends

863
00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:34,560
Speaker 4: how it goes. I don't I think. I mean, certainly

864
00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:38,000
Speaker 4: it's an improvement over six and six, but not necessarily

865
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 4: where you want to go. If you're in the nine

866
00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:43,600
Speaker 4: and three range. Now you're in the talks for kind

867
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:47,799
Speaker 4: of playoffs and you're in that potential group there. So

868
00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:50,279
Speaker 4: I think it's a manageable schedule. I don't think a

869
00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:52,759
Speaker 4: lot of fans would be happy with eight and four.

870
00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:56,240
Speaker 4: It depends on how it would sort of come together,

871
00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:58,160
Speaker 4: I guess, and see me, you know, if you if

872
00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:01,359
Speaker 4: it looks like they've improved, if they're or not, you know,

873
00:40:01,840 --> 00:40:04,040
Speaker 4: leads in five fourth quarter games that you lost all

874
00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:05,799
Speaker 4: of them, and things like that you don't want to have,

875
00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:08,680
Speaker 4: or losing to a really bad team like a Maryland

876
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:11,000
Speaker 4: things like that. And if you get a couple of

877
00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:12,920
Speaker 4: road wins, you know there's there, you know, if you

878
00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:15,160
Speaker 4: can win a couple of those games where their only

879
00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:16,919
Speaker 4: road win last year, you know, in the Big Ten

880
00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:19,880
Speaker 4: was UCLA, which doesn't really count. You didn't take a plane.

881
00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:22,080
Speaker 4: So I don't know if aight and four would be

882
00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:25,239
Speaker 4: good enough. But I think for the administration to be like,

883
00:40:25,239 --> 00:40:27,640
Speaker 4: all right, you got to show, you know, more improvement

884
00:40:27,719 --> 00:40:29,480
Speaker 4: kind of moving forward there? What can you build on?

885
00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:31,799
Speaker 4: They got the big recruiting class and all that, But

886
00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:33,520
Speaker 4: I think like nine to three, I think people would

887
00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:35,960
Speaker 4: be happier. But I think, you know, it'd be tough

888
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:37,719
Speaker 4: to do, especially going from you know, six and six

889
00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:38,200
Speaker 4: and nine three.

890
00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:39,120
Speaker 3: It's a pretty big jump.

891
00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:43,080
Speaker 2: You mentioned a little bit the quarterback position. Surprised at

892
00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:44,680
Speaker 2: all that they didn't go out and try to bring

893
00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:46,480
Speaker 2: in a higher profile transfer.

894
00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:47,160
Speaker 3: I know you alluded to.

895
00:40:47,239 --> 00:40:50,040
Speaker 2: This is is Jane Mayava the dude?

896
00:40:51,600 --> 00:40:54,800
Speaker 4: I think he's got to be the dude. I mean,

897
00:40:55,239 --> 00:40:58,439
Speaker 4: Hure didn't really get to play at Utah last year.

898
00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:00,520
Speaker 4: He's kind of you know, journeyed around a little bit,

899
00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:02,320
Speaker 4: but I you know, I think there's some confidence in

900
00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:04,640
Speaker 4: him and his you know uncle is on the staff,

901
00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:07,560
Speaker 4: you know, so I think that sort of helps a

902
00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:09,799
Speaker 4: little bit. And I think who's on Long Street has

903
00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:12,359
Speaker 4: a lot of you know upside too, is a really

904
00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:15,480
Speaker 4: strong arm. But I think they've you know, sort of

905
00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:18,759
Speaker 4: circled the wagons with Jade Mayava barring some you know,

906
00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:21,960
Speaker 4: weird transfer portal spring thing. But that's really tough to

907
00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:23,479
Speaker 4: do if you don't even get to go through spring

908
00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:26,480
Speaker 4: football and come in and and try to lead this team.

909
00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:30,840
Speaker 4: So I think if the opportunity was, you know, after

910
00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:32,759
Speaker 4: the season, to be able to bring in somebody, and

911
00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:35,200
Speaker 4: I don't know if Lincoln Riley was trying, it just

912
00:41:35,200 --> 00:41:37,560
Speaker 4: didn't work or it just felt like, hey, my av

913
00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:39,360
Speaker 4: is a guy that we can we can roll with.

914
00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:41,480
Speaker 4: Because as soon as you replaced Miller Moss, you knew

915
00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:42,800
Speaker 4: he was going to be gone. He wasn't going to

916
00:41:42,840 --> 00:41:46,920
Speaker 4: be coming back. So I think my off was a

917
00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:48,799
Speaker 4: guy that's like pretty hard on himself, and I think

918
00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:50,479
Speaker 4: the coaches kind of see that as this is someone

919
00:41:50,520 --> 00:41:53,680
Speaker 4: that's being you know, he's he knows when things aren't

920
00:41:53,680 --> 00:41:55,200
Speaker 4: going the you know, the right way, and they should

921
00:41:55,239 --> 00:41:58,560
Speaker 4: be going better. And they must have some confidence that

922
00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:01,400
Speaker 4: they can kind of clean up some of the loose

923
00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:04,759
Speaker 4: ends because he can put the ball in harm's way.

924
00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:07,360
Speaker 4: And if you look at the you know, turnover potential,

925
00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:09,520
Speaker 4: there's a lot of plays that had oh yeah, my

926
00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:12,759
Speaker 4: turnover potential. I mean to throw two ninety nine or

927
00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:15,040
Speaker 4: whatever yard pick sixes and you know the Notre Dame,

928
00:42:15,040 --> 00:42:18,480
Speaker 4: they're driving down seven against Notre Dame. You know, playoff

929
00:42:18,480 --> 00:42:20,799
Speaker 4: team made it to the National Championship game, certainly a

930
00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:23,480
Speaker 4: position to try to beat the fighting Irish and then

931
00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:25,880
Speaker 4: two pick sixes kind of doom you there. So I

932
00:42:25,880 --> 00:42:29,000
Speaker 4: think they see, hey, this guy has the potential to

933
00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:31,160
Speaker 4: be great, and it's going to be up to this

934
00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:33,080
Speaker 4: coaching staff to kind of like clean things up a

935
00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:35,760
Speaker 4: little bit with him. But yeah, I don't think they will.

936
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:37,600
Speaker 4: It would be really shocking if they went and got

937
00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:39,279
Speaker 4: somebody in the portal. I think the time would have

938
00:42:39,320 --> 00:42:41,320
Speaker 4: been to do it in the fall. I kind of

939
00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:43,680
Speaker 4: thought they would, you know, I did too. I was

940
00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:45,520
Speaker 4: Dan and I talked a lot about that. That's why

941
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:46,160
Speaker 4: I bring it up.

942
00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:50,080
Speaker 2: I mean, I think we like the potential Jamiava and

943
00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:54,040
Speaker 2: you could see it. He's obviously got a pretty impressive

944
00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:58,480
Speaker 2: set of you know tools out there. But I don't know,

945
00:42:58,640 --> 00:43:01,120
Speaker 2: just for a program and for a coach, especially who

946
00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:05,160
Speaker 2: has made his name so much on being this quarterback whisperer,

947
00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:07,480
Speaker 2: I was a little surprised they didn't try to make

948
00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:08,280
Speaker 2: a move on that front.

949
00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:11,400
Speaker 4: And it's a you know, it's very common, like we've

950
00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:15,000
Speaker 4: all seen a lot of you know, quarterbacks go from

951
00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:17,239
Speaker 4: one place as a one year rental or whatever it

952
00:43:17,320 --> 00:43:20,960
Speaker 4: is and have a ton of success. And it's not

953
00:43:21,160 --> 00:43:24,160
Speaker 4: like it's unprecedented. You know, we you know, Lincoln Riley's

954
00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:26,960
Speaker 4: done it, and you know, every you know, we've we've

955
00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:29,279
Speaker 4: just seen it happen everywhere where you can go out

956
00:43:29,320 --> 00:43:32,879
Speaker 4: and bring somebody in and Gabriel it was a huge

957
00:43:32,960 --> 00:43:35,280
Speaker 4: year or whatever, you know, like we've seen that happen.

958
00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:37,920
Speaker 4: So I was a little surprised. And to me, it says,

959
00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:39,759
Speaker 4: you know, I think they could have got someone if

960
00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:42,600
Speaker 4: they really wanted, And it's just it seems like it

961
00:43:42,640 --> 00:43:45,680
Speaker 4: was a decision made internally, like Okay, we see enough

962
00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:48,239
Speaker 4: upside in him and we can clean up some of

963
00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:50,839
Speaker 4: the the issues that you have, as you know, as

964
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:53,640
Speaker 4: far as the turnover worthy plays and all that. But yeah,

965
00:43:53,719 --> 00:43:54,920
Speaker 4: I was a little surprised to you. I thought they

966
00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:56,680
Speaker 4: would kind of bring someone and at least to compete

967
00:43:57,160 --> 00:43:59,240
Speaker 4: and you know, see how it goes because it's worked

968
00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:00,839
Speaker 4: so well. It's like it's one of those things where

969
00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:05,160
Speaker 4: in college football bringing in a senior, you know, a

970
00:44:05,239 --> 00:44:08,120
Speaker 4: veteran quarterback has worked for all different kinds of teams

971
00:44:08,160 --> 00:44:10,839
Speaker 4: we've seen. So yeah, I'm a little surprised they didn't

972
00:44:10,920 --> 00:44:11,520
Speaker 4: end up doing that.

973
00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:13,839
Speaker 2: Can we interest Lincoln Riley and Drew Pine? I hear

974
00:44:13,880 --> 00:44:17,440
Speaker 2: he is available again, He's still around, Gee's still Trade's

975
00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:18,560
Speaker 2: going for his fourth team now.

976
00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:22,840
Speaker 1: Drew Pine is ready to play. Yeah, it almost seems

977
00:44:22,880 --> 00:44:24,880
Speaker 1: like with the quarterback thing that to what you were

978
00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:27,400
Speaker 1: saying before that it wasn't about winning games, it was

979
00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:30,600
Speaker 1: about proving a point. And it almost seems like, I mean, again,

980
00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:34,080
Speaker 1: Jade Mayovas seems fine, but he also might lead the

981
00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:37,080
Speaker 1: sport in forcing his own fans into being relieved that

982
00:44:37,160 --> 00:44:40,480
Speaker 1: a throw wasn't an interception, which that was kind of

983
00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:42,000
Speaker 1: the experience last year. It was either going to be

984
00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:43,680
Speaker 1: an interception. It was going to be a great pass

985
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:46,240
Speaker 1: or it was going to be a relief for Trojan

986
00:44:46,239 --> 00:44:48,000
Speaker 1: fans that as he ran out of bounds and threw

987
00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:50,479
Speaker 1: the ball straight up, that nobody from the other team

988
00:44:50,560 --> 00:44:53,960
Speaker 1: came down with it. That Lincoln Riley is proving that

989
00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:56,960
Speaker 1: he can turn anybody into an All conference caliber quarterback

990
00:44:57,080 --> 00:44:59,960
Speaker 1: by you know, sticking this through. I don't know' that's

991
00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:01,040
Speaker 1: impression I think I got.

992
00:45:01,239 --> 00:45:01,840
Speaker 3: That's interesting.

993
00:45:01,880 --> 00:45:04,399
Speaker 4: And you know, one of my writers, Jordan Martinez, talked

994
00:45:04,400 --> 00:45:06,759
Speaker 4: about that too, with like Miller Moss, where he was

995
00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:10,160
Speaker 4: a different kind of quarterback than mostly you know, like

996
00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:13,120
Speaker 4: even like a Baker Mayfield. There was more athleticism there.

997
00:45:13,120 --> 00:45:15,880
Speaker 4: Not that Miller Moss wasn't athletic, but was it to

998
00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:17,960
Speaker 4: show like, hey, I can make a guy like this

999
00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:20,560
Speaker 4: successful too. He doesn't have to be the most you know,

1000
00:45:20,560 --> 00:45:22,719
Speaker 4: it doesn't have to be the most mobile quarterback. It's

1001
00:45:22,719 --> 00:45:26,480
Speaker 4: not Jalen Hurts or whatever, Kyler Murray. Is it proving

1002
00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:26,759
Speaker 4: a point?

1003
00:45:26,800 --> 00:45:27,120
Speaker 3: I don't know.

1004
00:45:27,160 --> 00:45:29,680
Speaker 4: I mean, coaches are so paranoid. There's a lot of

1005
00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:32,520
Speaker 4: egos there. You don't know what you'd think, like as

1006
00:45:32,520 --> 00:45:34,560
Speaker 4: a fan or whatever, like, oh, you're you're just trying

1007
00:45:34,560 --> 00:45:36,840
Speaker 4: to win games, but sometimes you're trying to prove points

1008
00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:38,400
Speaker 4: and maybe it's maybe it's not.

1009
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:41,359
Speaker 3: I'm not I'm curious to see, but yeah, that could

1010
00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:42,360
Speaker 3: be part of it too, Dan.

1011
00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:45,400
Speaker 1: What this is my final question. I just want to

1012
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:47,879
Speaker 1: know the vibes come this year compared to last year,

1013
00:45:47,920 --> 00:45:52,040
Speaker 1: compared to the season before fans in the program with

1014
00:45:52,080 --> 00:45:55,839
Speaker 1: regard to the roster, like is there confidence that like, oh,

1015
00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:58,560
Speaker 1: if we just win two three, more of those dumb

1016
00:45:58,680 --> 00:46:02,560
Speaker 1: loss type fourth quarters were fine? Or is like why

1017
00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:05,680
Speaker 1: are we a program that can't close those types of

1018
00:46:05,719 --> 00:46:08,600
Speaker 1: games out? Like are the vibes higher than recent or

1019
00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:11,480
Speaker 1: right around the same? Like what is what is the

1020
00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:12,200
Speaker 1: check right now?

1021
00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:13,560
Speaker 3: You know? It's funny.

1022
00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:16,200
Speaker 4: I think the vibes have got a little better at

1023
00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:20,000
Speaker 4: least with the fan base, but not necessarily because they

1024
00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:21,919
Speaker 4: were so close in this, so close in that game.

1025
00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:24,800
Speaker 4: A lot of the fans, especially the die hard ones,

1026
00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:27,719
Speaker 4: I mean, they love the off season. They love the

1027
00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:31,560
Speaker 4: recruiting aspect of things, and to get your butt kicked

1028
00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:35,040
Speaker 4: by like Oregon in recruiting in the off season, even

1029
00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:38,120
Speaker 4: though it doesn't necessarily impact you know, that season, but

1030
00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:42,120
Speaker 4: it it impacts the morale of the fans and seeing

1031
00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:45,480
Speaker 4: that us he is going out and actually competing on

1032
00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:49,120
Speaker 4: the recruiting trail again, even though there's twenty twenty six

1033
00:46:49,200 --> 00:46:50,960
Speaker 4: guys are not going to play it Dowar twenty five.

1034
00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:54,759
Speaker 4: It's actually I think given the fans some confidence. You know,

1035
00:46:55,400 --> 00:46:57,840
Speaker 4: it's different like you know, Ohio State went out, you know,

1036
00:46:57,840 --> 00:47:00,680
Speaker 4: they were so upset losing to Michigan three years in

1037
00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:03,480
Speaker 4: row or whatever, and they have this amazing off season

1038
00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:07,080
Speaker 4: and you had, like Michigan fans had won the national title.

1039
00:47:07,640 --> 00:47:09,560
Speaker 4: But for whatever reason, the High States fans were more

1040
00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:11,600
Speaker 4: optimistic just because they did all these things in the

1041
00:47:11,600 --> 00:47:15,279
Speaker 4: off season. I think that is part of what kind

1042
00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:18,400
Speaker 4: of gets fans excited, and maybe you get more excited

1043
00:47:18,440 --> 00:47:21,680
Speaker 4: for the season knowing that, hey, they're trying hard to

1044
00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:22,359
Speaker 4: do these things.

1045
00:47:23,480 --> 00:47:25,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's momentum there. So I think there's a little

1046
00:47:25,880 --> 00:47:26,319
Speaker 3: bit of that.

1047
00:47:26,600 --> 00:47:28,839
Speaker 4: I think the reality will come when you know, fall

1048
00:47:28,880 --> 00:47:31,200
Speaker 4: camp starts and you're like, hey, those twenty twenty six

1049
00:47:31,239 --> 00:47:34,000
Speaker 4: guys you recruited aren't coming in. You got to we're

1050
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:35,640
Speaker 4: in with this roster right now. So I think maybe

1051
00:47:35,640 --> 00:47:37,600
Speaker 4: it'll check a little bit. But right now, there's actually

1052
00:47:37,600 --> 00:47:40,800
Speaker 4: an uptick, but it's mostly because they've just recruiting better.

1053
00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:43,759
Speaker 4: And that's USC fans in general, that's what they love.

1054
00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:45,760
Speaker 4: They all, you know, they would win the off season

1055
00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:48,920
Speaker 4: a lot and then sort of like underperformed during the season.

1056
00:47:49,360 --> 00:47:51,560
Speaker 4: They've been underperformed being on the recruiting trail. That's like

1057
00:47:51,600 --> 00:47:53,440
Speaker 4: a weird spot where like, hey, we always go get

1058
00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:53,719
Speaker 4: these guys.

1059
00:47:53,840 --> 00:47:55,400
Speaker 1: We want to win on one or the other. You

1060
00:47:55,400 --> 00:47:57,560
Speaker 1: either got to recruit well or you gotta win games.

1061
00:47:57,600 --> 00:47:58,839
Speaker 1: You can't screw up both.

1062
00:48:00,120 --> 00:48:02,440
Speaker 3: They happen. So yeah, so a little optimism, I.

1063
00:48:02,360 --> 00:48:05,000
Speaker 2: Guess Ryan, let's close it out with this just because

1064
00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:09,719
Speaker 2: I'm curious the episodes that we have done. I guess

1065
00:48:09,800 --> 00:48:14,280
Speaker 2: earlier in this week, both publicly and our private bonus episode,

1066
00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:16,680
Speaker 2: we've talked about how this is sort of the bottom

1067
00:48:16,719 --> 00:48:18,640
Speaker 2: of the off season as you get into like the

1068
00:48:18,719 --> 00:48:22,120
Speaker 2: late stages of March, early weeks of April. How do

1069
00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:26,040
Speaker 2: you cover USC in April? What is on your radar now?

1070
00:48:26,400 --> 00:48:28,720
Speaker 2: What storylines are you going to track now through April

1071
00:48:28,920 --> 00:48:29,439
Speaker 2: into May?

1072
00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:32,360
Speaker 4: Yeah, so, I mean April's not bad for because we

1073
00:48:32,400 --> 00:48:34,840
Speaker 4: have spring football to cover. It's not as much we

1074
00:48:34,880 --> 00:48:37,640
Speaker 4: don't get to watch as much, but you do get

1075
00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:40,760
Speaker 4: opportunities to like interview the players. We hear from Lincoln

1076
00:48:40,840 --> 00:48:44,400
Speaker 4: Riley a couple times a week, and then we've been lucky.

1077
00:48:44,239 --> 00:48:45,160
Speaker 3: Enough to work with us.

1078
00:48:45,239 --> 00:48:50,000
Speaker 4: He's Collective House Victory and they provided us interviews. So

1079
00:48:50,040 --> 00:48:53,400
Speaker 4: we're going to get like Jamal Jarrett on on Friday

1080
00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:55,360
Speaker 4: and we've you know, we got the big general.

1081
00:48:55,400 --> 00:48:55,960
Speaker 3: He was great.

1082
00:48:56,080 --> 00:48:58,600
Speaker 4: But to sit with a you know, kid for like

1083
00:48:58,840 --> 00:49:01,480
Speaker 4: thirty minutes forty minutes, where we get them for like

1084
00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:03,399
Speaker 4: five after a game or practice, it's a lot better.

1085
00:49:03,440 --> 00:49:04,680
Speaker 4: You get to, you know, kind of know them a

1086
00:49:04,719 --> 00:49:07,719
Speaker 4: little bit more. So we try to focus on that May.

1087
00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:10,399
Speaker 4: Once it gets to May, then things like really start

1088
00:49:10,440 --> 00:49:12,640
Speaker 4: to slow down and there's just it's more of a

1089
00:49:12,680 --> 00:49:14,799
Speaker 4: desert as far as that stuff goes. But we try

1090
00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:16,880
Speaker 4: to cling onto whatever we can. In April, I can

1091
00:49:16,880 --> 00:49:19,000
Speaker 4: get some photos, ors, some video from practice and the

1092
00:49:19,400 --> 00:49:21,560
Speaker 4: small window we get in some of these interviews. But

1093
00:49:22,080 --> 00:49:25,000
Speaker 4: after April it sort of it gets into drugs and

1094
00:49:25,040 --> 00:49:27,920
Speaker 4: you start doing your top ten shows and things like that.

1095
00:49:29,120 --> 00:49:33,920
Speaker 1: Bryan Abraham, Yeah, you can use that title perfect.

1096
00:49:34,760 --> 00:49:37,920
Speaker 2: Ryan Abraham USC Football dot Com one of our longest

1097
00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:41,120
Speaker 2: running friends here not just on the show, but sports

1098
00:49:41,160 --> 00:49:45,280
Speaker 2: podcasting as a whole. Ryan, great to talk as always.

1099
00:49:45,320 --> 00:49:46,600
Speaker 2: We'll bring you back soon, all right.

1100
00:49:47,000 --> 00:49:48,560
Speaker 3: Love it. Thanks so much for having me on Guys.

1101
00:49:48,680 --> 00:49:51,520
Speaker 2: All right again, Ryan Abraham one of our longest running

1102
00:49:51,560 --> 00:49:53,839
Speaker 2: friends on this show. I've said that three times now,

1103
00:49:53,880 --> 00:49:56,160
Speaker 2: but I mean it. We've had Ryan on countless times.

1104
00:49:56,200 --> 00:49:58,959
Speaker 2: He does deserve the smoking jacket if we can uncover

1105
00:49:59,160 --> 00:49:59,960
Speaker 2: enough in the budget.

1106
00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:00,680
Speaker 1: M hmm.

1107
00:50:01,200 --> 00:50:03,480
Speaker 2: Let me circle back to the question that you and

1108
00:50:03,560 --> 00:50:06,759
Speaker 2: I posed at the very start of this episode, based on.

1109
00:50:06,680 --> 00:50:09,960
Speaker 1: We go deep sea fishing with Ryan for fresh sushi

1110
00:50:10,040 --> 00:50:10,880
Speaker 1: grade Ahi.

1111
00:50:11,280 --> 00:50:14,920
Speaker 2: But also, yeah, in addition to that, based on what

1112
00:50:14,960 --> 00:50:20,240
Speaker 2: you heard trending up, trending down, good vibes, bad vibes

1113
00:50:20,560 --> 00:50:24,040
Speaker 2: scale of one to ten with ten being best, where

1114
00:50:24,040 --> 00:50:26,279
Speaker 2: are you at on USC based on what Ryan just said.

1115
00:50:27,719 --> 00:50:29,680
Speaker 1: I don't think they're far off. I don't think they're

1116
00:50:29,680 --> 00:50:31,759
Speaker 1: far off because of what we talked about at the end,

1117
00:50:31,840 --> 00:50:34,560
Speaker 1: because of those close losses like losing to Maryland last

1118
00:50:34,600 --> 00:50:37,000
Speaker 1: year when they were the only big ten win for

1119
00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:40,960
Speaker 1: the Terps is just inexcusable. And you saw how in

1120
00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:44,279
Speaker 1: confidence was a good word that USC was just like, well,

1121
00:50:44,320 --> 00:50:46,359
Speaker 1: they're closing on the road, This isn't going to end well.

1122
00:50:46,719 --> 00:50:48,600
Speaker 1: And whether it was that Washington game, whether it was then,

1123
00:50:48,800 --> 00:50:51,839
Speaker 1: I think Minnesota was on the road, Maryland were just

1124
00:50:51,880 --> 00:50:54,880
Speaker 1: like it doesn't take much to figure out as a

1125
00:50:54,920 --> 00:50:58,360
Speaker 1: team collectively, like how to finish games and to play

1126
00:50:58,400 --> 00:51:01,319
Speaker 1: with a little bit more confidence and get the ball

1127
00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:04,600
Speaker 1: to your playmakers and just not make stupid mistakes, like

1128
00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:08,720
Speaker 1: that's a correctible thing in the off season. So, because

1129
00:51:08,760 --> 00:51:12,040
Speaker 1: there seems to be decent amount of star power at receiver,

1130
00:51:12,200 --> 00:51:15,280
Speaker 1: I think they'll be okay at running back. On defense,

1131
00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:19,760
Speaker 1: I like Dan Lynn. I like that they don't play

1132
00:51:19,760 --> 00:51:23,960
Speaker 1: a huge collection of obviously great quarterbacks right now. That

1133
00:51:24,360 --> 00:51:26,560
Speaker 1: their quarterback schedule seems to be pretty good. We'll see

1134
00:51:26,600 --> 00:51:28,719
Speaker 1: what happens at Michigan. We'll see how Dante More is

1135
00:51:28,719 --> 00:51:31,160
Speaker 1: at Oregon, We'll see how I assume CJ. Carr is

1136
00:51:31,480 --> 00:51:35,000
Speaker 1: at Notre Dame. But like, by and large, there's not

1137
00:51:35,640 --> 00:51:38,480
Speaker 1: You're not looking at a murderer's row of like how

1138
00:51:38,480 --> 00:51:40,719
Speaker 1: are they going to handle this guy type quarterbacks when

1139
00:51:40,719 --> 00:51:43,960
Speaker 1: you look at their schedule right now. So I don't know,

1140
00:51:44,080 --> 00:51:46,480
Speaker 1: he's been there long enough, he's made the defensive changes,

1141
00:51:46,600 --> 00:51:49,680
Speaker 1: the vibes seem to be good enough that, like, they

1142
00:51:49,719 --> 00:51:53,560
Speaker 1: can win games in different ways if everybody's on the

1143
00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:56,319
Speaker 1: same page, and so I don't think there's any reason

1144
00:51:56,360 --> 00:51:59,480
Speaker 1: that USC can't be occupy that eight and four, nine

1145
00:51:59,480 --> 00:52:02,879
Speaker 1: and three space in the Big ten. I would put it.

1146
00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:07,440
Speaker 2: At a solid seven point one. Yeah, that's fine on

1147
00:52:07,480 --> 00:52:08,040
Speaker 2: a scale of.

1148
00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:08,560
Speaker 1: One to ten.

1149
00:52:09,480 --> 00:52:13,880
Speaker 2: What I am very curious about is how long it

1150
00:52:13,920 --> 00:52:18,200
Speaker 2: takes for this new age, this new personnel set up

1151
00:52:18,280 --> 00:52:21,520
Speaker 2: with Chad Boden, to truly take effect. As Ryan said,

1152
00:52:21,520 --> 00:52:24,600
Speaker 2: they're doing very well in early recruiting. It's extremely well

1153
00:52:24,640 --> 00:52:25,960
Speaker 2: on that front right now. If you go and look

1154
00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:28,680
Speaker 2: at team rankings, their number one class of twenty twenty six,

1155
00:52:28,840 --> 00:52:30,920
Speaker 2: that's going to change a million times between now and

1156
00:52:30,960 --> 00:52:33,279
Speaker 2: the end of the recruiting cycle. But it's at least

1157
00:52:33,320 --> 00:52:37,399
Speaker 2: a very positive sign. I'm curious though, to see if

1158
00:52:37,440 --> 00:52:42,200
Speaker 2: there are any kind of boosts that USC picks up

1159
00:52:42,680 --> 00:52:45,080
Speaker 2: in time for the twenty five season, or if that

1160
00:52:45,200 --> 00:52:49,320
Speaker 2: is all just going to be thinking further down the line.

1161
00:52:49,719 --> 00:52:52,760
Speaker 2: That to me is really interesting. Yeah, but right now

1162
00:52:52,880 --> 00:52:56,600
Speaker 2: it's I still like the coach generally speaking, I'm not

1163
00:52:56,680 --> 00:52:58,520
Speaker 2: going to act like there's a whole lot of names

1164
00:52:58,520 --> 00:53:01,400
Speaker 2: in this roster that I look at and I say, oh,

1165
00:53:01,440 --> 00:53:05,640
Speaker 2: that's a gravitational player. I like the receivers generally, like

1166
00:53:05,719 --> 00:53:08,200
Speaker 2: Jade Mayava, I like Dan Linn as you do. But

1167
00:53:08,239 --> 00:53:09,960
Speaker 2: I'm not looking at the roster at least not at

1168
00:53:09,960 --> 00:53:13,000
Speaker 2: this point in early April and saying that is that's

1169
00:53:13,040 --> 00:53:15,120
Speaker 2: a guy that teams are going to have to like

1170
00:53:15,280 --> 00:53:18,680
Speaker 2: build their entire scheme around. Right, That's the part to

1171
00:53:18,719 --> 00:53:21,480
Speaker 2: me that I think is missing. But again, it's very early.

1172
00:53:22,160 --> 00:53:23,600
Speaker 2: We have a long way to go before we get

1173
00:53:23,640 --> 00:53:25,759
Speaker 2: to the season, and clearly those names could emerge in

1174
00:53:25,800 --> 00:53:29,759
Speaker 2: the spring and the fall what have you. So a

1175
00:53:29,800 --> 00:53:34,319
Speaker 2: little bit premature to jump too far in or out

1176
00:53:34,360 --> 00:53:36,719
Speaker 2: I guess on USC But right now, vibes I think

1177
00:53:36,719 --> 00:53:37,600
Speaker 2: are still pretty.

1178
00:53:37,320 --> 00:53:38,160
Speaker 3: Good, right.

1179
00:53:38,200 --> 00:53:41,040
Speaker 1: And it's also just a question still of like do

1180
00:53:41,080 --> 00:53:43,160
Speaker 1: they have the sixth best roster in the Big Ten?

1181
00:53:43,400 --> 00:53:45,880
Speaker 1: Like where do they fall in terms of what what

1182
00:53:46,040 --> 00:53:50,279
Speaker 1: is that that killer element of this team? And a

1183
00:53:50,280 --> 00:53:52,360
Speaker 1: lot of teams can point to the experience of the

1184
00:53:52,400 --> 00:53:56,200
Speaker 1: star power or just you know, the history on one

1185
00:53:56,280 --> 00:53:59,080
Speaker 1: side of the ball with regard to like Iowa's defense,

1186
00:53:59,200 --> 00:54:01,600
Speaker 1: and you could say that about Lincoln Riley's offense for

1187
00:54:01,640 --> 00:54:04,799
Speaker 1: a long long time took a hit last year. It did,

1188
00:54:04,880 --> 00:54:07,640
Speaker 1: and so when you make a quarterback change in the

1189
00:54:07,680 --> 00:54:10,520
Speaker 1: middle of the year, that's not really a common Lincoln Riley.

1190
00:54:10,600 --> 00:54:12,719
Speaker 1: You know, he had the Spencer Ratler, the Kayleb Williams thing.

1191
00:54:13,239 --> 00:54:15,239
Speaker 1: It's just not a Lincoln Riley occurrence that like, he

1192
00:54:15,280 --> 00:54:17,640
Speaker 1: finds his guy, that's his guy. They succeed with that guy,

1193
00:54:18,040 --> 00:54:22,280
Speaker 1: and so that's you know, there's still there's still room

1194
00:54:22,560 --> 00:54:24,120
Speaker 1: for USC to grow, for sure.

1195
00:54:24,880 --> 00:54:28,759
Speaker 2: Fiftieth I should say, fiftieth percent TILE in terms of

1196
00:54:28,840 --> 00:54:32,200
Speaker 2: returning production on offense, forty third percent TILE on defense

1197
00:54:32,760 --> 00:54:35,960
Speaker 2: overall relative to the field, something like ninety fifth or

1198
00:54:36,040 --> 00:54:39,600
Speaker 2: ninety seventh. I forget the exact number in the column

1199
00:54:39,640 --> 00:54:42,160
Speaker 2: that Bill Connolly posted a couple of weeks ago out

1200
00:54:42,200 --> 00:54:45,400
Speaker 2: at ESPN dot com. So new faces going to need

1201
00:54:45,440 --> 00:54:49,240
Speaker 2: some newcomers to step in and replace that production. We'll

1202
00:54:49,400 --> 00:54:52,440
Speaker 2: see how they do. Obviously, if you have thoughts on this,

1203
00:54:52,480 --> 00:54:54,799
Speaker 2: you can always email us Celiverble at gmail dot com,

1204
00:54:54,880 --> 00:54:57,920
Speaker 2: hit us up on social media, going out to verballers

1205
00:54:57,960 --> 00:55:00,360
Speaker 2: dot com sign up a big part of our discord.

1206
00:55:00,600 --> 00:55:02,960
Speaker 2: Of course, you know the drill here. We always welcome

1207
00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:06,200
Speaker 2: your feedback. We'd love to hear from SC fans that

1208
00:55:06,239 --> 00:55:09,040
Speaker 2: are out there passing through, maybe finding us for the

1209
00:55:09,040 --> 00:55:12,000
Speaker 2: first time on YouTube, or some of our long timers

1210
00:55:12,040 --> 00:55:14,240
Speaker 2: who maybe aren't SC fans but just have an opinion

1211
00:55:14,239 --> 00:55:16,680
Speaker 2: on the Trojans. You know, you can always reach out

1212
00:55:16,680 --> 00:55:17,960
Speaker 2: and let us know your thoughts.

1213
00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:19,839
Speaker 1: Or if you want tie in person. I think you're

1214
00:55:19,840 --> 00:55:24,799
Speaker 1: heading to the Castleville Mill, Castle Valley Castle Valley Mill. Now,

1215
00:55:24,840 --> 00:55:26,759
Speaker 1: obviously you're going to be there before people are able

1216
00:55:26,800 --> 00:55:28,520
Speaker 1: to hear this show, but you never know when time

1217
00:55:28,600 --> 00:55:31,360
Speaker 1: might stop by to replenish this whole week flower stock.

1218
00:55:31,520 --> 00:55:33,799
Speaker 2: Now, this is this is a very big deal for me. Now,

1219
00:55:34,920 --> 00:55:36,880
Speaker 2: Castle that I love that I gotten you down to this.

1220
00:55:37,120 --> 00:55:39,359
Speaker 2: Not a sponsor the same level could be. I don't

1221
00:55:39,400 --> 00:55:43,440
Speaker 2: know if local local flour mills are doing podcast sponsorships

1222
00:55:43,480 --> 00:55:43,919
Speaker 2: these days.

1223
00:55:44,000 --> 00:55:46,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, we found out that there's just a one to

1224
00:55:46,080 --> 00:55:51,840
Speaker 1: one overlap of locally milled flour enthusiasts and college football

1225
00:55:51,840 --> 00:55:52,680
Speaker 1: podcast listeners.

1226
00:55:52,840 --> 00:55:54,680
Speaker 2: This is this is what happens to my brain in

1227
00:55:54,719 --> 00:55:55,320
Speaker 2: the off season.

1228
00:55:55,640 --> 00:55:59,040
Speaker 1: Get at us, King, Arthur, come on for that guy

1229
00:55:59,040 --> 00:55:59,359
Speaker 1: over there.

1230
00:55:59,400 --> 00:56:02,160
Speaker 2: My good friends at Rubin steed for myself, Ty Hilton,

1231
00:56:02,200 --> 00:56:04,600
Speaker 2: my first guest of honor. Ryan Abraham at USC football

1232
00:56:04,640 --> 00:56:07,279
Speaker 2: dot com thanks so much for downloading, for listening, have

1233
00:56:07,320 --> 00:56:08,040
Speaker 2: a great weekend.

1234
00:56:08,200 --> 00:56:09,200
Speaker 1: We'll catch you all next week.

1235
00:56:09,280 --> 00:56:10,680
Speaker 3: Stay saw it peace,