In Reply to: Trojans Wire discusses Lincoln Riley and Bob Chesney with UCLA Wire posted by mh on August 20, 2026 at 16:00:23
I thought Riley was a horrible fit for 'SC when he was hired, and the past few years haven't shown me anything different. The best thing about Riley was the splash which said 'SC was serious about football after hunting the Carroll glory days with guys not ready to be the full-time guy.
The reason?
'SC has traditionally dominated West Coast recruiting on the lines, just about always getting the best OL/DL players. When they went on the Bush probation, that really hurt their recruiting foundation as they couldn't stockpile on the lines anymore - it's a huge reason why Stanford suddenly became the OL capital of the West Coast. It's also why 'SC was Student Body Left/Right/Middle. With the best OL in the conference, 'SC could just line up and knock you off the line, and did so regularly. Even under Carroll with the flashy receivers and heisman candidate qbs, it was Bush and White and a dominant OL they leaned on.
Riley's pass happy offense doesn't lean into an aggressive OL which just destroys you play after play up front, opening up everything else, and even now, they still can't just line up and grind you into dust. The running game is more built on draws and run & shoot concepts and they've ignored the thing 'SC's best teams were built on.
In looking at the linked list of 'SC draft picks, they've only had about 4 OL drafted in the last 10 years, and none since Riley took over (tho they do have 3rd day candidate in Paige this year).
Riley still recruits like he's coaching in the Big 12.