No surprise here. Just two years ago, Oregon was in the national championship game and it seemed like Mark Helfrich guided the program perfectly. Now he is fired. This is not good news for USC if Oregon goes out and hires a big-time coach.
Inside USC with Scott Wolf
USC football, Trojans basketball and other sports news
Man, Scottie, that’s such a weak way of thinking. We WANT the other teams in the Pac-12 to be good. That way, when we go undefeated or lose a game, we’ll still be in the playoff hunt. When so many teams in the Pac-12 are down, we suffer for it. Anyway, who are they gonna get? Urban Meyer, Tom Herman, Nick Saban, or Jim Harbaugh? Doubt it. Nobody else gets me the least bit worried.
Scott = weak
#skyisfalling
Never met a coach or athlete that didn’t want to compete against the best. Winners are motivated by the challenge of competition.
Yeah, we know Wolf. USC is quaking in their boots.
Quacking in their boots!
Pressure’s on ORE to get it done. This should be good. Many thought Helfrich was safe because nobody big-time is available. So let’s see who ORE is willing to pay out the nose for and if he really wants to live in Eugene.
ORE better get it right or those buy-outs can start piling up.
The problem for the Ducks is the Chip Kelly offense has been figured out. Things have changed.
Oregon will hire Central Florida’s Scott Frost. He knows the expectations at Oregon.
That’s what I say.
PJ Fleck, Lincoln Riley, Jim McElwain.
Kiffin fits the bill.
Two years ago Wolf was asking why we didn’t go after Helfrich….and Sumlin.
Noah Jefferson transferring!
No surprise there. No biggee. But going forward we need to vet our potential signees better so we don’t have these homesick head cases who can’t hack it.
Homesick from Vegas.. I see a kid who loved and had a passion for football.. But academically challenge..USC is a tough to do the classroom and play sports! UNLV. ?
ASU is for the academically challenged.
Fresno St. would be good for him, they really work with the low and borderline gpa’s to get them up to elgibility.
Curious what the situation was. Didn’t see the field after Alabama, and we had little depth on D-Line. Clancy’s must not have liked his work ethic? Regardless, this should be a big D-Line recruiting month, and I’m hoping for big things from BKU and Clay.
Me too.. Maybe a g transfer or a JC get!
There is a couple of juco linemen that would be a big help to the USC lines.
There maybe two openings in the Pac 12, because Baylor suppose to be targeting Cal’s, Sonny Dykes since ,SMU’s , Chad Morris turned them down.
Oregon had already kicked the tires on Kiffin..sounds like he passed.
Why would anyone want to go to Waco and give up the liberal life in the bay area.
Sarcasm? Hope so. If not–Dykes is not a CA guy & has TX roots. Baylor is easier to get kids into and has better recruiting base than CAL.
Rapists, dog beaters, yeah, Baylor is a great place
Baylor, where rape is overlooked, where a player can whip his ” pet ” dog and get suspended for three games, it’s a dumpster fire that the NCAA and the school administrators have turned a blind eye to.
I agree, which is why I don’t understand all the big name coaches are mentioned
Oregon doesn’t have a large recruiting sphere like SC, Ohio State, TX, OK, or AL. It needs to be unique to attract players. Everyone has caught up to their offense, their facilities are no longer substantially better than anyone else & flashy uniforms are common place. So, the next guy has to be a solid recruiter first & a good x & O guy second. There is a reason Oregon has been a mid level team for 80 years. They likely will now return to that familiar place.
Yes , Ducks & Cardinal made the best of it when Trojans were crippled. Its ova!
The Cardinal have the supreme added academic cache and with a good coach will always be good. One-on-one, STAN can still beat USC on lots of guys for signatures.
ORE is like a JC compared to STAN. I wouldn’t lump them together.
Totally agree, plus don’t forget the Texas Recruiting Service they were paying to steer players to them that got Chip Kelly a Show Cause Penalty from the NCAA. Oregon will now return to where they historically have been.
In more relevant USC news, Noah Jefferson announced he is transferring out.
This was probably a long time coming. Helton only addressed his status maybe twice since hes been out. We played all year without him so its not like as significant as it may seem. Still…We had big hopes for Jefferson. He had the size 6-6 330 to have a big season and a future in the NFL. Helton said academics were the concern in september, but a lot of talk the last month was that hes had some troubles back home. Good luck to Noah. Maybe he’ll play some JC ball to get caught up with academics. Riverside Community College would take him if hes interested. GO INLAND EMPIRE!
Isn’t Noah’s transfer and Stevie’s graduation worrisome? Do we need to try to get another graduate transfer? If we don’t, isn’t our interior D line in trouble?
I don’t think we have to go that route this time. Kenny Bigelow went down in spring ball and we were down an upperclassman (also unproven) that was being counted on to emerge in a young talented group that got important playing time the previous season but was by far our biggest concern going into spring ball/2016. Let’s not forget Kenechi Udeze was hired just two weeks before signing day. BKU put the full court press on Jonathan Kongbo in hopes of a JC kid to fill in immediately. No dice. Add Scott Felix was ineligible and we had 0 starters returning.
We were almost on the ropes at the end of spring ball. Stevie Tu’ikolovatu was a bright spot from the get go and became the leader of the of the DLINE almost instantly. We lucked out when he and his family needed a change of scenery by moving to LA. He was as sure a run stopper as they get and was aggressive
Noah Jefferson was expected to be disruptive in the middle but the Bama was hos last and he never played down for SC again. Porter Gustin and Rasheem Green got better as the season went on.
Malik Dorton surprisingly started the early part of the season, but Stevie T got the most PT and took over while Dorton hardly played in the 2nd half of the season.
Porter Gustin, Rasheem Green, Stevie Tu’ikolovatu, Uchenna Nwosu were the core group of starters.
DTJosh Fatu- was earning playing time in the last month.
Front page of sports in Riverside Press Enterprise says Mora is a waste of tax payer money.
This the first time I’ve seen something like this, but I don’t generally read Ucla articles.
sark
Sark is no winner. Weiner maybe.
“This is not good news for USC” – huh? A week ago the Blogger was complaining about a weak Pac-12 and how that was bad for USC. Now a strong Pac-12 is bad for USC.
#SeniorFlipFlop
It would be great news for the PAC12. If they can raise their stature perhaps they can get into some better bowl games. Another reason to get rid of Larry Scott.
A perfect place for the expendable head coach Lane Kiffin.
Another potential name for this blog – “This is not good news for USC….”
What you are saying, Scott Wolf, watch out that Oregon does what USC “refuses” to do….. spend the money and bring in a big name coach that knows how to win and learns on the job. thank you
Knew something was about to happen…. the defense was slipping badly and Helfrich kept bringing in 5th year seniors from Div ll schools to play QB 2-years in a row. The team was crumbling. Once Marriotta left, Helfrich was exposed pure & simple.
A Big Time coach….who is apparently out there and runs the read option?
Oh right, that guy.
Whatever. Their “schematic advantage” becomes less and less of an advantage.
I doubt anyone in the pac12 is shivering with fear.