Lincoln Riley landed some huge prospects in the transfer portal. Dan Lanning struck back with a huge early signing period statement on Wednesday.
It’s unfortunate we aren’t going to see Riley and Lanning maintain an on-field coaching rivalry over the next decade, because they would have been in position to develop quite a battle in the Pac-12.
Because USC is leaving for the Big Ten, USC and Oregon won’t be annual opponents beginning in 2024. Riley and Lanning can still battle on the recruiting trail and in the transfer portal, but without on-field meetings to stoke the fires of this competition, it will be hard for USC and Oregon fans to revel in the drama of seeing these coaches maneuver against each other.
USC pulled in a great recruiting class as the early signing period began, but Oregon was the biggest winner, as national analysts and our friends at Ducks Wire noticed on a day when Lanning took to social media and smoked a victory cigar after all of his huge flips, pulls, and last-minute successes:
“Many of the recruiting services consider Oregon one of the big winners on signing day. According to writer Andrew Ivins of 247Sports:
Shortly after 8 a.m. on the East Coast, news broke that Top247 quarterback Austin Novosad was flipping from Baylor to Oregon. Most Ducks fans on the West Coast were probably asleep, but that’s OK because that Novosad flip was really just a preview for what was to come next.
In the span of roughly six hours, Oregon went from holding the nation’s No. 14-ranked recruiting class to the No. 7 class in the land as they beat out USC and Ohio State for five-star edge rusher Matayo Uiagalelei before flipping both Top247 safety Peyton Bowen and four-star running back Jayden Limar from Notre Dame. Oregon is still waiting on Bowen’s LOI at time of this article. The Ducks were also able to pry Top247 cornerback Daylen Austin away from LSU.
Not a bad day at the office for Dan Lanning, who has Oregon in prime position to sign just its third top 10-ranked recruiting class in the past 10 years.
“While the Ducks are riding high, in the famous words of Ace Ventura, “In every contest, there must be a loser.” According to Ivins, one of those losers is former Oregon coach Mario Cristobal.”
They’re having fun in Eugene, but Oregon and USC aren’t going to be regular football opponents over the next decade.
USC’s departure for the Big Ten will prevent a coaching rivalry from forming, even though the Trojans and Ducks are going to compete for recruits and talent. It’s just not the same when two schools aren’t meeting every year on the field. That’s too bad.
[mm-video type=video id=01gm9qwfp301nx1fxmsa playlist_id=none player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gm9qwfp301nx1fxmsa/01gm9qwfp301nx1fxmsa-5f1ce800029f353b16aab280fdc8f9aa.jpg]
[listicle id=54551]