During the Conquest Call-In Show on The Voice of College Football, a caller made the claim this past Friday that college teams, USC included, need a defensive-minded head coach in order to win a national championship. It was a clear, if indirect, reference to Lincoln Riley.
Urban Meyer with Florida and Ohio State in 2014 was an offense-first head coach. Although Ed Orgeron is a defensive coach, the LSU Tigers won with an offensive identity fueled by Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, Joe Brady, and Joe Burrow in 2019.
Lincoln Riley needs a competitive defense at USC, not a top-10 defense. His defenses under Alex Grinch were so bad that a lot of people think he and USC will never win a national championship. In reality, Riley simply didn’t make the adjustments needed to field a defense which was good enough to supplement his offense. Now, it’s different. Riley has made necessary adjustments. His defense doesn’t have to be 1995 Nebraska or the 1985 Chicago Bears.
It just has to be relatively good and competent.
Here’s our show from last Friday in which we took calls from you, the fans, at The Voice of College Football:
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