Remember Luke Fickell? He used to work under a man named Mike Bohn at Cincinnati. For that reason, and because Cincinnati was having such a great 2021 college football season, Fickell was a natural choice to be hired by Bohn at USC.
Fickell eventually stayed at Cincinnati, but he was definitely a coach USC fans got to know about in 2021. It’s true that Matt Campbell of Iowa State became the big name on the board in the 48 hours before Lincoln Riley was hired, but in September and October, it was impossible to avoid discussing Fickell in connection with the USC job.
As we turn to the upcoming 2022 season, imagine a world in which Fickell faces USC — and Lincoln Riley, and Mike Bohn — in a New Year’s Six bowl game. Wouldn’t that be something?
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports is predicting this precise matchup in his preseason bowl picks.
Palm has USC playing Cincinnati in the Cotton Bowl, which will be in Arlington, Texas, on Monday, Jan. 2, 2023, at 10 a.m. in Los Angeles.
Palm has Utah winning the Pac-12, beating USC in the Pac-12 Championship Game, and moving to the Rose Bowl against Michigan.
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