Oregon DC Tosh Lupoi faced USC’s Lincoln Riley in the 2018 Orange Bowl

A reunion, five years later.

Oregon defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi and USC head coach Lincoln Riley have gone up against each other before. In the 2018 Orange Bowl, a College Football Playoff semifinal game, Lupoi coordinated Alabama’s defense while Riley was the offensive play-caller for the Oklahoma Sooners. That same chess match will be on display this Saturday when Lupoi’s Oregon defense takes on Riley’s USC offense.

(h/t Zachary Neel of Ducks Wire) 

“Question: Tosh Lupoi faced Lincoln Riley back in the 2018 Sugar Bowl, do you pull anything from that meeting schematically in preparation for this game?

“I mean, ultimately, obviously, they’re really good on offense,” (Oregon coach Dan) Lanning replied. “Lincoln’s a great play-caller. He does a phenomenal job of scheming up plays, you know, game to game. I think he does a good job of keeping it simple and getting into the right looks, you know, they, they see you in certain looks, they take advantage of it. So, you know, overall, this is a really good offense, as good as we’ll see.”

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