Tag: usc athletics

Sam Darnold finally found the good NFL situation Caleb Williams currently lacks

Sam Darnold finally has a competent coach and organization. Caleb Williams? Not yet. That’s the difference between the two.

When former USC quarterbacks Sam Darnold and Caleb Williams faced off last month, they produced an overtime classic. This time, it was not nearly as exciting. On Monday night, Williams and the Chicago Bears traveled to take on Darnold and the Minnesota Vikings in a nationally televised matchup. Minnesota entered the game having won six in a row, while Chicago had lost seven straight.

It became apparent early on that both trends would continue. The Vikings jumped out to a 10-0 first quarter lead and never looked back, cruising to a 30-12 win.

Once again, Darnold was the better of the two QBs, although not by a significant margin. He completed 24 of 40 passes for 231 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Williams, meanwhile, completed 18 of 31 passes for 191 yards and a touchdown.

The Vikings have officially clinched a playoff spot. They are currently tied with the Detroit Lions for first place in the NFC North.

The Bears, meanwhile, are eliminated from playoff contention. They are currently in the market for a new coach, and hope to hire someone who will be able to develop and get the most out of Williams as he enters his second NFL season.

The difference between Sam Darnold and Caleb Williams boils down to the quality of an organization and its coach. Minnesota has a sound organization led by Kevin O’Connell, one of the best coaches in the league. The Bears were headless horsemen this season, and general manager Ryan Poles did not give Caleb a remotely competent offensive line. It’s amazing what can happen for Darnold when he’s not saddled by the Jets’ or Panthers’ futility. Caleb Williams needs that same taste of freedom in Chicago with a coach who knows what he’s doing.

Calen Bullock makes a case for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year

Calen Bullock goes against the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday, during the College Football Playoff.

It has not taken long for Calen Bullock to make a name for himself with the Houston Texans. On Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, the rookie safety had yet another interception. It was the fifth of the season for Bullock, whom the Texans selected in the third round out of USC this past April.

In addition to his five interceptions, Bullock currently has 44 tackles and a fumble recovered. He should find himself squarely in the running for NFL defensive rookie of the year.

Bullock and the Texans will now go against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on a loaded football Saturday in which the NFL goes head to head with the College Football Playoff.

USC fans are quite familiar with seeing Bullock make an immediate impact. As a true freshman at USC in 2021, Bullock was thrust into an immediate starting role after senior captain Isaiah Pola-Mao tested positive for COVID and was forced to miss the season opener. Bullock held his own in his first start, and became a force in the USC secondary over the next three years.

Bullock’s best season as a Trojan came in 2022. That year, he recorded 48 tackles, six passes defended, and five interceptions, one of which he took back for a touchdown. For his performance that season, he earned first-team All-American honors.

If Bullock continues to play at a high level, he could have more hardware in his trophy case soon enough.

Former USC defensive lineman Bear Alexander lands at Oregon

You wanted him, Oregon? You got him. The Ducks now have to deal with Bear Alexander drama.

Back in September, USC defensive lineman Bear Alexander elected to redshirt and leave the team due to frustration over his playing time. Three months later, Alexander officially has a new home. On Friday, Alexander announced his commitment to Oregon. Thanks to his redshirt this season, he will have two years of eligibility remaining.

Alexander’s journey has certainly been a wild one. In high school, he attended four different schools in four years. A blue chip recruit, he committed to Georgia, and saw playing time as a freshman on the Bulldogs’ 2022 national title team.

Alexander entered the transfer portal following his freshman season and committed to USC. As a sophomore in 2023, he had a solid season, and was one of the few bright spots on an otherwise abysmal defense. He entered spring 2024 projected as one of the top defensive linemen in the country.

Since then, however, Alexander’s story has been a mess. He briefly entered the portal again last spring, before removing his name a few days later—essentially an NIL holdout of sorts. Then, after clashing with the new defensive coaching staff due to concerns over his attitude and work ethic, Alexander was relegated to a reserve role at the start of the season.

Even though he was not starting, Alexander still saw significant snaps in USC’s first three games of the season. Following the Michigan game, however, he decided to redshirt and depart from the team, with the intention of entering the transfer portal once it opened.

Now, Alexander is headed up to the Pacific Northwest. When he enrolls at Oregon in January, it will mark the seventh different school that he has attended in eight years.

If the Ducks’ coaching staff is able to work Alexander out of his attitude and work ethic issues, he has the potential to be one of the top defensive linemen in the country. But if they cannot, his addition could prove to be a massive headache for the program.

USC women’s basketball showdown vs UConn will become a big TV talking point

Everyone is waiting to see what kind of television audience USC and UConn pull in. Opinions are sharply divided on how well this game will do on TV.

On Saturday evening, the USC women’s basketball team will travel to Hartford, Connecticut, to take on UConn in a highly-anticipated, top 10 showdown.

Surely, the eyes of the college sports world will be on the Trojans and the Huskes that night, right?

Nope.

Why not? With arguably the two biggest stars in women’s college basketball in USC’s Juju Watkins and UConn’s Paige Bueckers, the matchup is one of the biggest games of the season.

The game won’t be squarely in the spotlight because USC-UConn is on at the exact same time as the College Football Playoff first-round game between Ohio State and Tennessee.

This is not the only time this season that the Women of Troy will play a highly-anticipated game that is overshadowed by college football. Last month, the Trojans’ top 10 showdown with Notre Dame was played on the penultimate college football Saturday of the regular season, with a slate that featured USC taking on crosstown rival UCLA at the Rose Bowl. On New Year’s Day, the Women of Troy will play a top 25 matchup against Nebraska directly opposite the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.

The fact that this is happening makes zero sense, and demonstrates a complete and total lack of critical thinking on the part of the people in charge of making these schedules.

Women’s college basketball has never been hotter than it is right now. With stars like Watkins and Bueckers leading the way, the game is continuing to grow at a rapid pace.

However, let’s be real: Football is still king in America. If you try to compete with football, you will get destroyed in the ratings and the headlines every single time.

The goal here is to grow the sport of women’s college basketball. So, why, then, are some of the biggest games being scheduled directly opposite of massive football contests, significantly reducing the number of people who will watch?

Had the USC-UConn clash been scheduled for a week earlier, when the only football game on in the evening was the Salute to Veterans Bowl, it would almost certainly drawn much larger viewership numbers. Same for if the USC-Notre Dame matchup had been scheduled for that Thursday or Friday night instead of Saturday afternoon.

Time and again, it feels like the people in charge of making the schedules are shooting themselves in the foot. With USC-UConn, the sport of women’s college basketball had a golden opportunity to showcase two of its brightest stars in front of a national audience. But instead, they decided to bury it at a time when the attention of the sports world will be fixated on the gridiron.

Obviously, this is out of the players’ control. All they can do is show up when they are told to and play. But by scheduling these games for when they did, the people in charge are robbing these athletes of the spotlight.

It makes absolutely zero sense.

USC fans will be watching the state of Kentucky in 2025

Sam Greene is at Kentucky. Miller Moss is at Louisville. USC fans will be watching the Commonwealth of Kentucky in the 2025 season.

Less than two weeks after entering the transfer portal, former USC defensive lineman Sam Greene has a new home. Greene recently announced his commitment to Kentucky. He will have three seasons of eligibility remaining with the Wildcats.

Greene originally signed with USC as a highly-touted recruit in the class of 2023. After redshirting his first season on campus, he earned a reserve role this season, recording 15 tackles and one sack. Now, he will look for a fresh start in Lexington.

In a weird twist, Greene was essentially part of a “trade” between the Trojans and the Wildcats. On Thursday, USC landed a commitment from former Kentucky defensive lineman Keeshawn Silver. Hence, the two teams essentially swapped defensive linemen.

While Silver is a veteran player with proven production at the college level, Greene is younger and has more eligibility left. Hence, both teams can feel reasonably good about how the “deal” turned out.

Greene’s transfer to Kentucky has been accompanied by Miller Moss transferring to Louisville. USC football fans will be watching both Kentucky and Louisville to see how key 2024 players fare in the commonwealth in 2025. There will be a Bluegrass storyline for USC fans to follow next year.

USC safety Kamari Ramsey to return for 2025 season

Kamari Ramsey returning for 2025 is another hugely positive piece of roster news for USC.

After landing a big-time transfer commit in the morning, the USC defense got another piece of good news later on Wednesday when safety Kamari Ramsey announced that he will be returning to USC football in 2025.

“USC is a special place, and I’ve loved being a part of the Trojan Family,” Ramsey wrote on social media. “After much prayer and discussion, I’ve decided that there’s more I want to accomplish with my teammates. I’m excited to run out of the Coliseum tunnel again next season wearing the Cardinal and Gold.”

After transferring in from crosstown rival UCLA alongside defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, Ramsey was one of USC’s best defensive players in 2024. As a redshirt sophomore, he recorded 53 tackles, five passes defended, and two forced fumbles.

Had he declared for the NFL Draft, Ramsey likely would have been a mid-round pick. Instead, he will enter next season as one of the top safeties in the country with the opportunity to play himself into the first round conversation.

Ramsey and the Trojans will conclude the 2024 season in the Las Vegas Bowl against Texas A&M on December 27.

USC lands commitment from coveted defensive line transfer

Eric Henderson continues to beef up the USC defensive line with the pickup of an elite transfer from Kentucky. Dawgwork is getting done.

They say that the transfer portal given and the transfer portal taketh. For USC, that has been especially the case over the past few weeks. After losing numerous key players to the portal, the Trojans picked up arguably their biggest addition yet Thursday morning when they landed former Kentucky defensive lineman Keshawn Silver.

After starting his college career at North Carolina, Silver spent the past two seasons at Kentucky. As a redshirt junior in 2024, he recorded 46 tackles and a sack. Now, he will head to Los Angeles for his final season of eligibility.

Silver was one of the highest-rated defensive lineman in the transfer portal. His addition is a huge one for a USC team in desperate need of momentum after a week full of departures.

With current starters Nate Clifton, Gavin Meyer, and Jamil Muhammad all out of eligibility, USC is in major need of reinforcements along the defensive line heading into next season. There is still work to be done, but the addition of Silver will go a long way toward addressing that issue.

Former USC offensive lineman heads to UCLA

Courtland Ford, a former Trojan, will put on UCLA powder blue this fall. We will see how it works out for him.

It’s not very often you see a players transfer between USC and UCLA (Kyle Ford being a rare exception). But it happened on Tuesday … sort of. After starting his college career with the Trojans, offensive lineman Courtland Ford spent the past two seasons at Kentucky. This week, he announced that he will be returning to Los Angeles to play his final season of college football at UCLA.

After redshirting the COVID-shortened 2020 season in his first year at USC, Ford played a key role on USC’s offensive line in 2021 and 2022. He appeared in 19 games for the Trojans over the course of the two seasons, making 11 starts. Following the 2022 campaign, however, he elected to enter the transfer portal.

Ford wound up at Kentucky, where he spent the past two years. However, his time in Lexington was hampered by injuries, and he was never really able to carve out a consistent role for himself with the Wildcats. With one more year of eligibility remaining, Ford elected to enter the portal again following the conclusion of Kentucky’s season.

Now, he is back in Los Angeles, the same city that he called home for three seasons. But this time, Ford will be on the opposite side of town, wearing UCLA blue instead of USC Cardinal and Gold.

Offensive lineman Emmanuel Pregnon will return to USC in 2025

Emmanuel Pregnon returning is absolutely central to USC’s fortunes in 2025. The Trojans needed this to happen.

It has not exactly been the best offseason for USC’s offensive line. The Trojans have already lost several key contributors from the unit to the transfer portal, including experienced starting tackle Mason Murphy. However, USC got some great news on the front on Wednesday, when new offensive line coach Zach Hanson announced that guard Emmanuel Pregnon for the 2025 season.

After starting his career at Wyoming, Pregnon transferred to USC ahead of the 2023 season. He has started at left guard each of the past two years, and has arguably been the Trojans’ best offensive lineman during that stretch.

Getting Pregnon back will be critical for a USC O-line in an otherwise precarious state. The unit has struggled the past two years, and has lost several key players to the transfer portal, in addition to four-year starter and team captain Jonah Monheim moving on to the NFL.

Having Pregnon around will also be critical for Hanson, who was officially named the offensive line coach on Wednesday after spending the last three seasons working with USC’s tight ends. He replaces Josh Henson, who left on Tuesday to be the offensive coordinator at Purdue.

USC lands running back transfer commit from New Mexico

USC gets its transfer running back, and this time, it is not from the SEC.

With Woody Marks off to the NFL and Quinten Joyner in the transfer portal, USC was in desperate need of depth at the running back position. On Wednesday, the Trojans got just that. Wednesday morning, former New Mexico running back Eli Sanders announced his commitment to USC. Sanders will have one season of eligibility left with the Trojans.

After starting his career at Iowa State, Sanders transferred to New Mexico ahead of this season. In his lone year with the Lobos, he rushed for 1,063 yards and nine touchdowns.

Riley has had success with transfer running backs at USC. The likes of Travis Dye, Austin Jones, Marshawn Lloyd, and Marks have all thrived in Riley’s offense.

Now, Sanders will look to be next in line. USC’s track record at this particular position has been very solid. If there is one position on the roster fans should not be overly concerned about, it’s running back.