Interesting thoughts from Lincoln Riley about how getting to a bowl game and the extra practices that come with it isn't quite the same value it used to be:

How much do you emphasize the goal of bowl eligibility to the team and how important is that?

"Yeah, we've talked a little bit with the team about it. After the Washington game we talked about it a little bit. I think you've got to be fair with the guys and set the stage on where we're at and what we have left to attain. I think to me the biggest piece is making progress and going and playing the way that we want to play and expect to play here in the last three games. I mean, you've got three great opportunities. I mean, you've got a great matchup here, two of the most historic successful programs in college football history, and then obviously our two rivalry games to finish it off. So I think very important for us to, I think more than anything, we want to go play the way we're capable of, we want to go finish, we want to go take advantage of these opportunities and build momentum going into the offseason.

"Certainly, going to a bowl and getting that opportunity can be a great thing. The world of the bowls is a little bit different with the schedules and there's not as much practice time and all that as they're used to be just because of all that's evolved. One of the trains of thought was obviously, yeah, you get a chance to go develop and practice and all that -- that's been minimized a little bit. I'm not saying there's still not some value there, but I think the bigger thing for us is we've obviously been on the cusp all year and the team has hung in there, has obviously fought their tails off, and I just think it's important to the group to really finish the right way and continue to lift this program up. So I think that's been the main message, but certainly there's kind of mini goals within it -- certainly putting ourselves in position to go to a bowl game is something that our guys are very aware of."

Are there fewer bowl practices now? What do you mean?

"No, I think one, you've got bowls spread out all over the place in terms of like what time you have them. Obviously, with the early signing day now and all that happens, although we're not going on the road this year and it's earlier so it maybe even a little bit different this year -- we're obviously kind of getting ready to go through this set of rules for the first time. But I mean, even I compare it to last year, we got a handful of practice, but pretty quickly you start getting ready for the game. You give them a little bit of downtime, finish up recruiting, do what you've got to do, get them ready for the game. There's not, I can just remember in the past, I remember our older days where signing day was in February and December was just practice, practice, practice, practice, practice. That was all that you had -- there wasn't really anything else to do. So, there's more games, the schedule varies, there's certainly some developmental time, but a lot of it you're going to dedicate to getting ready for the game."

Getting the thread started …

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media

who listened he was 100% committed to SC....these kids lie through their teeth.

Another one to monitor ...

Login to view embedded media

We talked to D'Anton Lynn, Antony Beavers, Greedy Vance, Gavin Meyer, Akili Arnold and Desman Stephens.

Honestly, not a lot of notable takeaways, aside from Lynn talking about the challenge of preparing for a new playcaller at Nebraska in Dana Hologorsen.

Videos uploading.

Press release:

USC women’s basketball is getting another injection of high-level talent with the signing of Jazzy Davidson to join the Women of Troy as a freshman for 2025-26, head coach Lindsay Gottlieb announced today (Nov. 13). The Oregon native is the No. 3 recruit in the nation and has been a member of Team USA’s U18 National Teams.

"I vividly remember my first conversation with Jazzy several years ago, and I hung up the phone thinking, 'I hope we can build this program to where we have a legit shot at her.' So to have that come to fruition means so much to me,” USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said of Davidson.

A native of Clackamas, Ore., Davidson was a semifinalist for the 2023-24 Naismith Trophy High School Girls Basketball Player of the Year as a junior at Clackamas High School. A 6-foot-1 left-handed guard/forward, Davidson was also the 2023-23 Oregon High School Girls Basketball Player of the Year as a sophomore.

"Jazzy, in my opinion, is the jewel of this class,” Gottlieb said of Davidson. "She is an elite level player in every aspect. She can score, create, defend — a true modern, pro-style player. She has a work ethic and competitiveness that will impact our program immediately. But from that first conversation I also knew that Jazzy the person was someone I wanted in our program. She is truly as humble and likeable as she is talented. We got a special one, and I couldn’t be more excited.”

Davidson helped her Clackamas High squad to the 2023 Class 6A state championship, and this past summer she was a member of the United States' gold-medalist U18 team at the 2024 FIBA U18 AmeriCup alongside two current USC freshmen — Kayleigh Heckel and Kennedy Smith. Davidson averaged 11.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and a team-high 2.7 steals per game at the event, and she became the first U18 player to go a perfect 100 percent from the floor with five or more attempts in a game since 2004 with her outing for Team USA against Mexico.

In August, Davidson also was named to the 2024 USA 3x3 Women’s U18 National Team, winning gold again with Team USA at the 2024 FIBA 3x3 U18 World Cup.

Since these early games aren't remotely competitive and we're still in the midst of football, we're not doing full game coverage yet, but we absolutely will when the matchups get more legitimate.

Here's the press release from USC's 124-39 win over CSUN last night, though:

LOS ANGELES — USC women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Gottlieb achieved her 300th career win in tonight’s 124-39 victory over CSUN at Galen Center. USC’s lead never wavered, as points from all 13 Trojans who checked into the game filled up the stat sheet in a program record-setting 124-point offensive outing. USC is now 3-0 overall, and CSUN moves to 2-1 overall.

In the first 20 minutes of action, USC shot 55.6 percent to outperform CSUN’s 28.6 percent, as the Trojans held a 60-13 lead at halftime. The Trojans kept up their scoring pace, finishing out shooting a strong 60.8 percent from the floor and 47.2 from 3-point range, knocking down a program-record of 17 total threes. CSUN ended the game with a 26.1 shooting-percentage overall.

JuJu Watkins led USC in scoring with 21 total points and a career-high nine assists. She was joined in double figures tonight by Kiki Iriafen (15 points), Kayleigh Heckel (14), Talia von Oelhoffen (13), Avery Howell (11) and Kennedy Smith (10). Senior Rayah Marshall led USC on the boards with nine rebounds, while USC outrebounded CSUN 40-26. On the defensive end, USC nabbed 28 steals while forcing 43 turnovers out of the Matadors.

USC opened up the game with a trio of 3-pointers, sparked by Kennedy Smith’s trey and then boosted with back-to-back threes from Talia von Oelhoffen to craft a 9-0 lead. JuJu Watkins, Rayah Marshall and Kiki Iriafen stepped in next and carried USC off on a 7-0 rally next to make it 16-2 before CSUN got its second bucket to go with 3:10 on the clock. USC responded with freshman-fueled push in the final two minutes, with Avery Howell and Kayleigh Heckel getting in on the 3-point party to help USC lead it 30-6 at the end of the first frame. Malia Samuels kicked off the second quarter with an assist to Heckel and then a 3-pointer of her own to become USC’s eighth scorer barely 11 minutes into the game. USC kept chugging along, generating 28 unanswered points to expand the Trojan advantage to 58-6 on a three-point play from Watkins with 1:53 on the clock. That made it a grand total of a 37-0 scoring run by the Trojans, spanning from the close of the first quarter while the USC defense rendered CSUN scoreless for almost 10 full minutes of play. The Matadors broke through later in the second, though, and it was a 60-13 USC lead for halftime.

USC’s momentum kept rolling to open the second half, with Kiki Iriafen showing her range with two 3-pointers to help the Trojans along on a 16-0 start to the third. A three-point play from Watkins made it 76-13 USC before CSUN scored with 5:05 on the clock. Watkins worked her way across the 20-point line, freshman Vivian Iwuchukwu tallied her first bucket as a Trojan to net a 97-18 lead in the final minute of the third. In the fourth, USC’s Aaliyah Gayles and freshman Brooklyn Shamblin scored their first baskets of the season to carry USC into the 100-point zone, with Gayles’ score making it 101-23 before Shamblin got it to 103-23 with her first score as a Trojan at 8:20. Shamblin would strike with 2:00 to go to tie USC’s program record for most points scored in a game,. In the final minute, fellow freshman Avery Howell knocked down a three to lift USC to a new scoring record with 124 points on the night.

NEXT:
Next up for the USC women in its home stretch is a Friday (Nov. 15) meeting with Santa Clara at 12 p.m. at Galen Center.

NOTABLE:
- USC’s 124 points scored tonight is the most points in a game in program history. (previous record: 121 vs. Southern Methodist on 3/1/86)
- The 85-point win is USC’s largest margin of victory in history. The previous record was 75 points vs. UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 27, 1981.
- USC’s 124 points is the second most in Big Ten history, behind Purdue’s 129 points vs. Kent State on 12/8/1990.
- HC Lindsay Gottlieb earned her 300th career victory as a head coach tonight.
- For the second straight game, USC had six players score in double digits
- All 13 players that checked into the game scored tonight.
- USC’s 17 made 3-pointers is a new program record. The previous record was 16 vs. Cal State Fullerton on Dec. 18, 2023.
- USC’s 28 steals marks the third most in a game in program history and the most since Dec. 13, 1980 vs. California (30).
- The Trojans forced 43 turnovers out of CSUN — the second most in school history in a game. (Program record is 46, committed by Arizona on Jan. 16, 1981)
- This was the first time USC has scored 100 or more points since 2016.
- USC outscored CSUN 30-6 in the first quarter tonight and has outscored its last two opponents (Cal Poly on Nov. 9) by a combined 70-12 in the first quarter.
- USC’s 60 points in the first half marks the most points scored during the first half since Dec. 3, 2016 against Sacramento State (60-49).
- USC held CSUN to 13 points in the first half, the lowest amount of points an opponent has held since Dec. 21, 2019 against Long Beach State (29-12).
- GS Talia von Oelhoffen’s 13 points marked her highest point total as a Trojan.
- FR Kennedy Smith set her career high with five steals with USC.
- With two 3-pointers made tonight, GS Kiki Iriafen tied her career high.
- With nine assists, SO JuJu Watkins set a new career high.
- Watkins’ six steals tied her career high.
- FR Vivian Iwuchukwu made her first career field goal.
- FR Brooklyn Shamblin recorded her first career 3-pointer and set a new career best with seven points on the night. These are her first career points as a Trojan.
- RS SO Aaliyah Gayles set career highs tonight in points (five), steals (four) and assists (three).
- With this win, the Trojans are now 20-10 all-time against CSUN.

All the latest buzz as signing day gets closer:

Login to view embedded media
The elite 2026 defensive line commit was supposed to go to Notre Dame last weekend. But he did not end up making the trip. I asked if he had plans to take visits to anywhere but USC right now:

"Probably not I’m focused on my commitment," Jones said.

Good news with a recruit that is exactly the type of player USC needs.

@Matt Moreno

We talked to Lincoln Riley, Jayden Maiava, Emmanuel Pregnon, Duce Robinson, Kyle Ford and Makai Lemon.

Riley basically referred to Jen Cohen’s statement about the NCAA violations and didn’t say much more other than emphasizing how minor it was or else they would have penalized him.

We’re wrapping with Maiava momentarily and then will get everything uploaded and written up.

For all those who wanted him as HC at USC… just resigned from Wisconsin after getting in a wreck while intoxicated.

Right here:

From Adam Gorney's Recruiting Rumor Mill:

Trojans Live interviews with Lincoln Riley and Lake McRee!

USC will have a new QB and Nebraska a new OC for this game.

The Huskers are making the former WVU and Houston HC their new play-caller.

Login to view embedded media

I guess I have been around a long time. Over many years I have seen this site get to a point where IT essentially fires a coach. Many of you now think how wonderful Sark and Lane were. I call BS on that because we couldn't wait to see Lane fired (every curb at USC said Fire Lane Kiffin). Sark was ridden out on the Betty Ford train. Clay Helton got to the point where everyone mocked his picture (I just threw up a little), Some of the assistant coaches were not spared. Monte, Clancey, several defensive backfield coaches including Donte and then Alex Grinch (exhibit A). I'm sure there are more going back to Larry Smith and Hue. So I ask you now to think about this. Do we really want to churn this until Lincoln can't recruit? Do we want to throw gasoline on parents of recruits? Listen, I'm fine if 16 year old JuJu is convinced Prime is better for him. Again I call BS. Prime will be out soon. And this little kid will be worse off If the choses that route. I have been guilty of throwing some fire bombs at the program recently. I just think it is going to get out of hand...very soon. Let's not go there. Calm down and stop blowing up Lincoln. Next thing you know he'll say "aw shucks" and the pitchforks will go to work.

Think a poll is warranted here! Juju poll. How many think he will actually sign with SC

7:30 pm PT next week on NBC

Student Body Left...Student Body Right...over and over again.

Maybe it's time for a second helping.

Everything pretty much boils down to Pennsylvania. Harris most likely wins Michigan & Wisconsin.

I would tell you that all Harris must do is perform one percentage point better than she’s doing right now in the RCP average in all of those big seven swing states — not exactly Mission: Impossible — and she would win Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Nevada, while North Carolina would be a toss-up tie.

Harris doesn’t need North Carolina or Nevada.