USC recruiting and everything else

[spoonidentity]

LOVE that this is happening to USC. For those who don't know, he was considered a "shoo-in" the be the USC defensive coordinator.

I didn't think he would join Lincoln Riley and the terrible egos there (Riley, Bowden). Don't love that ND plays his defense but very happy he's not at SC.

Tick-tock for Riley....

 

[ColoradoIrish]

LOVE that this is happening to USC. For those who don't know, he was considered a "shoo-in" the be the USC defensive coordinator.

I didn't think he would join Lincoln Riley and the terrible egos there (Riley, Bowden). Don't love that ND plays his defense but very happy he's not at SC.

Tick-tock for Riley....

Apparently Al Golden's name is starting to circulate around this now tho. Don't love that

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

Apparently Al Golden's name is starting to circulate around this now tho. Don't love that

Al leaving cost us the playoffs this year. Of course he would end up somewhere further away from his family after one season.

 

[pumpdog20]

Apparently Al Golden's name is starting to circulate around this now tho. Don't love that

For USC? Who cares, we don't play them in a minimum of 5 years.

 

[calvegas04]

For USC? Who cares, we don't play them in a minimum of 5 years.

If they fire Riley and the AD maybe the next wants the series back

 

[BoredIrish]

Apparently

USC better improve quickly or Lincoln will get pushed through that open window.

 

[Katzenboyer]

Apparently Al Golden's name is starting to circulate around this now tho. Don't love that

This was a rumor started by a recruiting writer simply because Golden coached ND at a time when Bowden was GM. There's no connection beyond that, and it looks like the Bengals staff is going to be retained.

Complete nonsense. Same thing happened last year when a Clemson recruiting/beat writer was telling everyone that Al Golden was the "frontrunner" for the Clemson DC position. Utter nonsense.

 

[BoredIrish]

In this podcast, they speculate that it was between Kwiatkowski and retaining their current staff (i.e Henderson and Belk). It was an entertaining episode as they are alluding to alot of turmoil behind the scenes at SC.


In this edition of the Peristyle Podcast hosts Ryan Abraham, Connor Morrissette (aka "Triple-Double") are back to talk about USC's overtime loss to TCU, the NCAA Transfer Portal opening, the search for a new defensive coordinator and lots more.
* Published: 2026-01-02 6:30:00 p.m.

* Episode Download link (100 MB): https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/CAD8319963560.mp3?updated=1767397511

 

[Dale]

Surprising since USC has such strong leadership these days

 

[Dale]

USC 247 guy said one more portal addition at TE and they are done, no more scholarships barring an unexpected transfer out

 

[Dale]

They only have 7 transfers. Anderson is a solid WR. Williams is a solid CB. VanSumeren is a JAG DT, Fisher is a JAG DE. And then a punter, LB and CB unfamiliar with. They lost a guy to Bama, BYU and UGA. Net portal losers.

ND would have won by 3 touchdowns in Week 0. This roster is built to have Riley fired and Chad stay lol. Maybe it’s why a DC doesn’t want the job, lame duck season incoming. The natives just did the math on what 35 HS signees mean and are pretty underwhelmed now.

 

[zelezo vlk]

Didn’t wanna bump his thread and cause a tidal wave of bed wetting. SIAP

 

[OrlaNDomer]

Didn’t wanna bump his thread and cause a tidal wave of bed wetting. SIAP

Damn... what a dawg. Watching ND's secondary shut teams down has been so much fun the last few years. Especially as someone who grew up watching Willingham and Weis defenses.

 

[GoldenAura]

 

[Dale]

Nobody wanted the job

Tough schedule + shitty defensive roster + Riley

 

[notredomer23]

I’ll set the O/U of games head coached by Patterson this year at 2.5. Has interim HC written all over him

 

[calvegas04]

 

[Dale]

We wish Freeman would be petty, but petty also looks pathetic most of the time:





These guys are constantly talking about things other than themselves

 

[Irishnuke]

Bet Bowman transfers after his freshman year

 

[tirishman505]

The Gary Patterson hire feels really underwhelming. I don't frequent any SC boards but they can't be happy about it.

 

[NDPhilly]

The Gary Patterson hire feels really underwhelming. I don't frequent any SC boards but they can't be happy about it.

His official title is Interim Head Coach In Waiting / DC Gary Patterson

 

[IRISHDODGER]

The Gary Patterson hire feels really underwhelming. I don't frequent any SC boards but they can't be happy about it.

Whatever happened to Rob Ryan?

 

[Dale]

 

[BoredIrish]

Henderson was the key to SC holding their recruiting class together. Hopefully him leaving paves the way for it to fall apart next year.

 

[Notre Dame Joe]

For USC? Who cares, we don't play them in a minimum of 5 years.

You don't think they can make the playoff? The PC would twist anything to place them against us.

 

[IrishFanForever23]

Patterson will be bringing in Texas Tech’s DL coach that announced he wouldn’t be returning. I believe he coached under Patterson before.

 

[stlnd01]

You don't think they can make the playoff? The PC would twist anything to place them against us.

Oregon
Washington
@Penn State
Ohio State
@Wisconsin (not that Wisconsin's so good but that's not an easy trip and Riley's teams have struggled so much on the road)
@Indiana

They'll need luck to go 9-3. No wonder they dumped us.

 

[BoredIrish]

Oregon
Washington
@Penn State
Ohio State
@Wisconsin (not that Wisconsin's so good but that's not an easy trip and Riley's teams have struggled so much on the road)
@Indiana

They'll need luck to go 9-3. No wonder they dumped us.

I think this is the overlooked aspect of cancelling the series. It was in Lincoln Riley's personal interests to avoid ND and schedule a easy win like Louisiana. It's playoffs or bust for them this year. Cancelling the ND game could be the difference between him getting fired or not.

 

[Dale]

I think this is the overlooked aspect of cancelling the series. It was in Lincoln Riley's personal interests to avoid ND and schedule a easy win like Louisiana. It's playoffs or bust for them this year. Cancelling the ND game could be the difference between him getting fired or not.

I don’t think it’s overlooked. Most media and other fanbases - that don’t just blame ND for everything - have such a low bar for Riley already on his desire for competition that it came almost as a par for the course reaction. Basically no reason to make a big deal that Riley is avoiding ND, of course he is that’s Lincoln Riley.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

I need to get Fortuna's opinion on this before I decide how I feel....please hold.