Railbird...
You must be joking...Mike Riley is a good coach? As a Beaver, I can tell you that I can't wait till the day he is shown the door.
This OSU team is the first team he has coached in the USA with a winning record. He walked into a situation at OSU where the cupboards were FULL TO THE BRIM (at least 5 NFL players starting on this team), one in which every skill player returned. He coached them to a worse regular season record and an inferior bowl game. OSU beat only one team with a record over .500 this year, Boise State in the third game with only three offensive starters (Cal had a losing record coming in). He allows the team to compile penalty yards, typically personal fouls at inoportune times, and never disciplines the players. He basically has no control.
Had Dennis Erickson been coaching this team, we might be talking about the winner of the USC/OSU game going to the Sugar Bowl.
Now Mike Riley can't help that his QB actually played worse his junior year than he did last year. But Riley did let two stud back-ups leave the program because he was confident that he QB Anderson could handle the position. He could not and should have been pulled in several games. Riley has also not helped much with his miserable and unimaginative play calling, which consists of two run plays, trap and draw. Defenses are stacking the line to defend against Steven Jackson and making Anderson beat them. I don't know how many 3 and outs I have seen this year with three straight incomplete pass plays. He could call screen passes all day to the best running back in the country, but we're lucky to see one, if any called.
Mike Riley is better fit as a coordinator, although I have my doubts about his offensive scheme. I know you are in San Diego, and he was well-liked here. But he lost control of this team, too. Surely the Charger debacle was not of his doing. But we watched the same games, how many come from ahead losses were there (many on the last drive, or kick-off)...quite a few.
The last straw for me was last week against Oregon. I went to Autzen to see the Civil War, and I have never seen a team with so much more skill than it's opponent so completely unprepared. Mike Riley was completely outcoached. But the killer for me was he completely surrendered with 3:30 left in the game. He punted on 4th down with 3 minutes to go. Then he didn't use the timeouts to stop the clock. He was laughing on the sideline joking with players and coaches, like he always does as his team is losing. What message does this send to the team? IT IS OK TO LOSE!
Respectfully disagree my friend, Mike Riley is not a good head coach, and I expect OSU to play the same way against USC as they have played all year against good teams, poorly.
USC covers