Ohio State vs. USC: Over 50.5 Bet and Riley's Future

To put my action on the board for this game, I'm actually going to play the over at 50 and a half. And it's kind of a combination of things. Now, I wanted to play USC at seven. Those numbers were all gone. And I probably could have paid up for a seven if I really, really wanted to. But there was also a moment in the breakdown where I found myself saying, should I play Ohio State's team total? Because at the end of the day, quarterback change, yes. This is a USC defense trying to stop Jeremiah Smith and company. I got some questions. I got some questions about how successful that might be. I, USC, you're going to have to go out swinging. Okay, USC, you're going to have to. I mean, if you're Lincoln Riley, this is the game, man. This is the game. And for Ohio State, while you don't have saying, you are off a box. It would be, and I think you kind of alluded to this, Dave, it would be kind of stunning if Ohio State had a quarterback that belonged at Tulsa as their primary backup, right? And they've had 14 days to prep for this spot against this defense. I think both teams get into the 30s here. I think this thing really should fly through a 50 and a half. I looked at this game, and I wanted to think, no issues, Ohio State just going to, you know, reload. They got two weeks to prepare their quarterback. And, I mean, this is a team that hit Justin Fields as a backup. Like, they've had factories there of quarterbacks that are just sitting and waiting for them. Couldn't get them. Then I'm like, well, it's a good spot for USC. I've been on USC way too many times this year to know nothing's a good spot for them. I said, well, maybe with Ohio State having a backup quarterback and USC struggling, maybe look at the under. And then I'm like, you just hit it on the head. You have a USC defense that has to try to stop Jeremiah Smith, even if I'm throwing him the ball. So it's a pass for me, but I can definitely see why you like the over here. I'd actually be surprised if Ohio State gave up 30 points to USC. That said, I don't know what we're going to get out of the Ohio State offense. The only real thing that we do know is Ohio State has a good defense. But USC has a good offense, so we'll see. So it's a stay away from me. In the pool, I laid it with Ohio State, but it's not a confidence. This is, and we've talked about from the path, I guess what we should probably acknowledge is that the USC Trojans, In the remaining four games, we'll be an underdog, three of them. Is Lincoln Riley going to get, at seven and five, is Lincoln Riley going to get fired in your eyes? I don't think he gets fired, but I do think there would be. People pushing him in a direction that he'll have to decide to go. You know, this is the same guy who left Oklahoma High and Drive and headed out west to USC to make things right out there, and it didn't happen. Lincoln is the type of guy who may or may not have NFL aspirations, may want to go take a different job in the country that may speak to him like USC did. I don't think they fire him. It's a tremendously high buyout. Not that these teams can't afford it. But you're going to get someone better than Lincoln Riley? I'm not saying Lincoln Riley is Nick Saban. But you're USC. You've been in this rut for, what, going on 20 years now since you had the high-flying Reggie Bush-Matt Leinart era. Like, who is out there? You're going to go get an assistant from UCLA, an assistant from, or... Or a head coach from James Madison is a horrible example, but a Sun Belt coach, that's not USC. So who is out there that is better than Lincoln? And by the way, you have to pay the buyout. They may push him in that direction. There's a lot of pressure from the boosters out there in Los Angeles. I think eventually Lincoln leaves on his own, but I'm not so sure it happens this year. I think my struggle is it does feel a little bizarre that he's just not been able to break through. And just so everybody remembers, he comes over here with Kayla Williams, wins the Heisman Trophy, and they play Utah in a Pac-12 title game that their favorites in, and if they win, they go to the college football playoff in a four-team format. Now, I think Caleb kind of like tore his hamstring somehow in that game and still put up about 400 yards of offense. And, you know, things just, you know, fell apart a little bit. They also gave up 47 in the game. But he brought back the Heisman Trophy winner. And it was a disaster. I mean, they went 7-5. Caleb still went first overall. It was a disaster. And, you know, you've now gotten to this expanded field, 6-6 in 2024, 9-3 last year, but the marquee victories were not there for this football team and all the they-can't-travel stuff. And here we are again. I mean, it's fair to say who's better. USC is better than the results that they are putting on the board. They just have to be.