Daenerys wasn't winning the way she wanted to win. She spent her whole life in an echo chamber while believing a fantasy of her claim to the throne, and when life didn't follow that script, she couldn't handle it.
It's been alluded Dany has mad king tendencies. Fine with that.
It's also been established for 8 seasons that Dany has a heart and cares about people.
If you're gonna tell this story in which she *wins* and suddenly decides to nuke everything just cuz, I'm gonna reject it 🤷🏻♀️
And so as shoddy as GoT has been the last few seasons —this season especially— it's honestly refreshing that she didn't get a rosy win. It would've been corny as all hell for her to rule on the throne with Jon as her lap dog because yayyyy it feels good.
The real Westeros —the Westeros she encountered, not the one she dreamt of— didn't give a damn about Daenerys Targaryen. Especially one who had always shown tendencies of being a mad queen. She figured that out when Sansa, Arya, Jon, Tyrion and Varys all defied her in some way.
11-1.
4-0 vs. the rivals.
No Loss November.
Heisman favorite.
USC really is back.
(And it’s somehow only Year 1 of the Lincoln Riley Era. They’re way ahead of schedule.)
The Pac-12 is good, folks.
Oregon, UCLA, Utah and SC are all legit. Ducks the cream of the crop for now, but it’s still anyone’s game. Buckle up for the rest of the year.
USC being behind LSU isn’t a bad thing. Because…
1. It shows the CFP Committee values the wins over the losses.
2. If USC wins out, then 2 of their best wins are still to come.
3. 12-1 USC would likely have better *wins* than 13-0 TCU and the 11-1 OSU/Michigan loser.
From a structural standpoint, this might be the athletic department's wet dream of a
#USC
football schedule.
-7 home games
-No weekdays away
-No back-to-back roadies
-No cold weather trips
-No Oregon
-No Washington
-Extra rest pre-UCLA
-November entirely at home
Sorry but the hot mic defense for Thom Brenneman ain’t gonna cut it. You can’t drop that F-word at your workplace in 2020 and expect no consequences.
Get him off the air.
A random foreign thought for my brain to grasp: USC is 11-1 and the outright regular season Pac-12 “champ” but has no possible shot at playing in the Rose Bowl, win or lose.
#USC
receivers for life after Drake London:
Mario Williams, Tahj Washington, Gary Bryant Jr., Terrell Bynum, Kyle Ford, Michael Jackson III, John Jackson III, CJ Williams, Kyron Ware-Hudson
It’s not a bad group.
Here's the thing about USC basketball tonight: Enjoy it.
If they lose, there's zero shame. Gonzaga is 29-0 and the Elite Eight is an enormous accomplishment for the program, even with this talent.
If they win, well...it'll be the greatest win in the history of USC basketball.
The Pac-12 made these divisions 10 years ago with the dream of USC vs. Oregon matchups.
It only took the football gods a decade, a global pandemic and several canceled games during a cluster-F 2020 to allow it to happen.
No, going 5-1 during a pandemic wasn’t an abject failure.
But
#USC
is past the point of using successes & failures for judgement on Clay Helton. And good effort or not, nothing shown in 2020 proved this regime is the one to win going forward.
It’s time. It’s been time.
The worst part of losing your mom is knowing it’s forever. But it doesn’t have to be. Especially when the memories you cherish last twice as long.
RIP Mom ❤️
Kedon Slovis has played 3 fourth quarters (vs. Stanford, at BYU and at Notre Dame).
He's 22-of-28 for 242 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT with a passer rating of 186.5.
That's pretty damn good. Especially for a true freshman with an unreliable offensive line.
This wave of Oklahoma decommitments speaks to the lack of trust/confidence recruits have in the current regime to make the HC hire. OU isn’t fooling anyone.
Cracks me up Greg Burns is still wearing the
#USC
gear he got during his first tour of duty under Pete Carroll. I mean, I'm pretty sure I wore that hoodie to the 2006 Rose Bowl.
In a vacuum, Clay Helton did enough to not get fired in 2019. Though in that same vacuum, he also didn't do enough to be retained, if national contention is the goal.
But most importantly, 2019 didn't happen in a vacuum. It happened in context of 2018 and 2017 and 2016 and 2015.
2
#USC
thoughts after last night...
1.
@insidetroy
’s column nailed it. Insane rivalry win during a wacky season. Enjoy that. Life’s way too short.
2. I genuinely think it’s time to start having the Hufanga vs. Polamalu discussion. And yes, this means I’ve settled Hufanga-Su’a.
Getting Velus Jones back is huge for
#USC
. Really think Harrell will use him more efficiently. And now you can go five wide with Pittman, Vaughns, Amon-Ra, Jones and Williams. Can’t imagine there’s a better receiving corps in the country, and that’s assuming no Bru McCoy in 2018.
Rewatching last night's game. The Kedon Slovis bomb to Amon-Ra St. Brown is really something else. It really couldn't have been put in a better spot. Almost as if it fell out of the sky with magnetic pull to Amon-Ra's bread basket.
The Mike Bohn era ending abruptly is sure something.
Obviously time will continue to flesh out his legacy, but as it stands...today seemingly ends the best USC AD tenure in decades. The juxtaposition of his run vs. those of unqualified alums before him was jarring.
Is
#USC
improved? Probably not.
Is there reason to believe they'll keep winning? Not really.
But Friday night's win was one of those weird magical moments that solidify college football's awesomeness.
There's certainly lots of moving parts here and Mike Bohn, should he ultimately retain Helton as reported, can't reasonably offer transparency to all those factors.
But I'm not sure his reputation as a USC AD ever comes back from retaining Clay, given the tenor of the fan base.
No Pac-12 school has ever won both the Pac-12 football and basketball championship games in the same school year.
#USC
will go for it on Saturday.
If they win, it'll be their first conference tournament title since 2009...the same school year as their previous football crown.
The
@ReignofTroy
.com comment section has now gone from railing on Clay Helton for naming Kedon Slovis No. 2 because he's a freshman, to railing on Clay Helton for naming Kedon Slovis No. 2 behind JT Daniels.
What a world.
THE GRASS WAS REALLY LONG AND UNCUT BECAUSE CHARLIE WEIS WAS WORRIED ABOUT THEIR SPEED BUT THEN IT ENDED UP BACKFIRING AND LOSING THEM THE GAME. BECAUSE IF JARRETT SCORES ON 4TH AND 9, THEY WOULD’VE HAD TIME FOR ANOTHER POSSESSION. BUT IT SLOWED HIM DOWN AND LET ‘EM KILL CLOCK.
If I’m Clay Helton I don’t overthink this. Just flex Johnny Nansen to special teams and then hire a big name defensive coordinator with something to prove (see: Charlie Strong or Todd Orlando). Have him pick his defensive staff.
Losing an in-demand offensive coordinator to an offer he couldn't refuse is one thing.
Losing a Mater Dei kid who's already enrolled and would be cool with sitting out a year to avoid playing for USC would be...uh, damning.
I asked Ronald Jones if he's made a decision.
#USC
support staffer Gavin Morris interrupted: "Yeah. He decided on cheese for that Whataburger he wants."
RoJo then confirmed he wants a Whataburger right now.
Not only has
@ShotgunSpr
pointed out that
#USC
's Michael Pittman touchdown against Utah should've been called back by an ineligible receiver downfield penalty...but this looks like an illegal hands to the face penalty on Kana'i Mauga on the Tufele scoop & score TD.
Update: My never-leave-early father has text me. He has, in fact, headed to the exits at the Holiday Bowl.
There's more than 10 minutes left in the game.
There’s USC news for
@PenguinOfTroy
and I to discuss and we’re due for a
@ReignofTroy
podcast, especially as we’ve got big plans for 2023 we’re excited to reveal.
However life has offered up a difficult hurdle this month, having us prioritize our family.
We’ll be back soon. ❤️
I'm a huge believer of Lincoln Riley at USC. The school's best hire in 97 years, and I think he'll live up to the hype. Also think his unprecedented roster overhaul puts SC in position to be good quickly.
But it's so weird to me how infallible people think they'll be in Year 1.