Woefully inadequate. He should get at least a 1 game suspension for the hit alone.

Plus, about an addition 4+ game suspension for his sickening behavior after the hit.

This is something.

Remember under the new targeting rules for the first infraction a player sits out the rest of the game (regardless of when it happens) and then is good to go in the next game.

USC was backed into a corner over the behavior that they needed to get out ahead of this with a suspension. It's too little too late in many regards.

If that sort of thing happened on this Oregon team I would hope Lanning would just kick that player to the locker room immediately for that kind of behavior.

Riley let him hang out on the sideline. Remember targeting does not lead to ejection anymore as well.

This was the least they could do to save face.... Or at least start to clean their face.

Yes, too little, too late. But at least it is some form of punishment.

The player and coach should issue a public apolgy, along with all the players who high fived, hand slapped and celebrated an injury to an opposing player.

It smells all up and down the I-5 Corridor.

The Trojan AD and administation should step up and add more suspension for the celebration antics. Riley should be suspended 1 game, too. They won't because they are too busy talking to donors/boosters trying to raise the money to buy Riley out of his contract.

They are more concerned about losing the game than an injured player

Usuck Trojans continue to prove they are classless.

A public apology has been issued by Stephens ......it was a disgusting display of the worst in people.

No one can tell me that the SC coaches didn't know what was going on with all the snickers and high-fives and love pats going on over on the bench with Stephens enjoying his sudden celebrity status. That's as good an example of a team's culture as anything I've seen televised and it isn't pretty. If I were the AD I'd have some serious penalties waiting for people, coaches and players, called into my office.

I'd like to think that the Ducks would never allow that to happen. And I will bet serious money that Dan and the rest of the staff are using that disgusting display as a teaching moment.

30 minutes ago, fred flintstone said:

A public apology has been issued by Stephens ......it was a disgusting display of the worst in people.

I'd guess the conversation from USC to Stephens went something like this:

"Here's you apology statement that you're going to read exactly as written."

26 minutes ago, tee duke said:

I'd like to think that the Ducks would never allow that to happen.

I've been thinking today about how I would feel had it been OBD on the wrong side of that scene.

I definitely would have been embarrassed and disgusted, and I would have expected serious repercussions afterward. I probably wouldn't have turned the game off...

I imagine many USC fans felt similarly - a bit of cognitive dissonance.

The one-game suspension works to counter that a bit in the fanbase. It's inadequate IMO, but had it been OBD i probably see that and think to myself that Dan has it handled. It helps us internally justify our continued Fandom. "See, we're not the bad guys..."

Meanwhile, I doubt the culture in their program changes. I truly hope and tend to believe that the current culture at OBD is better than that.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by bbmichaels

54 minutes ago, Desert Duck said:

I'd guess the conversation from USC to Stephens went something like this:

"Here's you apology statement that you're going to read exactly as written."

You are assuming an SC Trojan can read.

58 minutes ago, Desert Duck said:

I'd guess the conversation from USC to Stephens went something like this:

"Here's you apology statement that you're going to read exactly as written."

Pretty much. Riley also issued a statement of apology.....I bet the AD wrote it.

This whole issue really jerks my jowls. For me, this targeting is the one issue that should mandate heavier penalties due to the amount of risk and potential permanent injury. So far, in my opinion the punishment does not fit the crime. The rules need to consider at least three things; intent, the act, and taunting/celebration. Once again, in my opinion, in addition to personal foul and ejection from the game, the smallest/shortest penalty for the perpetrator should be at least missing as many games as the injured player. For yesterday's debacle, the USC player should have been denied re-entry to the sideline AND suspended for the rest of the year or invountarily placed in the transfer portal.

P.S. - this is not the first time my hat band and underwear have been too tight! simultaneously .......

This feels like the absolute bare minimum from USC. 😡

One game for a hit like that, followed by the celebrating and smiling while Dante Moore was being treated and taken away by ambulance, is a soft response.

And then, right on cue, we get the same rubber-stamped apologies from the player and the program about how this “isn’t who we are” and how everybody will “learn from it.”

What a bunch of...

Accountability is more than putting out a polished statement after the backlash starts. It’s what a program does in the moment and what consequences it imposes afterward.

USC let him remain on the sideline after the ejection, and now the punishment is a single game. That doesn’t exactly scream accountability to me.

At some point, apologies stop meaning much when they feel like they came straight out of a PR template. Actions matter more.

I saw Riley today say that he didn't see the hit. Are you kidding me you arrogant bass-turd? Your the coach and you weren't watching the game? I didn't know it was possible to like SUC any less.

And the number of their "fans" online trying to justify the hit. "Well he should've got down sooner..."

11 minutes ago, BroncoSas said:

I saw Riley today say that he didn't see the hit. Are you kidding me you arrogant bass-turd? Your the coach and you weren't watching the game? I didn't know it was possible to like SUC any less.

And the number of their "fans" online trying to justify the hit. "Well he should've got down sooner..."

Their fans apparently think he should’ve started his slide from what, five yards away? Ten? Hell, why bother trying to gain yardage at all? By their logic, he should’ve just taken a knee and spared the defender the inconvenience of having to tackle him.

🤡s...

Edited 23 minutes ago23 min by Krsmqn