Mik Dietlin, Author at SuperWest Sports

Dietlin: Towel-Waving No Substitute for Trojan Defense
USC's energy and motivation must improve for the No. 6 team to defeat better opponents

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USC’s defense hasn’t been progressing as fast as it must to win the Pac-12 Championship and make the College Football Playoff.

College Football Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: It’s Time to Stop Doubting USC’s Defense
Without their defense's toughness and tenacity, the Trojans could be staring at 2-2

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With four interceptions against Oregon State, USC has 14 for the year and continues to lead the nation in turnover/takeaway ratio.

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Dietlin: Beavers Won’t Slay the Dragon this Season
The Trojans will struggle a bit at Reser, perhaps more than last week, but they'll be alright

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Both USC and OSU are well-balanced offensively, and both have pretty good athleticism on defense with play-makers that can cause problems.

College Football Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Trojans Finding New Ways to Dominate and Win
USC was more methodical than explosive in controlling the first half against Fresno State

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There are obvious blemishes the USC coaches will have to clear up on defense, but the Trojans appear ready to step into elite status.

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Dietlin: That Chip on Haener’s Shoulder Can’t Beat SC
There's nothing Fresno State can do to keep the Trojan offense from lighting up the Coliseum

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here are many cities across America that classify as “pass-through towns.” This means, to put it nicely, they aren’t vacation

College Football Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: USC’s Explosive Offense Hiding its Defensive Flaws
But at the rate it's improving, that shouldn't keep the Trojans out of the Pac-12 Title game

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“USC football deserves a Top 10 ranking. But the defense is not Top 10,” says Mik Dietlin. “It probably doesn’t crack the Top 25.”

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Luck Returning as QB couldn’t Help the Tree vs USC
This Stanford team has few strengths and more question marks than the Riddler's wardrobe

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An awful lot of improvement in a short period of time has to occur if Stanford is to challenge for a Conference title in 2022.

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Dietlin: New and Improved 2022 Trojans Off and Running
USC handled Rice the way championship teams are supposed to handle weaker teams

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USC football handled Rice the way championship teams are supposed to handle weaker teams, by kicking the crap out of them.

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Dietlin: Once-Tough Rice No Match for Lincoln Riley’s USC
The 1954 Cotton Bowl Owls might have made it interesting, but this 2022 team has no chance

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ith a 9-2 overall record, and a No. 6 ranking in the final AP Poll, the 1953 Rice Owls fielded

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Dietlin: 2022 Trojans Greatest Experiment in CFB History
Lincoln Riley's vision for a perennial title contender is better than Christmas for football fans

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Lincoln Riley and his USC staff have thoroughly disassembled and reassembled a 2021 roster that was nothing short of embarrassing.

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Dietlin: Trojans not Exempt from Recruiting Anxiety
No commitment is secure when another school is willing and able to offer more NIL money

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USC’s NIL business venture with Stay Doubted and its subsidiary BLVD LLC. will be the genesis of a future national NIL blueprint.

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Dietlin: Pac-12 Likely Doomed Without L.A. Gravy-Train
Despite its recent mediocrity on the field, USC was holding the Pac-12 Conference together

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USC and UCLA snatched the only available parachutes off the Pac-12’s nose-diving jet airliner, landing safely in Big Ten country.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Title Game Rule Change Welcome, but Not Enough
The Pac-12 still doesn't block, tackle, or coach as well as other Power 5 conferences

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Right now, just two Pac-12 head guys qualify as legitimate top 25 coaches: Lincoln Riley and Kyle Whittingham. Clearly, that’s not enough.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Only Two HC Candidates are Worthy of USC

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These are the only two head coach candidates that unarguably will turn the Trojans into perennial national championship contenders.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Toughness There, But Spark Lacking for USC

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USC plays the same game, getting the same outcome week after week. The difference between winning and losing depends on the opponent.

Pac-12 Football

Mik Dietlin’s Pac-12 ‘State of the Union’ Address

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adies and gentlemen…Commissioner George Kliavkoff…Deputy Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich…Senior Associate Commissioner of Sports Management Teresa Gould… Head of Football Operations Merton

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: USC Drowning in Dark Fun Worthy of Poe

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Dietlin: The USC Underachievers are 3-3 midway through the 2021 season, courtesy of another Coliseum throttling, this time from Utah.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Pac-12 Networks Nightmare Worse than SC’s

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s you may know, every week our senior football writers at superwestsports.com pick the winners of all the conference games.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Five Really Different USC Coach Candidates

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Mik Dietlin’s USC Head Coach Search Leader Board, a Top Five list that is sure to keep Trojan fans in their seats.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Disinfect USC of All Traces of Clay Helton

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USC needs freshman QB Jaxson Dart to regain total health and re-energize the program the way he already has proven he can.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Change Fortuitous for Energized Trojans

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USC QB Jaxson Dart displayed a resolute doggedness in calling out receivers for breaking off routes, functioning superbly through pain.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Helton is a ‘Good Guy,’ but Be Glad He’s Gone

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Beneath his golly-shucks exterior, former USC head coach Clay Helton is a far more complicated individual than people imagine.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Torture and the Freak Show Return for USC

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The hope USC fans had for this season evaporated as the disgruntled Coliseum crowd emptied the stadium during Stanford’s 42-28 win.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Even in victory, Clay Helton seems misguided

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Clay Helton seemed intent on padding the score against San Jose State with the game already in hand, potentially risking key players.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Informal Alliance as Foolish as it is Toothless

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The Alliance between the Pac-12, Big Ten, and ACC is well-intentioned, but the informal agreement has left many unimpressed.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Preseason Angst the Norm for SC Fans, Media

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The Trojans should go 12-0 in 2021, then 13-0 after dispatching Oregon or UW for the Pac-12 championship, but most USC fans don’t believe it.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Why Covid Can’t Keep Us Away from CFB

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With Covid still looming, no one knows how this college football season will play out. No scientist or doctor can tell us what lies ahead.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Whatever Changes, Grandpa ESPN Still Wins

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Anytime an upheaval shakes the foundations of college athletics, we look first to see first how it affects television revenue.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: ASU May Need Magick to Avoid NCAA Iceberg
Right now, the iceberg is of unknown size, and nobody knows for sure if Arizona State is sinking

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The ASU football program is under investigation for a number of transgressions, including hosting recruits during the recruiting dead period.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Is Reggie Bush Still the Judas of College Football?
The former USC running back's new plea for clemency coincided with the start of NIL

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Dietlin: Former USC star Reggie Bush’s latest plea for clemency, timed to coincide with the start of the NIL Era, still rings hollow.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: 12-Team CFP More Proof the World has Gone Crazy
And "The Cat" just keeps getting more and more lives at the helm of iconic USC football

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USC coach Clay Helton received another lifeline courtesy of the 12-team College Football Playoff model now under consideration.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: A Russian Hacker, USF, and Why the Irish are Postseason Losers
Notre Dame's decades-long self-imposed bowl ban remains a conundrum

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Damn you Domers! I understand the aversion to my “experiment” covering your beloved team, but can’t we just all get

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: The Greatness of ‘The Four Horsemen’ is Long Gone for Notre Dame
And for what it's worth, the Fighting Irish beat lowly Duke last Saturday

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While the ND defense is senior heavy and stout, the offense lacks a proven commodity at receiver, and has depth issues at running back.

Pac-12 Football

What happens when a rogue USC writer decides to cover Notre Dame?
No one knows for sure, but our Mik Dietlin is determined to give it a try

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The Notre Dame/USC rivalry goes back almost 100 years, fittingly fox trotting to life during the Roaring 20’s.

Pac-12 Football Pac-12 Mailbag Column

Dietlin Mailbag: The Fate of ‘The Cat,’ USC’s Oregon Problem & NCAA Hypocrisy
Our featured columnist addresses questions on the Trojans & all of college sports

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In his first mailbag answer column, our Mik Dietlin holds nothing back, addressing questions in his uniquely offbeat and irreverent voice.

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The Football Gods are Angry, but Pac-12 did Right Thing
Calls for 'courage' in the face of a coronavirus pandemic are irresponsible and insane

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To callously state that the sole motive for the Pac-12 postponing football was to avoid an avalanche of lawsuits is short-sighted.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: We Know CFB will Happen & We Know it Shouldn’t
Our failed response to the upswing in COVID-19 cases makes playing sports this fall untenable

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he most laughable thing in this suddenly not-so-wide world of sports doesn’t take place on any court, field, ice rink,

Pac-12 Football

2020 Preseason All-SportsPac12 Football Team
Our choices for the Pac-12's best football players as selected by our three senior writers

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Our Senior Writers have selected the inaugural All-SportsPac12 team based on their collective votes on their all-region teams.

Pac-12 Football

2020 SportsPac12 California All-Region Team
Mik Dietlin's choices for the best Pac-12 football players in the Golden State as the region's top candidates for our SportsPac12 All-Conference Team

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Our Senior Writers have selected their SportsPac12 All-Region teams and will soon vote on our inaugural All-SportsPac12 Football Team.

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Dietlin: Despite Dismal Helmet Decal, OSU Football on Rise
Two key stats tell the story of the turnaround under former OSU quarterback Jonathan Smith

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There are positive signs behind a few of the numbers that speak volumes for the future of OSU football. Confidence is as high as it’s been in Corvallis in a long time.

Pac-12 Football USC Trojans

Dietlin: To My Little Brother & Reggie Bush—Sorry, not Sorry
Many mistakes in life can be forgiven without an apology; what Reggie Bush did to USC cannot

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Reggie Bush still owes the Trojans an apology for single-handedly squeezing the life out of the USC football program.

Pac-12 Football USC Trojans

Dietlin: Graham Harrell Key to USC’s Future
The OC will likely leave at the end of his contract unless he's made head coach

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USC offensive coordinator Graham Harrell will likely leave at the end of his contract unless he’s made head coach.

Pac-12 Football USC Trojans

Dietlin: What JT Daniels Loses in the Portal
Given the message his decision sends, he's probably better off leaving

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“All human evil comes from a single cause, man’s inability to sit still in a room.” —Blaise Pascal M y publisher

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: How I’m Coping Without Live Sports
Everything from reruns on the Olympic channel to inspiring backyard porch speeches

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It’s led to hours of reflection. No, that reflection hasn’t been on my back inside a therapist’s office.

Pac-12 Football USC Trojans

Dietlin: Hires Show Trojans Fighting Back
USC's new assistants might just avert a potential nightmare season

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The latest and last addition to the revamped coaching staff is Vic So’oto, a 32 year old rising defensive line coach.

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: Costello’s Exit Troubling for Tree
The transfer portal hasn't been kind to the Cardinal, but David Shaw isn't to blame

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When lives hang in the balance, self-preservation mode kicks in, escorting life as we knew it to the curb.

Pac-12 Football USC Trojans

Dietlin: On USC’s Use and Abuse of Tradition
Canceling FCS opponent contracts won't solve the Trojans' football problems

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USC Athletic Director Mike Bohn has been in Los Angeles only a few months and already he has outworked his predecessor.

Pac-12 Football USC Trojans

Dietlin: USC’s New DC, a Bus, and ‘The Cat’
Clay Helton has been masterful at swapping out assistants to save his job

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Todd Orlando was hired as the new defensive coordinator, snared away from Texas Tech.

Oregon Ducks Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: The Oregon Rocket is Still Blasting
The football transformation in Eugene has been both spectacular and resilient

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Intelligence is less about what you know, and more about how to implement what you know to meet aspirations. What separates Cristobal from most other coaches is his uncanny understanding of this.

Washington defeated Michigan in the 1992 Rose Bowl

Pac-12 Football

Dietlin: A Magic 8 Ball and the Top 8 Games
Voodoo Prediction: Ranking the Most Interesting Non-Conference Pac-12 Games of 2020

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Ranking the Top Eight most interesting September non-conference games of the 2020 Pac-12 season.

Pac-12 Football USC Trojans

Dietlin: Savvy USC Prospects Not Buying the BS
Analysis: Why USC needs to change its 'integrity, faith & family' recruiting narrative

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High school players have reached an unprecedented level of football sophistication. They know what’s best for their budding careers, perhaps even better than high school or college coaches.

Pac-12 Football USC Trojans

Can USC’s Talented Offense Break Stingy Iowa Defense?
2019 Holiday Bowl Preview

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Though both teams finished the regular season strong with three-game winning streaks, USC and Iowa couldn’t be further apart stylistically,