No. 16 Southern California fell short of the College Football Playoff and had a handful of key players opt out of its Alamo Bowl matchup against TCU on Tuesday in San Antonio.
But to coach Lincoln Riley, much of the benefit of bowl season is derived from getting in work for younger players in advance of next season.
“I think in some instances there’ll be some guys that get some burn in this game that maybe haven’t played at all or very, very little,” Riley told reporters earlier this month.
“I mean, honestly, the games, the bowl game is great, and they’re great experiences. If you said, though, what’s the most valuable part of all of this, it’s days like this where we’re just pouring reps into all of these guys. The energy’s just different because all these guys kind of feel like it’s their time.”
The greatest example of that for the Trojans (9-3) could be their pass catchers. Wide receivers Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane are opting out to focus on NFL draft preparation, and tight end Lake McRee is not expected to play in the Alamo Bowl either. They comprise USC’s top three receivers, who combined for more than 2,300 yards and 19 touchdowns.
That opens a door for freshman receiver Tanook Hines, who’ll be playing in his home state and who caught 28 passes for 398 yards and two TDs this year.
Hines and his teammates will have quarterback Jayden Maiava (3,431 yards, 23 TDs, eight interceptions) still running the show.
“Remarkable player,” Maiava said of Hines, per 247Sports. “Sky’s the limit for him. Super excited, and he knows I trust him out there.”
USC was in the CFP mix late into the season and won four of its last five games, but a 42-27 loss at Oregon on Nov. 22 essentially eliminated the Trojans from contention.
This will be USC’s first-ever trip to the Alamo Bowl, where TCU (8-4) will have a home-state advantage. The Horned Frogs won the Alamo Bowl in the 2015 and 2017 seasons under then-coach Gary Patterson.
Now Sonny Dykes is in charge and has coached TCU to its third eight-win season in four years. He spoke at length about wanting his players to value every game in front of them, whether it’s the national championship game, a regular-season affair or the Alamo Bowl.
“We have a tremendous culture, and again, I think it revealed itself at the end of the year, in the fact that our guys played so hard down the stretch and it meant something to them,” Dykes said of a team that finished the regular season with wins over then-No. 23 Houston and Cincinnati.
That didn’t keep starting quarterback Josh Hoover from entering the transfer portal and skipping the Alamo Bowl. Former Vanderbilt starter Ken Seals, who’s been TCU’s backup the past two seasons, is getting the nod.
“Ken started 22 games in the SEC,” Dykes said. “He’s been a great teammate, a great practice player. Now he’s going to get a chance to go perform on the big stage. He’s excited about it, our team believes in him, and we’ve moving on quickly.”
TCU’s other opt-outs and transfers are minimal. Safety Jamel Johnson (89 tackles, four interceptions), echoing USC’s coach, spoke about how bowls can help a program.
“It feeds into next year. We want to leave this place better than how we found it,” Johnson told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “It was us coming together one more time. It’s just a blessing and something we wanted to do.”
