There is so much fucking high school talent across the state of California. How can USC and UCLA be this bad?
Can't speak for UCLA since they've always sucked...
But for USC it has been death by a thousand cuts. They had SoCal on lockdown during the PC era, because they had recruiters with local connections, were the hot ticket in the city, and having huge success. But they became a victim of that success, and started taking a lot for granted while outsiders (Oregon, Ohio State, the entire SEC, etc) were able to move in and start poaching talent SC didn't think they needed to recruit because they figured they'd be the default choice.
Then you a have the absolutely fucked NCAA sanctions the program faced which were unprecedented and every team since has gotten kid gloves comparatively, which did what that fat fuck Paul Dee designed them to do, which was destroy the program.
Then you have a series of underachieving coaches + the changing college landscape, and the university being plagued by so many scandals off the field that their status as a golden pipeline to the NFL has lost some of its luster.
Now in the NIL era, the current admin is of two minds on everything, and can't decide if they want to be a powerhouse football school still, or focus on academics since the damage to their reputation in both fields has been extensive as of recent.
NIL-wise, I find it amazing that an LA school can barely compete with schools elsewhere, but I guess the billionaires who went to SC rather have their money go into the film school or other programs than football.
