With its rising star defensive coordinator secured, USC filled the final vacancy on its defensive staff Saturday, naming a longtime NFL defensive coordinator with 35 years of experience its linebackers coach.

Rob Ryan spent 17 years as an NFL coordinator, leading defenses in Buffalo, Oakland, Cleveland, New Orleans and Dallas. In Buffalo, where his twin brother Rex Ryan was head coach, Rob Ryan first worked alongside D’Anton Lynn, who is now USC’s defensive coordinator. They also worked together in 2021 in Baltimore, where Ryan was the inside linebackers coach.

But Lynn’s relationship with the Ryan family traces back even further than that. Rex Ryan was head coach of the New York Jets when Lynn signed as an undrafted free agent in 2012. Lynn played just one season with the Jets, but impressed Ryan enough that he hired Lynn as a scout in 2014. When Ryan left for Buffalo in 2015, he brought Lynn along as an assistant.

“[Rex Ryan] kind of got me into the league, and a lot of things that I do, a lot of the way I see the game always comes back to him,” Lynn said earlier this year.

Ryan was linebackers coach with the Bills during Lynn’s second season in Buffalo. When Rex Ryan was fired, Lynn’s father, Anthony, took over as the Bills’ interim coach.

The relationship remained, even as Lynn coached elsewhere. In 2023, upon his hire as UCLA’s defensive coordinator, Ryan told The Times that he believed Lynn was “a superstar.”

While Lynn bounced from that Baltimore staff to that UCLA staff in 2023, Rob Ryan remained in the NFL, serving as a senior defensive assistant with the Raiders. He worked closely with Raiders star defensive end Maxx Crosby through this season, helping guide him to his fourth Pro Bowl nod.

Now Ryan is set to rejoin Lynn in Los Angeles, replacing linebackers coach Matt Entz, who was named Fresno State’s head coach last month. The hire was made less than 24 hours after USC announced that Lynn had signed an extension to remain at USC after Penn State, his alma mater, made a concerted effort this week to hire him away from L.A.

Ryan will take over a linebacker room that’s light on experience, with two regular contributors from last season now off to the NFL. He does inherit star linebacker Eric Gentry, who will return from a season plagued by concussions, as well as an emerging talent in rising sophomore Desman Stephens.

While he spent the last quarter century in the NFL, Ryan does have some experience at the college level.. He was Oklahoma State’s defensive coordinator from 1997-99. Before that, he led the defense at Hutchinson Community College in 1996.

But it’s his NFL experience that stood out to USC head coach Lincoln Riley.

“Rob Ryan is one of the most accomplished defensive coaches in NFL history,” Riley said in a statement. “With over two decades of NFL experience, he will immediately bolster our staff as we continue our climb here at USC. He has coached some of the NFL’s top players, including numerous Hall of Famers and All-Pro selections. We’re thrilled to welcome Coach Ryan and his family to our program.”

For all of the excitement an expanded College Football Playoff has created, there is at least one unintended consequence that seems to be revealing itself during Ohio State’s incredible postseason tear.

Rivalries no longer matter.

For all the dancing, prancing, flaunting and flag-planting we witnessed during rivalry week this season, Ohio State is proving teams can lose multiple times now — including its last game to its fiercest opponent — and suffer no consequences.

Of course, try telling Ryan Day in the moment that losing to Michigan doesn’t matter. He looked spooked by the ghost of Bo Schembechler walking off the field of Ohio Stadium. Jack Sawyer was ready to fight the entire state of Michigan. We were all still indoctrinated by the old set of rules.

There was a time when losing the last game of the season was a death sentence in college football. Those days ended long ago, but even since the inception of the four-team playoff, no team with two losses ever qualified. A second loss meant the police were showing up to the party. It was time to go home.

Not anymore.

We’ve never seen anything like what the Buckeyes are doing. As a result, it’s time for college football fans to recalibrate what matters and what doesn’t. If the Playoff indeed expands again in the coming years, rivalry games will continue depreciating faster than a used Lincoln.

I considered this while watching the Buckeyes dismantle Oregon in the first half of their quarterfinal game and then again while reading Joe Rexrode’s thoughtful piece this week on Ohio State fans still grappling with the Michigan loss. Ohio State fans have endured every stage of grief and jubilation within a span of about two months.

After the Michigan loss, I thought Ohio State would either lose to Tennessee or win the whole thing. There was really no middle ground, and I probably would’ve leaned more toward losing to Tennessee than winning it all. I was a prisoner of the old guard.

“We could quit, like we knew everyone wanted us to … or be the best team in the country, like we know we are.

We chose Option B.”@jacksawyer33 and @OhioStateFB are one win away. https://t.co/kAnmCf2sq5

— The Players’ Tribune (@PlayersTribune) January 16, 2025

For years, Michigan losses felt like funerals and John Cooper was the caterer at the repast.

“I’m sorry for your loss. Have some baked beans.”

Now Ohio State has lost to Michigan and managed to make the Playoff in two of the last three years. It is a win over Notre Dame away from claiming another national championship.

Suddenly, Michigan doesn’t really seem to be a big deal anymore.

By next November, given what the Buckeyes have already accomplished, will we view Ohio State-Michigan or the Iron Bowl the same way?

Ohio State is practically assured of making the Playoff every year it enters the Michigan game with only one loss. Ohio State fans’ visceral reaction to losing to Michigan was in part because we have been conditioned for generations to believe a two-loss team, particularly when one of those losses occurs in the final game, signals the end of the season.

Alabama lost to Auburn a few years ago and still managed to play for a national championship, but it was the Tide’s only loss.

Imagine how much different Cooper’s legacy in Columbus might look today if 12-team playoffs were a thing in the 1990s? If Cooper had a meaningful chance to right his Michigan wrongs in a postseason tournament?

The Jim Tressel era may never have occurred.

GO DEEPER

Notre Dame, Ohio State already own college football’s worst losses by national champions

A big part of what has made rivalries so romantic in college football is their impact on postseason fate. Teams eliminated from meaningful bowl games could at least wreck your enemy’s house and make them miserable, too. Only we’re starting to realize how the Playoff has stripped away all of those punitive damages.

Day said he was “very, very grateful” for this expanded format. No kidding. His house might be on Zillow without it.

“I do think the new format has allowed our team to grow and build throughout the season,” Day said. “And as much as losses hurt, they really allow us as coaches and players to take a hard look at the issues and get them addressed.”

Still writing our story… 📝 pic.twitter.com/2vg2sk6ODN

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) January 15, 2025

As college football continues to blur deeper into the professional game, fans of Power 5 teams must also begin altering their expectations.

Does anyone care or even remember that the Green Bay Packers were a wild-card team in 2010? What about the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2005 or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020? What’s more important, the fact they didn’t win their division or that all three teams won Super Bowls?

The same is true now in college football. How long before the right three-loss SEC team makes the Playoff? Impossible? We might find out if the field ever expands to 16 teams.

Winning the conference doesn’t really matter — all four conference champs were eliminated in their first games. Losing to a rival doesn’t have to matter.

As players rightfully begin to cash in on the riches of the college game, school presidents and athletic directors are finally saying out loud what truly matters most.

Money.

Ryan Day and the Ohio State fan base are forever grateful.

(Photo of Ryan Day and Jack Sawyer celebrating at the Cotton Bowl trophy ceremony: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)

The Miami Dolphins will travel to Europe in 2025. On Friday, the franchise revealed it was the team selected by the NFL to play in the league’s first-ever game in Madrid, Spain. 

The NFL did not immediately provide a date for the game, but it will take place during the 2025 regular season. The Dolphins’ opponent will also be announced at a later date.

The Dolphins will be the designated “home” team at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, the longtime home of Real Madrid CF. The venue features a soccer field that retracts to make way for a field that can be used for American football. The stadium has a capacity of just over 78,000.

“We are thrilled to play the NFL’s inaugural game in Spain, a country of rich history, tradition and passion and home to a vibrant Dolphins fan base,” Dolphins president and CEO Tom Garfinkel said in a statement.

“There is a hunger for football in this market, and we are proud to join with the NFL in growing the game internationally while engaging with old and new fans alike. With the unique synergy between Miami and Madrid, we believe this is only the beginning for us in this incredible region, and we look forward to bringing the excitement and community of Dolphins football to Spain in 2025 and beyond.”

EX-NFL STAR DISCUSSES WHY DEION SANDERS SHOULD STAY IN COLLEGE

The Dolphins announced their selection to play in Madrid less than a year after the NFL revealed it would host a game at Bernabéu Stadium at some point during the 2025 season. The Dolphins also hold international marketing rights in Spain as part of the league’s Global Markets Program.

An aerial view of Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium July 23, 2007, in Madrid, Spain. (Angel Martinez/Real Madrid via Getty Images)

“The exciting first-ever game in Spain underlines the NFL’s continued commitment to expanding its global footprint and reaching new audiences across the world,” said Brett Gosper, the league’s head of Europe and APAC.

Next season’s game will mark the Dolphins’ eighth on the international stage. The Dolphins are 2-5 in games played outside the U.S., with Miami’s most recent appearance in 2023, when they took on the Kansas City Chiefs in Germany.

A football before an NFL game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs at the Waldstadion in Frankfurt, Germany, Nov. 5, 2023. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)

The NFL has been aggressively expanding its global footprint in search of new fans and revenue streams. Partnering with one of the most successful soccer clubs in the world is a branding bonanza.

“This partnership with the NFL will bring one of the world’s most prestigious sporting competitions to the Santiago Bernabéu, a stadium which has welcomed millions of passionate fans from around the globe to enjoy incredible sporting experiences,” said Emilio Butragueño, Real Madrid’s institutional relations director.

The NFL can schedule up to eight regular-season games internationally next season. In addition to the game in Spain, London is slated to host three games, while one game will be played in Germany.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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