The marketing coming out of the USC football program over the offseason was that the time for the Trojans to return to the national stage was “now.” This time would be different, thanks to bringing in the number one recruiting class in the country and the hire of former TCU head coach Gary Patterson to run the defense.
SC invested heavily in NIL, the coaching staff, and spectacular, state-of-the-art football facilities on campus to attract recruits and enhance their rest and recovery. A vital step as the Trojans travel nearly 20,000 round trip miles for road games this year in the Big Ten Conference.
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After years of middling-to-poor performances, this was supposed to be head coach Lincoln Riley’s statement to the rest of college football that the Trojans were back. SC’s first four games provided little opportunity, coming against overmatched opponents like San Jose State, Fresno State, Louisiana, and Rutgers. Still, SC’s defense, always a topic of discussion, did little to show fans that the changes had “worked.”
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Head coach Lincoln Riley of the USC Trojans reacts against the UCLA Bruins in the second half of a NCAA football game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News)
While the first unit mostly played well in the first three games, the backups put up little resistance against overmatched offenses. Rutgers moved the ball at will, racking up 460 yards on offense while averaging 6.7 yards per play.
That set up a gigantic matchup Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles against the Oregon Ducks. Oregon, expected to be one of the top few teams in the country, had shown some vulnerability with a blowout loss to Oklahoma State. The game was in Los Angeles, seemingly giving the Trojans an advantage. For a team with aspirations of reaching the College Football Playoff, it was a golden opportunity to make the case to a national audience while giving themselves some breathing room with tough games coming up against Ohio State and Indiana.
Instead, it was more of the same for USC. The offense mostly held up their end of the bargain, racking up 446 yards and ripping off several explosive plays. But the SC defense was, well, awful. Oregon, despite playing most of the game with backup quarterback Dylan Raiola, punted only twice, gained 504 yards on offense with 7.4 yards per play, scored six touchdowns in six red zone visits and averaged over 10 yards per pass attempt.
Seemingly, every big third or fourth down for the Ducks resulted in an easy conversion. And after another offseason of saying things would be different, for USC fans, it was an all-too-familiar pattern.
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USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley reacts after a play during the game between the USC Trojans and the San Jose State Spartans on Aug. 29, 2026, at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. (Icon Sportswire)
Some USC fans have had enough of the Lincoln Riley era, pointing out that five years in, there’s been little progress despite several major changes. ESPN’s Paul Finebaum is far from an SC fan, but he agrees, going further than just some disappointment with Riley’s work.
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“What I think we saw here was a tale of an elite coach [Oregon head coach Dan Lanning] and a complete fraud as a coach, and I think everybody knows who the fraud is. It is Lincoln Riley,” he said during a recent episode of “First Take.” “He has the same record at this point in his tenure as Clay Helton, who got fired and run off.
“It cost about $10 million to get rid of him. It will cost about $70 million to get rid of Lincoln Riley, but I promise you, USC people, it would be worth it because this guy is bringing your program down to the gutter.”
The “gutter” might be a strong word; SC did finish 9-3 last season with a last-second loss to Illinois standing in the way of a 10-2 year with wins over two ranked teams and a tough road win over Nebraska. But Finebaum’s right that, whatever the reason, the Riley era in LA hasn’t worked out the way many expected.
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The Trojans are on their third defensive coordinator of the Riley era, and while they improved under D’Anton Lynn, that side of the ball never reached the heights required to make the playoffs, let alone win a title. The Patterson hire is just five games in and somehow looks like a downgrade, despite top recruits like Luke Wafle and Jakheem Stewart playing on the defensive line.
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Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley stands on the sidelines during the first quarter against the Purdue Boilermakers at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind., on Sept. 13, 2025. (Marc Lebryk/Imagn Images)
Unsurprisingly, speculation has increased about Riley being replaced after the season. But the 43-year-old coach has a $70 million buyout, an astronomical figure, especially considering the cost of hiring a new coach. Matt Zenitz from CBS Sports reported this week though, that “Industry sources nevertheless caution against assuming it rules out a change at USC.”
No matter how rich USC boosters are, $70 million, plus more NIL commitments to keep current players and recruit new ones is an extraordinary amount of money. But the status quo clearly isn’t working, and with the resources poured into the program ahead of 2026, Riley has few excuses left.
That said, there’s still time for him to turn the season around. SC has winnable games against Washington, Penn State and Wisconsin coming up, before the Ohio State-Indiana gauntlet. Win those, and win one of the OSU-Indiana games, and a 10-2 season with that schedule might be enough to reach the playoff. It’s just bordering on impossible to believe SC is capable of it.