After a disheartening loss last Saturday at Wisconsin all but doused Southern California’s College Football Playoff hopes, head coach Lincoln Riley insisted that he remains the right man to lead the Trojans.
Including this season’s 6-2 record, Riley is 41-20 in his fifth year in Los Angeles and has yet to lead USC to a CFP appearance.
“Listen, if I didn’t want to be at this place, I wouldn’t have come here in the first place. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to leave,” Riley told reporters after practice on Tuesday. “This is where I want to be. This is the right place for me. I’m the right person to be here. And that’s as honest and transparent as I can be with you guys.”
The Trojans have not won a conference title under Riley, losing to Utah in the 2022 Pac-12 championship game and finishing in a tie for fourth in the Big Ten last season.
Riley, 43, who compiled a 55-10 record at Oklahoma from 2017-21, balked at the notion that he might be a better fit at another program.
“I love it here. I mean like I told you guys a lot of times — there’s not many people in college football history that gave up what I gave up to come here,” Riley said. “I don’t care if it’s 15 years down the line, that never should be taken lightly. It’s certainly not taken lightly by me. I came here because I believe in this place and none of that has changed whatsoever.”
This season began with a lot of fanfare after Riley secured the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class and USC opened a new $200 million football facility.
The Trojans won their first four games and climbed to No. 12 in the Top 25 before falling 41-27 at home to then-No. 20 Oregon on Sept. 26. They dropped out of the poll following last Saturday’s 24-7 road loss to the Badgers.
“When you’re a head coach of a blue-blood school, you have to be ready to weather the storms, the overly positive or the overly negative,” Riley said. “Typically, what I’ve learned from doing this for a few years, I haven’t learned it all, but the truth typically lies somewhere in the middle. And that’s typically where it’s at even if you know that it’s going to sensationalize. And so my job is to stay steady.”
A daunting schedule looms starting Saturday at home against No. 2 Ohio State. After a bye week, the Trojans visit No. 4 Indiana on Nov. 14 before hosting Maryland (Nov. 21) and closing with rival and No. 7 UCLA (Nov. 28).