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USC football’s recent surge on the recruiting trail has caught the attention of the national college football media. However, not everyone has hopped on the Trojans’ bandwagon just yet.
In a recent story, ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg looked at which college football coach could be the next to win his first national championship. He grouped the coaches into three different categories: “The Close ones”, “Wild Cards”, and “Slipping Away”. Rittenberg put Lincoln Riley in the “Slipping Away” category.
Here is Rittenberg had to say about Riley and his championship chances:
“Riley won Big 12 titles and reached the CFP in each of his first three seasons as a head coach after taking over from Bob Stoops,” Rittenberg wrote. “He also helped the Sooners to their first CFP appearance in his first season as offensive coordinator in 2015. The expectation when he left Norman for Los Angeles was that he would fast-track USC to the CFP for the first time, especially after he brought quarterback Caleb Williams with him. Riley was joining the most tradition-rich program on the West Coast but didn’t know at the time that USC would be leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten. The Trojans reached the Pac-12 championship game in Riley’s first year but fell to Utah, costing them a CFP appearance. The team didn’t seriously contend for a playoff spot in the past two seasons and continues to go through significant roster turnover with the transfer portal. Riley has repeatedly noted areas of the program that needed major upgrades and that the process would take some time. USC made a notable hire with general manager Chad Bowden and could soon turn its close losses — the Trojans lost five games by seven points or fewer in 2024 — into more wins. But the Big Ten is only getting tougher and USC’s personnel strategy has lagged behind that of some of the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/espn-views-lincoln-rileys-national-090927137.html
Author : Trojans Wire
Publish date : 2025-02-28 09:09:00
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