Can Lincoln Riley, USC take step forward in Year One in Big Ten?

August 8, 2024

By Pete Nakos, On3 Sports: Walking around Big Ten Media Days last month, Lincoln Riley was not oozing confidence.

Roughly 32 months after he left Oklahoma for the West Coast, he openly discussed the “rebuild” of USC. The NIL structure for the Troajns is good, but he repeatedly talked about still needing to “catch up.”

In a year where recruiting wins and development could show the third-year coach is capable of leading the Trojans back to the top of college football, he made sure expectations were not sky-high.