Lincoln Riley Believes 'It's Time' for USC to Return to College Football's Upper-Echelon

Riley has continued to hype up USC's 2026 campaign.

Lincoln Riley believes that it's time for USC to return to the top of the sport. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Lincoln Riley is entering his fifth season at USC this fall in a tenure that has certainly not met the lofty expectations that came with his hire away from Oklahoma.

The Trojans hired Riley with the belief that he was the right coach to usher the program into its Big Ten era. He was a big name with a strong track record of success with the Sooners, and his hire was met with the expectation that he would return the program to the upper-echelon of the sport.

After an 11–3 first season—highlighted by Caleb Williams’s Heisman campaign and a Pac-12 title game appearance—USC has been rather mediocre since. The Trojans have put together seasons of 8–5, 7–6 and 9–4, and have not come nearly as close to the College Football Playoff as they did in Year One.

But Riley believes this season will be different.

“We’ve taken steps now,” Riley told ESPN and CBS in a sit-down interview in Los Angeles. “Honestly, now it’s just time to do it. It’s time. The program’s ready for it.”

Why Riley believes USC is ready to return to the top of college football

Riley pointed out several reasons for his confidence in his program heading into the 2026 season. 

The first was retention. USC is returning 65% of its production this season, which ranks No. 13 in college football according to ESPN’s Bill Connelly. The veteran roster should give Trojans fans some confidence coming off a nine-win season a year ago.

The second is the depth along both lines of scrimmage. Riley believes that USC finally has the playable depth necessary to endure a tough schedule and the long season that would be in store should the Trojans make a deep postseason run.

The third was the hire of Gary Patterson as the school’s new defensive coordinator. The defense has been very up-and-down throughout Riley’s tenure thus far. It was a poor unit under Alex Grinch prior to his firing midway through the 2023 season. Riley hired D’Anton Lynn away from crosstown rival UCLA, and the unit improved before Lynn left to join Matt Campbell at Penn State. Now with Patterson in tow, a proven veteran defensive coordinator, Riley believes the program will continue its improvement defensively.

The fourth is USC’s 2026 recruiting class—which should continue to help the program’s previous depth issues. The Trojans finished with the top class in the 247Sports composite rankings, with three 5-star commitments and 16 4-star recruit pledges. 

“I’ve told people, there was almost like a feeling when you first got here. You’re standing in front of a dam and there’s just leaks, and you plug one leak and another one pops. It’s not perfect, but there’s not many leaks any more.

This is not the first time this offseason that Riley has hyped up USC’s 2026 season

Riley told On3’s Wilson Alexander last month that he believes that USC has opened its championship window.

“Taking this over, you knew you had to go fight like hell just to try to get this window opened,” Riley said in April. “And we’re at a point right now where there’s a lot to be excited about and a lot in front of us. It’s been a lot of work for a lot of people, a lot of commitment from a lot of people to get there, and it should be a lot of fun these next few years.”

Time will tell whether or not Riley is right. The Trojans’ rivalry with Notre Dame is on pause through at least 2029, which is good news for USC. The program has not beaten its longtime rival since Riley’s first season in Los Angeles—losing three straight against the Fighting Irish.

Despite a schedule that does not include Notre Dame, USC does face Ohio State, Oregon and Washington at home in Big Ten play, and travels to Indiana and Penn State as well. It will certainly not be a cakewalk for USC, despite the lofty expectations that Riley has placed on his team.

If Riley takes USC to the CFP, it will certainly ease tension in the fan base. But if the Trojans are mediocre once again, expect his seat to get very hot entering ‘27.

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