Lincoln Riley Already Knows How Difficult Ohio State Matchup Will Be for USC

USC head coach Lincoln Riley was one of the six coaches who had the opportunity to address the media on day one of Big Ten Media Day. Riley is entering his fifth season at the helm at Southern California following his departure from the University of Oklahoma in 2021.

USC before the season starts are currently ranked in the top 25 and has one of the nation’s top recruiting classes in 2026. So, on paper they are built to compete not only in the Big Ten, but also with anyone in the country.

Riley sees this year’s team as one of the most competitive teams he has assembled since being hired at USC, according to R.J. Abeytia of 247 Sports.

"That would be a great way to characterize our roster right now," Riley said. "There's certainly the talent from top to bottom, the competitive depth. I told somebody the other day last year we got to the point where our offensive line, our top groups on offense and on our defensive line were able to compete at the top of this conference, and that was largely the case.”

"When we got to some of our down-the-line pieces there, as we had injuries and all you deal with throughout the season, you could see that we still had some depth issues that we needed to attack because we weren't quite as good when that happened. And I do feel differently this year in terms of the quality of players, returning starters, the freshmen, some of the transfers that we've added. There's just a ton of competition. We've got a lot of guys on both sides of the line of scrimmage that we feel like we can win with, and that we can dominate with. We just do. That's certainly one of the biggest differences in this football team right now."

However, their true test to define their 2026-2027 season will begin against Oregon on September 26 and will continue through November 14 against the defending National Champions, the Indiana Hoosiers. During that five-game stretch, they will host the Ohio State Buckeyes at The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on November 31.

Riley gives Ryan Day major respect

During his media availability, Riley took some time to give Ryan Day and the Ohio State program its flowers for keeping Columbus at the top of college football for decades, according to Nick Hamilton of Nitecast Media.

“His situation [Ryan Day] at Ohio State and mine in Oklahoma at the time,” Riley said. “It’s one of the best programs of all time. They invested in that program. They’ve got a lot of great coaches. Their talent level seems to just stay. It’s one of the steadiest, I would say, there’s talent levels year to year in our sport.”

You could hear it in Riley voice, he has the up most respect for Ohio State program but is not shying away from the challenge that the week nine matchup presence for both teams.

“You know, great place to go play,” Riley said of Ohio State. “I mean, it’s, yeah, I have the most respect for it. And I’m glad, yeah, glad we finally get to play them. It’s been a while. We’ve gotten to play some of the others, like Michigan a couple of times and all that. Um, it’ll be fun, you know, them being at the Coliseum. Two of the best programs of all time going at it. You know, I mean, that venue, I mean, it’s pretty damn cool.”

The preseason rankings have Ohio State ranked number one in the nation and are one of the favorites to win it all after losing to Miami in the Cotton Bowl. Miami would later advance to face Indiana in the National Championship game, but would come up short.

Ryan Day is scheduled to speak today at Big Ten Media Day at 1 pm EST.

Add us as a preferred source on Google