Former Oklahoma Sooners head football coach Lincoln Riley has accepted the same position at USC, opening himself up to even more media attention, criticism, and access to recruits. That is what you get when you come to the LA market and what you are expected to produce is championships. That is the only thing that this city accepts when it comes to baseball, basketball, and football. For years, LA did not have a football team to call its own, so that banner fell on USC. They set a standard under Pete Carroll that the program expects every year now and that is what Riley will need to bring if he wants to keep his job.
Three Bold Lincoln Riley Trojans Predictions
3. His best years will be years 1-3
Riley has some serious connections with recruits in California and has already seen a number of them flip their commitment from the Sooners to the Trojans. With these in-roads already being laid and a fantastic offensive coordinator holdover in Graham Harrell, it is easy to see why Riley and USC will hit the ground running in a big way. They should have the offense that will sustain them over the next few years as they attempt to put together a defense.
That is where they will fall short, however, as the Trojans will struggle to recruit on both sides of the ball. Just as Riley did in Oklahoma, there is a chance that he neglects that side of the ball once again just because he is inept in that area. That is probably not the case, but it will take a strong defensive performance at USC to keep him around, not just the offensive fireworks.
2. Years 4-6 will be a disaster
As other national powerhouses continue to build teams that are consistent on both sides of the ball, Riley will struggle to keep up in that area. He has shown the ability to send players to the NFL on the offensive side of the ball, but his NFL first-round-pick pedigree leaves a lot to be desired. If he cannot promise defensive recruits that he can send them to the NFL, like schools such as Alabama, Ohio State and Oregon can, then Riley will struggle, and by the end of year six, he will have run his course in LA.
1. He won't win a National Championship
Judging by the trajectory that we expect Riley to have over here, you can probably guess that we are not expecting any national championships. Those things still run through the SEC. Riley does have two things going for him. One, it may be easier for him to get into the college football playoff at USC and not in the SEC (Oklahoma is due to move there) and two, the playoff will be expanding–possibly to twelve teams.
Both of those factors will help Riley and the Trojans to get into the playoffs, but that has never been the problem for Lincoln. His problem has been that every time he has gotten there, his defense has let him down. Unless that changes in a big way, expect more of the same results in USC as he had in Oklahoma.
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