Lincoln Riley’s USC Trojans didn’t have the smoothest of transitions going into the Big Ten last season. While they opened the season with an upset victory over then-No. 13 LSU, they went on to lose all their games against ranked opponents. They ended up with an overall record of 7-6, but a losing conference mark of 4-5.
The brightest spot in their season was a Las Vegas Bowl victory over Texas A&M to close out the year.
Speaking on Thursday on his podcast, Colin Cowherd predicted that the 2025 season won’t be much better for the Trojans:
“They’re going to win eight games this year. They have one elite player. He’s probably a top of the second-round, mid-second-round player — Kamari Ramsey, the safety from UCLA. Really good player. He — he’ll be probably a second-round pick.” (4:27)
One of their biggest weaknesses for Cowherd is that they lack a truly elite passer:
“It’s the only time in Lincoln Riley’s career I don’t like their quarterback situation at all. The most talented kid’s a true freshman. He’s not going to go in the Big Ten and spin it and be dominant. And the kid that’s starting, Lincoln, likes him more than I do. The UNLV kid — I think, you know, I think he’s a gamer, but his judgment — um, he just makes too many mistakes for me, and Lincoln doesn’t like that.”
Throughout his career, Lincoln Riley has been known to work with elite quarterbacks to create some of the best offenses in college football. The list even includes three Heisman Trophy winners. Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Caleb Williams, and Jalen Hurts were all coached by Lincoln Riley at either Oklahoma or USC.
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit misses the old USC Trojans
Speaking this week on the “Pat McAfee Show”, College GameDay’s Kirk Herbstreit lamented that the USC Trojans haven’t been competitive over the last decade. According to Herbstreit, it’s important for the sport that brands like the Trojans succeed in retaining the public’s attention:
“There are certain teams that it’s great for the sport, when they are good,” Herbstreit said on the Pat McAfee Show. “I would say that whole state of Florida – Florida State, Miami… You’d put it like Georgia and Alabama now… I miss those days. I love those brands. I love USC. There are just those teams.”
Since 2010, the Trojans have put together only four seasons with double-digit wins. While that might be good enough for smaller programs, it just isn’t at the level of performance expected from USC. More importantly, since the inception of the College Football Playoff in 2014, the Trojans haven’t qualified for this instance even once.
For comparison, under Pete Carroll in the 2000s, the program had seven seasons with double-digit wins, and it bagged two national titles.
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