Lincoln Riley is locked and loaded for USC football’s season opener Saturday.
According to Riley, the Trojans are better prepared for this season than they have been through the head coach’s first three years with the program.
“I don’t know that my expectations have really changed any,” he said in a meeting with media on Friday. “I think we’re much more equipped in so many ways to recruit, to bring in staff members, to compete, to develop, and then ultimately all that builds up into winning. And we’re certainly more prepared to do that at a high level than at any point in the first three years.”
This positive outlook could be good news for the Trojans, who finished 7-6 last season and went 4-5 against conference opponents in their first year in the Big Ten. Despite tying for ninth place in the Big Ten, USC went on to win the 2024 Las Vegas Bowl against Texas A&M behind excellent play from then-sophomore receiver Ja’Kobi Lane.
Winning games is paramount at a historically elite football institution like USC. But for Riley, the minutiae are still important to consider.
“I think the first thing I would say is just our ability to block, to tackle, and then to get off blocks and to break tackles,” Riley said when asked about his top three keys for a weekend victory. “I mean, those things… Obviously, you see [it] in practice, but you’re starting to see way more of [it] when you get in just a full live true ball. So excited to see our team do that.”
Riley also looks forward to seeing team cohesion from his players, who have emphasized the importance of brotherhood in their development.
“In college football, it’s defense versus offense or it’s, you know, kickoff return versus our own kickoff and it’s always our same people,” he said. “Well, now we’re all going to actually be on the same sideline and playing against another opponent, and just so how we compete together, how we play well off of one another… you always look forward to.”
Third on Riley’s list of major keys? Trust.
“For everybody, and maybe especially our young and new guys,” he said. “[The question] is do you trust, you know, what we’ve been teaching? Do you trust what we’ve been working on behind closed doors and [on] that practice field for so long?”
There’s something significant about this particular group of ‘guys’, too. USC football updated its depth chart this week, and 14 of the starters listed were recruited to the program from high school. In a college football landscape that has been dominated by the transfer portal the past few years, it’s noteworthy that so many of Riley’s top players have been with the program their entire collegiate career.
“We continue to recruit the way we are and develop the way we are, it’s going to be a lot of that, and a couple of transfers here and there,” he said. “I know that puts us in the best position to be what we want to be.”
USC football will light up the Coliseum once more, as the team starts its season against Missouri State on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.