Are Lincoln Riley, USC Trojans entering 'reset' year?

Lincoln Riley is also in his third campaign as a head coach at USC — and one that’s heavily in transition.

Will that change ultimately be the reason that the Trojans are slowed down for the 2024 season of college football?

This is why on last Thursday’s edition of “The Herd” on FOX, College Football Reporter Bruce Feldman sees very few bright spots for the 2024 Trojans.

Feldman said this about USC’s future in the year 2024 and to him, it feels like it is back to the drawing board, so to speak, concerning the manner in which the team is perceived. This team was awful before he get there, and Caleb Williams, Jordan Addison, and Lincoln all masked a lot of flaws. ” … with that program being toxic, and again when Lincoln got there yes there were things that were done but there were still a lot of things wrong with that program that were still there when he got there.

However, I clearly remember that last year the team lacking the defensive line was far from good and I believe that was one aspect that they could not beat The greatness of Caleb Williams, again, I think helped mitigate a lot of that They had a terrible offense line last year, the defense was a lot worse The schedule was also much more difficult so that is why they struggled last season.

USC is entering the game having posted 8-5 in the previous season, in which it began the campaign on a six-game winning streak but then dropped five of the next six games to end the regular season at 7-5. It left Notre Dame, and a string of then-Pac-12 giants such as Washington, Oregon and Utah as their losses. Pulled by a strong UCLA team in their backyard clash the Trojans concluded their regular season at a disappointing 38-20.

USC is starting its first season with Big Ten, and with other Pac-12 defectors such as UCLA, Washington, and Oregon.

No overall solid defense can be seen for the Trojans under Riley’s leadership. Following a lackluster year in 2022, USC gave up 438 measures. 8 total yards (tenth in the conference) and 34. 9 points (11th) per game in 2023 Era. USC decided to sign their former UCLA counterpart D’Anton Lynn who would be in charge of the defense in the year 2024.

One of the former USC players who entered the league as the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, Williams built a stellar collegiate career in three years, the final two at the Trojans. Williams, for instance, contributed a lot in his first season at USC in the year 2022 in which the team recorded 11 victories and was seeded as the fourth team in the College Football Playoff before being trounced by Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game though Williams won the Heisman Trophy.

Williams was winning the Heisman on behalf of an incredible performance in the game, while USC’s season aiming for the same as a whole came a year after the program had a 4-8 season and fired head coach Clay Helton mid through just a second game.

Before moving to western part, Riley was the Sooners’ first-team coach from the year 2017 to 2021 with the team’s records of two College Football Playoff appearances, four 10 and over seasons of winning and inconsistency of losing not more than two games in a particular season. Williams played for Riley in his first year at Oklahoma in the year 2021 before the quarterback transferred with his head coach to the Los Angeles.

Replacing Williams, who is USC’s starting quarterback, is junior Miller Moss who put up eye-popping numbers in the Holiday Bowl game against No. 15 Louisville passing 372 yards and six touchdowns leading the team to a 14-point win. Miller has only made only 92 career pass attempts in his whole playing time.

Also, USC has no running back Marshawn Lloyd, 7. 1 yards per carrying in 2023 and wide receivers Tahj Washington, 1,062 receiving yards in 2023, and Brenden Rice, 12 touchdown, receiving in 2023.

”Can they be an eight-win team? Yeah. Can they be a real playoff contender? I doubt it,” Feldman said about USC. “They do have good young receivers, I expect Miller Moss to play well but I think perception-wise it does not look like they are recruiting well. ”

Recruiting outcomes for USC in the class of 2024 feature 39 players and all of them are 4-stars and therefore, 247Sports place the team at the 20th rank regarding recruiting in the United States.

As to the schedule of the next season, one can note such significant games as a neutral-site with LDU, away games with Michigan and Washington and home games with Penn State and Notre Dame.