Bruce Feldman explains why USC has been eye-opening experience for Lincoln Riley

2023 is not turning out to be the season that many hoped to see from Lincoln Riley at USC. With it going the way that it has, Bruce Feldman believes it has become a significant wake up call for the leader of the Trojans.

Feldman spoke about the shortcomings of Riley’s current season during ‘The Rich Eisen Show’ on Wednesday. To him, the criticism and failures that have come amidst their current 7-3 record has been a shock to Riley’s system

“I think this has probably been eye-opening for him in that he has really not struggled much as a head coach,” explained Feldman.

Feldman believes this, in some part, goes back to Riley’s time in Norman. With the Sooners, it felt as though he could do no wrong. However, after alienating many of his former Oklahoma supporters after leaving for USC following five years in Normal, he is now a smaller fish in a much bigger pond with fewer friends to show for it.

“When you’re at Oklahoma? I think you’re the biggest show in town,” said Feldman.

“Then, ultimately, he made a move, which I think was a hard move for him. It was a hard move for his family. He became a villain to a lot of people around Oklahoma where they really bought into Lincoln Riley,” Feldman continued. “That is not easy for anybody.”

That’s when we reach this season. Much of the issues involved with this campaign come down to not meeting the expectations that the last one set. Now, amidst this year’s collapse, Feldman is no longer certain that Riley has what it takes to make the next leap as a coach.

“Then he moved out here with a bunch of support people and assistants and those families. It was good last year because they were so bad when he took over. Caleb (Williams) won a Heisman, there was excitement. But then, this year? I felt like they – I don’t want to say they were making it harder than it needed to be,” said Feldman. “You had a lot of self inflicted stuff there.

“I think, right now, this is a program that is still trying to find its identity. We know Lincoln is a great playcaller and a great offensive coordinator. But to win a national title and get to where USC is? It requires something different. It requires you to be a great head coach,” Feldman said. “I’m not saying Lincoln can’t be that. But that’s the part where you still have to take another big step forward.”

This won’t be getting any easier for Riley and the Trojans either. Their surroundings and challenges are about to be much different with a move to the Big Ten about to be on deck. That leaves only so much time for Riley to solve these problems, both with him as a coach and his program as a whole, before it gets real in their new league.

“Now they’re going to the Big Ten next year. You have these other programs in Washington and Oregon who are really going into high level, UCLA is not great but UCLA is not struggling mightily either. So you’re going into a much tougher dynamic,” said Feldman. “I just think there’s a lot of stuff that I think he has got to figure out going forward.

“For him to get to where USC people want and Lincoln wants to get? There has to be a lot more that has to go on,” Feldman said. “I’m interested to see how he tries to remedy that because that’s going to take some growth.”