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Las Vegas reveals win total odds for Lincoln Riley's first season at USC

275133747_4796292347117549_592518599057046758_nby:Jonathan Wagner•05/21/22•

Jonathan Wagner

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Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images.

Expectations are extremely high at USC in 2022 following an offseason that saw a lot of new faces join the program. The Trojans hired Lincoln Riley as the team’s new head coach, and Riley brought quite a few new faces with him.

Ahead of the season, Vegas Insider has released over/under odds on the number of wins for teams across the country. For USC, Vegas gave the Trojans an over/under of 8.5 wins in 2022.

Last season was a disappointing one for USC, and Clay Helton was fired in the middle of the year. The Trojans lost their final four games of the year, ending the season with an overall record of 4-8 and a 3-6 mark against Pac-12 opponents.

Riley brought in quarterback Caleb Williams, who emerged as a top quarterback as a true freshman at Oklahoma last season. The Trojans also picked up a commitment from wide receiver Jordan Addison, the reigning Biletnikoff Award winner. USC added a ton of other players through the transfer portal during the offseason, and Riley is hoping for immediate success.

Riley wants to write his own narrative at USC in 2022

When USC hired Riley, some questioned whether or not he was just looking to avoid the SEC, as Oklahoma is set to join the conference in the coming years. Riley said that was not part of his decision. If USC can return to contention in 2022 and over the next few years, Riley will be able to write his own narrative.

“Yeah, I mean, I wrote it several weeks back,” Riley said. “It was difficult to kind of express it all and I wanted to find the right kind of route to say some things that I wanted to say. I didn’t write it to get a reaction to try to change anybody’s mind. That was not my goal in it. My goal was — it happened so suddenly. One day, I’m the coach at the other spot. And then, all of a sudden, this happens and it goes so quick.

“And I just never really felt like I had the right time to say some of the things that I wanted to say. You sit there and all these other people want to determine the narrative about what happened or want to define it. Guess what? This is my life. And I felt like there were some things that I simply wanted to say. So it was a good — felt like the right route to do it and glad I was able to get it done and kind of say my piece and be able to move on.”