Lincoln Riley evaluates drop in success from Year 1 to 2 at USC

There’s no sugarcoating the dropoff from last season to this season at USC under Lincoln Riley. Even so, he hopes everyone realizes the different aspects of that rather than just completely tossing the campaign out in its entirety.

Riley spoke about the Trojans’ record at 7-5 in an interview with The Athletic. To him, last year’s team that went 11-3 isn’t much better than this roster that finished well short of expectations. The only difference was a few plays didn’t break their way over the course of this season.

“The reality is the two teams weren’t that much different. I think we had some struggles and some things last year — we had some major holes,” said Riley. “You could take three or four plays from the whole season and I can show you a 10-win team. It still wouldn’t change the things that have to get better for us to be at the level we want to be.”

Still, considering all things, Riley says this season wasn’t a complete waste at all. There was progress in several aspects of their operation both on and off the field. It might not have been the final result that many wanted to see but, all in all, he still views it as a step in a positive direction.

“The outcome sometimes blinds you from the fact of the things you have to get better at but also sometimes blinds you from the progress. The reality is has there been massive progress in the first two years? Hell yeah, there has been. I mean, massive,” said Riley. “Some of it has been seen on Saturdays. Some of it is happening behind the scenes as we get ready to build the younger part of this roster (and) as we get ready to build a new facility. Getting NIL to a (better) place where it was not in a good place when we got here. We’ve had a change in conference. We’ve had a change in administration.”

“A lot of things have happened that are steps toward building a perennial championship contender,” Riley said.

Riley is well aware that this season’s finish was not an acceptable one as it certainly wasn’t to him. However, in some sense, he already knew that USC wasn’t where they needed to be yet. That’s why, with the blueprint in hand, he can continue to make the necessary adjustments to get the Trojans to the level they want to be at.

“Listen, I’m as disappointed as anybody the way we played in the second half of the season. Probably more. Is it gut-wrenching to me that we didn’t find a way to be at our best? That we didn’t find a way to win some of those games? Yes. Did I know there were issues that were going to have to get addressed and improved for us to be a perennial contender? Yeah,” Riley continued. “Like I told you guys and like I told a lot of people after last year, even sitting there at 11-1 going into the Pac-12 Championship Game. In my mind, we’ve done some great things, the kids have really bought in. But we’re still not that good yet.”

“I’ve been on a couple teams that were really close and possibly good enough to win the whole thing. I’ve played teams that have won the whole thing,” explained Riley. “You’ve kind of seen what it looks like and feels like and we’re undoubtedly making progress. But this was not going to be a deal where all of a sudden you take where it was and in two years we’re a perennial national championship contender. It’s not reality.”

This is all about finding the right perspective heading into year three of Riley’s tenure. The Trojans will need to leave behind, and have left, a lot of what went wrong this fall. They also need to take the good, though, and carry it into what’s now a more crucial season next year.

“Whether we won those games or lost those games, you can’t deny there are a lot of things here that have to continue to get better,” said Riley. “There’s still a ton of growth and development to get this group to being a perennial championship contender, which is where we fully expect to be and get to.”