Lincoln Riley reveals USC's biggest adjustment to Big Ten conference

Lincoln Riley knows USC, as well as the other west coast schools, will have to adjust to the Big Ten conference.

New matchups, new travel schedules, new players and coaches, it’s all been ushered in as a new era of college football. Riley and USC will still play the traditional opponents on the west coast as well as Notre Dame, but playing the likes of Ohio State and Michigan will be different.

Either way, Riley and the team are ready to take the challenge head on.

“Yeah, it’s unique,” Riley said on Get Up. “I think the college football purists and all of us are still maybe getting used to these new conferences and these new matchups. I do think it’s going to be an incredible thing and we’re looking forward to the matchups. I think the biggest adjustment has been getting ready for these new teams, these new coaches, playing in different venues. I think just all the new challenges that honestly all of us in this league are getting ready to face not just this year, but over the next couple of years.”

Lincoln Riley, USC ready for Big Ten?

Make no mistake, the Big Ten is set to be ultra competitive in 2024, just the way Riley likes his football.

“As you get used to some of those different matchups that actually are going to occur, and that’s, I mean, I think as competitors that’s one of the things that you love about how this league has been constructed,” Riley said.

“The quality of teams in this league, the quality of coaches, talent, it’s undoubtedly put itself up there at the top of college football. It’s going to be a great league and I think the fans, everybody that loves college football, are really going to enjoy watching this league day in and day out.”

Riley’s record speaks for itself at Oklahoma and USC. Although his most recent season was the least amount of wins in a season in his coaching career.

But overall, Riley is 74-18 as a head coach and 19-8 at USC, going 1-1 in bowl games. If last year’s Holiday Bowl is any indication, USC could have some firepower going into 2024 on offense, as usual.

But as Riley knows, and has been criticized for, his defense will determine the overall success of the team this fall. If that bodes well, perhaps USC will adjust to the Big Ten quite nicely.