Lincoln Riley reveals what a successful first season in the Big Ten looks like for USC

Lincoln Riley joined Get Up on ESPN before the first trip to Big Ten Media Days for the USC Trojans on Wednesday.

Speaking with Mike Greenberg, the Trojans leader revealed what would constitute a successful first season in the conference for USC, and where Riley’s lofty goals stand for his program at the moment.

“USC’s about winning championships. Even coming into a program that was a little bit down, I’ve never backed off of that. I never will. That’s not how I’m wired. That’s not why I came here. That’s not how this program is wired,” Riley told Greenberg. “So, we come into each year to be a championship team. Now, is there certainly, when you take a step back, is there an overall climb that has to happen here, like we referenced earlier? Of course there is.

“But that doesn’t mean that we’re ever going to set our sights on anything lower than winning a championship, and holding up a trophy at the end of the season.”

While championships may seem a little far fetched after a disappointing season in 2023, and losing star quarterback Caleb Williams to the NFL, Riley has actually gained confidence in his team since the end of last season, due to their play in closing out the campaign.

“Yeah, it’s just such a fine line, always. I mean, the years, which has been most of them, as you said, that we’ve had pretty good football teams and a decent amount of success, you know, we were able to win some of those close games and really push through and play some of our best ball at the end. We weren’t able to do that,” Riley said, regarding 2023. “Last year, in the second half of the season, we let a couple of great opportunities slip away, and that’s the nature of the beast. That’s how close these things are, every single Saturday. But I’m excited about this team coming up.

“I really think we built off the momentum of the Holiday Bowl win over Louisville, where we played with a lot of our young players, a lot of guys that will be prominent parts of this year’s team and played probably our best game of the season. And I’m certainly excited about some of the defensive staff changes that were made. I think, just from an overall sense, I’m excited about our climb. I mean, two years ago, I know people easily forget, we took over a program that had won four games the year before, and we’ve continually gotten better. We’ve done a lot of things within the infrastructure of USC to help bring it back to national prominence and to being in the national championship picture year in and year out, which is where this program belongs. That was the challenge that we took over. We’re continuing to climb, and looking forward to this year and certainly the future.”

Alas, Lincoln Riley and USC are an awesome addition to the Big Ten, and there’s a lot to like about the Trojans in 2024. When the seasons gets underway, they’ll be a fascinating program to keep an eye on throughout the year.