Lincoln Riley shares excitement over new rivalries with Big Ten move

In 2024, USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley will coach in his third different conference in the last four years. USC is on its way to the Big Ten, where it will face off against some of the top programs in the country.

Plenty of individuals associated with the Trojans football program have expressed excitement about the upcoming change in conference scenery. And on a recent appearance on the Hard Count with J.D PicKell, Riley revealed what excites him the most about the upcoming season in the Big Ten.

“I think the thing that excites you most… it’s the matchups,” said Riley. “It’s the new rivalries that are gonna come out of this. You know, forever and ever, the Rose Bowl has always been such a historic game within college football. And then you think of it as a great traditional Pac-12 and Big Ten matchup; all the great games that were part of that. Now, you’re gonna have those matchups every single year.”

There were a handful of bowl games that featured the Pac-12 squaring off against the Big Ten. However, none were more prominent than The Granddaddy of Them All, the Rose Bowl. Whether or not a national championship was on the line, whenever the two conferences squared off in that arena, it was consistently some of the best football the game had to offer. And now, with arguably four of the Pac-12’s top programs heading out east, fans will not have to wait until the end of the season to get bowl-quality action.

“You’re gonna have them at multiple times throughout the year, have them at different people’s locations; you’re gonna have exciting teams that you’re bringing into your home spot, and gonna be going into new really cool road environments,” he continued. “So I think just the competition week in and week out, [and] a chance to be a part of certainly one of the top two college football conferences right now. I mean, I’m most excited about that: the challenge of the new coaches, new schemes that you’ll go against. All of it, man. The competitor just loves the opportunity that’s coming up.”

USC will kick off their inaugural Big Ten conference play with a trip to the big house on Sep 21 to take on the defending national champions, the Michigan Wolverines. If Riley is a fan of atmospheres, he will get a kick out of what the Wolverine faithful have to offer early in the 2024 season. And should the game be scheduled as a night contest, it will likely carry all the feels of a national championship showdown. And that’s something all college football fans are looking forward to seeing.