ESPN includes Lincoln Riley on list of coaches with the most to prove in 2024 season
ESPN compiled their list of coaches and players with the most to prove during the 2024 season, and Lincoln Riley carved out a spot from one of the network’s analysts.
According to ESPN’s Chris Low, Riley is the coach with the most to prove after the way the 2023 season turned sideways for the Trojans. After an 11-3 record his first season at USC, the team was held back by a horrific defense while going 8-5 with a Holiday Bowl win in 2023.
Now, Riley must correct the course, but the task is made a bit tougher by the departure of Caleb Williams. Here’s what Low had to say about Riley and the Trojans entering the 2024 season:
I was going to say Chip Kelly at UCLA, but that all changed when Kelly bolted Westwood to call offensive plays at Ohio State for another guy who has some heat on him, Ryan Day. So I’ll stay on the West Coast with Riley, who enters his third season at USC still looking for a College Football Playoff appearance and/or conference title. He’s also facing life without former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams and brought in a new defensive coordinator, D’Anton Lynn, to replace Alex Grinch after the Trojans finished 121st nationally in scoring defense (34.4 points per game) in 2023. It’s premature to suggest Riley is on the cusp of losing his job after just two seasons at USC. But coming off a disappointing 8-5 finish and the playoff expanding to 12 teams in 2024, he needs to make a strong comeback in the new-look Big Ten, or the restlessness will ratchet up considerably in Year 4.
The Trojans certainly did not have the kind of Pac-12 departure they were looking for, and life in the Big Ten is not going to be any easier. In addition to games against former Pac-12 foes Washington and UCLA, USC will face Penn State and Wisconsin while making a trip to Ann Arbor to face Michigan in the Big Ten schedule.
Outside of the conference, the Trojans also face LSU and Notre Dame in what currently looks like one of the toughest schedules in the country. We’ll see how Riley and the team are able to navigate it all this fall.