Lincoln Riley admits there was a portion of the USC roster last year that was a little surprised about the winning ways last season. Now, the players expect to win.

Riley recently shared with Greg McElroy how expectations have changed entering his second year coaching the Trojans.

“I think the difference is we did a lot to try to set high expectations in Year 1,” Riley said. “We said that Year 1 was not going to be a crutch for us, and we’re not going to change our expectations just because it’s the first year. Like, this is USC. The expectation, competitively, should be championships. … I don’t think we’ll be a surprise this year. I think that’s our expectation and we’ve got to have a healthy respect for what it takes to get that done.”

USC was picked to win the Pac-12 in a preseason media poll, as the Trojans received 25 first-place votes. Last year, the Trojans were picked 3rd in the same poll behind Utah and Oregon, and received just 5 first-place votes. Along with reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams, the Trojans return 8 starters on offense, and 9 on defense.