Mike Farrell Sports

College Football Recruiting, Opinion, and Analysis

Life of Riley: A Trojan Horse with Feet of Clay

USC performance against Minnesota raises new questions

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By Rock Westfall

As I wrote yesterday, Alabama should never lose to Vanderbilt. In the same way, USC, a historic college football blueblood with a history of championships, should never lose to Minnesota. The weight of the Trojans’ history and the high expectations they carry, which are deeply ingrained in the hearts of USC fans, are evident. Yet both the Crimson Tide and Trojans suffered such a fate last Saturday.

Minnesota head coach PJ Fleck has often warned that his program needs significantly increased NIL support. USC has much more in facilities, talent, and NIL than the Golden Gophers. Yet despite those advantages, head coach Lincoln Riley’s Trojans lost at Minnesota 24-17 in a game that was dead even on the stat sheet. That should simply never happen to USC, and the underperformance of Riley’s Trojans in this game raises serious concerns about the team’s future.

With the loss, Riley’s career record at USC fell to 22-10. At this exact point in his own USC career, former head coach Clay Helton’s record was 23-9 and included a Rose Bowl win, two division titles, and a Pac-12 conference championship. Riley’s comparative lack of success is cause for concern among USC fans and analysts.

Whatever is said about Lincoln Riley, the fact is that he was hired away from Oklahoma to build a perennial College Football Playoff contender and win conference championships. Riley had a resume and image that satisfied USC fans and donors. Now in this third season, Riley’s performance has been a letdown, mired in mediocrity and not coming anywhere close to meeting expectations. Riley was not hired to run a middle-of-the-road program. But that is what USC has become.  

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USC Arrogance and Helton’s Feet of Clay  

Clay Helton was never accepted by the USC faithful, derided as a usurper to the Throne of Troy. Helton was a USC assistant under Lane Kiffin and then interim HC Ed Orgeron after Kiffin was fired. Helton served as a stopgap interim HC for USC’s bowl game in 2013 after Orgeron quit. So, too, did he serve as an assistant under the failed Steve Sarkisian and was again elevated to interim head coach after Sark left the program for personal reasons. Thus, USC fans and boosters wrote Helton off as a career assistant and were angry that their program did not attract a marquee man to head the Trojans.

Much like what I wrote about the Insufferable Myth of the Michigan Man, haughty USC has a high opinion of itself. Thus, a career assistant like Helton was considered beneath the Men of Troy. In turn, fans and boosters never gave Helton a chance. Even when Helton started with records of 10-3 and 11-3 in his first two full seasons, with a final coach’s rank of 5th in 2016 and 10th in 2017, that wasn’t good enough for Southern Cal fans.

Helton’s lack of support became toxic on the recruiting trail and was used against him. Top prospects doubted he would survive and went elsewhere. Supposed USC fans openly rooted for Helton to lose so that he would be fired, which he mercifully was after a 1-1 start in 2021.

It is fair to ask if Helton would have been more successful had he had the same level of support that Riley had at the beginning of his tenure. He certainly had a better record without it.

Just Desserts For a Trojan Horse  

When Lincoln Riley bolted in the dead of night for USC with future Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams, along with other top players, assistants, and staff, it was a body blow to the pride of Oklahoma. Riley won big at OU, with a 55-10 record and Top 10 finishes in all five of his seasons as the HC. Yet Riley was not thrilled that the Sooners were leaving the Big 12 for the much tougher SEC. Thus, he cut and ran while his stock was high.

After going 11-3 in his first season at USC, Riley slipped to 8-5 last year and is now 3-2 to start 2024. He has Big Ten losses against beatable teams (Michigan and Minnesota). In both of those losses, Riley’s questionable play-calling was a key factor in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

To his credit, Riley finally seems to have a marginally respectable defense for the first time in his head coaching career. Ironically, now it is the offense, Riley’s supposed area of expertise, that is failing him. USC ranks 78th nationally for rushing yardage, 58th for scoring, and 112th for turnovers. And while the defense is improved, it ranks a revealing 85th for stopping the run. Thus, on both sides of the line, USC remains weak at the interior. Softness up front is a road to disaster in the Big Ten.

Riley was greeted with unanimous approval when he arrived in Hollywood, and he initially played the part well. But now, an inconvenient truth is emerging. At Oklahoma, Riley stepped into a perfect situation that was fail-proof. He was the offensive coordinator under Bob Stoops for two years, learning the ropes and gaining credibility as the groomed successor to Big Game Bob. Subsequently, Riley took advantage of a weaker Big 12 Conference to pad his resume.

When Riley left OU, he was unaware that USC was scheming to leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten. He thought he had found a safe space from the SEC gauntlet in Tinseltown. But Riley thought wrong. Now, he has nowhere to run to or hide. He has been outed.

Lincoln Riley is not one of college football’s coaching greats.  Instead, Lincoln Riley is a Trojan Horse. And it is starting to get to and wear on him.

Congratulations, USC. You got what you wanted and deserved.

Hopefully down at Georgia Southern, Clay Helton is having a good laugh. He’s earned it.

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