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Lincoln Riley: 'It's time' for USC to make a run at College Football Playoff

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones05/19/26brianjones_93

USC football head coach Lincoln Riley believes his team is ready to make a run at the College Football Playoff. While speaking with ESPN and CBS at the Big Ten spring meetings this week, Riley set the expectations for the Trojans in 2026.

“We have absolutely taken steps now,” Lincoln Riley said, per Adam Rittenberg of ESPN. “Honestly, now it’s just time to go do it. It’s time. The program’s ready for it.”

Riley’s comments come shortly after he spoke to On3’s Wilson Alexander about USC entering its championship window. The Trojans have lost at least three games in their last four seasons, but Riley is confident that they will take a big step forward.

“I caught some flack for saying … that I thought we had opened up a window, but it’s just true,” Riley said. “It’s how I feel. And I feel like I’ve got a little bit of credibility in terms of having been in part of some places that did that at a pretty high level. So I have at least a little bit of an idea of what I’m talking about.”

Lincoln Riley hired a well-known coach to be USC’s defensive coordinator

When Riley joined USC in 2022, he led the team to an 11-3 record and just missed out on the playoffs after losing to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship game. In the next three seasons, USC has gone 8-5, 7-6, and 9-4.

But the Trojans can make some noise this season after landing the top recruiting class in the country. Additionally, Riley has hired former TCU head coach Gary Patterson as the team’s defensive coordinator. Patterson was TCU’s head coach from 2000 to 2021 and led the team to five conference championships in three different conferences.

Riley also talked about USC moving into a new on-campus football performance center this summer. “I’ve told people, there was almost like a feeling when you first got here, you’re standing in front of a dam and there’s just leaks, and you plug one leak and another one pops,” Riley said. “It’s not perfect, but there’s not many leaks anymore.”

USC is not a stranger to winning, as it has claimed 11 national titles. But fans are hungry for another championship since the last one came in 2004.