Lincoln Riley Won Me Over During USC-Michigan, For A Reason Few Are Talking About

After USC’s massive 31-13 win over No. 15 Michigan, it’s time to revisit a key reason why people criticize Trojan Head Coach Lincoln Riley. 

No one is talking about it. Many are probably unwilling to admit they were wrong. 

It actually has little to do with the result on the field, though he deserves plenty of credit for turning USC’s offense into the best in the country through seven weeks and earning a signature win against the Wolverines. 

We need to talk about Lincoln Riley’s personality, and the criticism it has faced over the years. 

Riley often faces a lot of vitriol for his neutral, often emotionless comments to the media. He also keeps the injury status of players close to his chest and basically never criticizes his own players. 

He’s often that same neutral, composed presence on the sideline. 

People often want to see more from him. More passion for USC as a university, more of an assertive attitude to build a better defensive culture, more accountability, just more personality. 

It makes sense. These are the same Trojan fans who are used to Pete Carroll, who has one of the biggest personalities in the history of coaching. That personality came hand in hand with immense national success, of course. 

But on Saturday, Coach Riley showed a new side of himself. He was fired up on the Trojan sideline, celebrating his players like never before. It was abundantly clear that this Michigan win meant a lot to him personally. 

Here’s the deal: Lincoln Riley is just a more reserved person normally. He has admitted to this before in comparisons between himself and USC basketball coach Eric Musselman. 

But he does care greatly about USC. And honestly, his typically reserved personality made his emotion Saturday more special. 

The Personal Side Of Things

USC has had a roller coaster of a tenure under Lincoln Riley since he was hired ahead of the 2022 season. 

He has made plenty of mistakes, related to personnel, the roster, game management, et cetera. 

USC fans have the right to criticize him for those mistakes. 

They also have the right to not gel with Coach Riley’s personality. Some people are going to find him hard to like, it’s human nature. You’re not going to naturally get along with everyone. 

But an issue arises when people let their personal feelings about Lincoln Riley as a human being cloud their evaluation of him as a football coach, or result in over exaggerated claims about his character.

Coach Riley is not a bad person. He’s a family man, has never had any off-the-field scandals, and is generally kind to media members and fans, even if he doesn’t go out of his way to butter them up. 

I have expressed my fair share of criticisms of Coach Riley publicly in my coverage of the USC football program. I still wish he more openly discussed player injuries and I wish the program was more accessible to the average fan. I’ve also criticized plenty of football decisions. 

But I have strived to give him the benefit of the doubt as a human being. On Saturday, that benefit of the doubt paid off in a big way, and I hope it changed the minds of others. 

Is This Lincoln Riley’s Biggest Win At USC? 

Lincoln Riley has had a handful of big wins as the Head Coach at USC. 

Most of those came during the 2022 season, when USC secured ranked wins over rivals UCLA and Notre Dame. USC’s 2024 season-opening win over ranked LSU was also huge, especially at the time. 

You could argue any of those, especially the Notre Dame win, were bigger than USC’s recent win against Michigan. 

 But this win was easily the most important. For instilling confidence in the defense, for Riley’s own job security, to keep USC in the race for the College Football Playoff, for external perception of the program, to rally the fanbase. 

There’s a plethora of reasons this was a massive victory, but especially because it breaks a Lincoln Riley tendency. 

Promising 2023 and 2024 seasons both went off the rails after one big loss. USC’s loss to Notre Dame in 2023 and Michigan in 2024 were both followed up by a second consecutive loss in games that USC was expected to win. 

This was a course correction that programs under Riley have not been able to manage in his tenure. 

USC fans, did the win over Michigan change or reinforce your opinion about Lincoln Riley? 

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