It was only Week 1. It was a non-conference game.
it doesn't matter.
It was Lincoln Riley's biggest win since his highly anticipated arrival at USC. It was the most important win. It was an uncharacteristically flawless performance for the Trojans.
Let's face it, USC didn't beat a national championship-contender in Las Vegas on Sunday. LSU entered the season ranked 13th in the country after losing Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jayden Daniels and superstar receiver Malik Neighbors to the NFL. The Tigers were projected to finish fifth in the powerhouse SEC as a College Football Playoff contender.
But this was a symbolic win for Riley, a win against a quality program in the best league in the country, because of what it meant for this USC team. They were coming off a miserable 8-5 season. The program hadn't won more than 11 games since 2008, when Pete Carroll was still the coach, and this year they were joining the Big Ten. It was a season full of low expectations and uncertainty. Caleb Williams was gone, and a new defensive coordinator, Danton Lin, was brought in. USC was 23rd at the start of the year, the worst of any Riley team. Let's not forget, this is the same coach who replaced Bob Stoops at Oklahoma in 2017 and went 55-10 in five seasons with four trips to the playoffs. When he moved to USC, the expectations were a bit unrealistic. Even if Williams followed Riley to the West Coast, it seemed like it would take a while for the Trojans to become championship contenders again.
The past two seasons were disappointing. The Trojans piled up points but couldn't stop anyone. All they had to do in Coach Riley's first season was win the Pac-12 finals, but they were soundly defeated by Utah and then lost to Tulane in the Cotton Bowl. Last year was even worse. After starting 6-0, USC lost five of six games. The defense was porous, allowing just 186.5 rushing yards and 34.4 points per game.
That's the biggest takeaway from the win over LSU – offensive improvement. The Tigers were held to 117 rushing yards and 20 points. USC defended the goal line on its first possession of the game and held LSU to a field goal on its final four possessions. The defense retained its stars, linebackers Mason Cobb and Eric Gentry, but safety Kamari Ramsey, who transferred from UCLA, also had a big impact. It's no surprise that the offense gained 450 total yards under new starting quarterback Miller Moss. Riley is an offensive genius who has developed three Heisman Trophy winners at the position: Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Williams.
But defense has always been a weakness for his teams. That wasn't the case against LSU. Maybe the Tigers aren't as good, and time will tell us we'll look back on this win as less impressive. But for now, this was pretty meaningful. Lincoln Riley hasn't had a better win since he arrived in Los Angeles.
Beware of hurricanes
I was intrigued by Miami before the season, but now I'm even more intrigued. Not only did the Hurricanes beat Florida in the Swamp, but two teams expected to compete for the top spot in the ACC, Florida State and Clemson, were also very disappointing in their losses. It's too early to say for sure that Miami is the team to beat in that league, but the 41-17 win at Florida was certainly impressive. New quarterback Cam Ward outgained the Gators for 385 yards and three scores, while the defense had eight tackles for loss and three sacks. Here's how the Hurricanes get off to a 7-0 start and head to a showdown with Florida State on October 26th. On paper, the toughest game was against Virginia Tech on September 27th, but that was before the Hokies lost to SEC punching bag Vanderbilt. A trip to Louisville on October 19th could be a tough one. But Miami has a good chance of matching last year's tally of seven wins by Halloween.
Alligator needs help
It's still early to wonder about Billy Napier's future at Florida, as this year could be a disaster after going 11-14 in his first two seasons on the job. The Gators still have seven ranked teams on their schedule, including trips to No. 15 Tennessee, No. 4 Texas and home games against No. 1 Georgia and No. 6 Ole Miss. It'll be hard for this team to avoid another sub-.500 season, and would Florida really hire a coach with three straight losing seasons?
