Lincoln Riley walked into Saturday night with the noise around his job getting louder by the week. He walked out with the kind of win that changes the conversation fast.
USC stunned second-ranked Ohio State 30-18, and suddenly the Trojans are right back in the College Football Playoff mix. It was only the sixth ranked opponent USC has beaten in 21 tries under Riley, but this one landed with extra force because of everything swirling around the program before kickoff.
The Trojans are now 7-2 overall and 4-2 in Big Ten play, good enough to sit in a three-way tie for third in the conference after Week 9. More importantly, they still control their own fate over the final month, with games left against Indiana, Maryland and UCLA. Win out, and USC would have three victories this season over ranked teams and a strong case for an at-large CFP berth for the first time in program history.
Riley’s team also keeps a slim path to the Big Ten Championship Game alive, though that road is a maze. USC can only finish 7-2 in league play, and it would need help from a long list of results around the conference to get to Indianapolis. The scenarios involve losses by UCLA, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Oregon, Ohio State, Nebraska, Illinois and Iowa in various combinations, with USC needing tiebreakers over five different teams - UCLA, Ohio State, Indiana, Northwestern and Nebraska - if they finish with the same record.
On the field, USC’s defense had a clear answer for Ohio State’s biggest weapon. Jeremiah Smith, the Heisman frontrunner, was held to 83 receiving yards and a touchdown on 10 catches. Freshman quarterback Luke Fahey, starting in place of the injured Julian Sayin, couldn’t settle in and spent much of the night under pressure and off rhythm.
Jayden Maiava threw for 222 yards and a touchdown for USC, while King Miller and Waymond Jordan combined for 126 rushing yards and two scores.
The win also came against a familiar name in a very uncomfortable place for the Buckeyes. Ryan Day’s loss was just his sixth in 65 games against Big Ten opponents with Ohio State.
Riley had spent the week pushing back on the chatter about his future. Before the biggest win of his USC tenure, he made his stance plain.
"If I didn't want to be at this place, I wouldn't have come here in the first place," Riley said this week before the biggest win of his USC tenure. "I've had plenty of opportunities to leave.
This is where I want to be. This is the right place for me.
I'm the right person to be here. And that's as honest and transparent as I can be with you guys.
"I love it here. I mean, like I told you guys a lot of times, there's not many people in college football history that gave up what I gave up to come here.
I don't care if it's 15 years down the line; that never should be taken lightly. It's certainly not taken lightly by me.
I came here because I believe in this place and none of that has changed whatsoever."
The result improves Riley to 42-20 at USC. He already guided the Trojans to an 11-win season in 2022, before the move to the Big Ten, and this year’s surge gives the program a real shot at turning a season that included hard-to-stomach losses to Oregon and Wisconsin into something far bigger.
If USC wins out, the math gets a lot cleaner. UCLA’s only loss would have to come against the Trojans, and USC would own the needed tiebreakers over the other two-loss teams still in the mix. In that case, the Trojans are in.
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