USC’s loss to Wisconsin over the weekend was ugly enough on its own, but the bigger gut punch for Lincoln Riley may have come out of Eugene. Oregon fired offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer, and that move only sharpened the spotlight on how badly USC and Riley have stumbled this season.
Mehringer’s run at Oregon had clearly gone off the rails. The Ducks failed to score more than 17 points in any of their last three games, and even when Dan Lanning got more involved with the offense, the results still didn’t turn. Oregon looked so out of sorts that Illinois - a team that lost at home to Purdue - beat the Ducks by 11 while holding them to 10 points this past weekend.
The numbers tell the same story. Oregon put up just 42 points across its last three games, then scored 41 against USC. That was the game where the Ducks’ offense actually resembled what the program had hoped to see, which says plenty about how far off the rails things had gone in the weeks before.
Lanning’s season has taken a hit because of how badly this hire backfired. Oregon had been rolling with strong offenses under previous coordinators Kenny Dillingham and Will Stein, but Mehringer’s promotion dragged the whole operation down. A team that entered the season ranked No. 2 in the preseason polls saw its offense get downgraded in a major way, and that has clearly affected Lanning’s national standing too.
And that’s where Riley’s season gets even harder to defend. USC was the one opponent against whom Oregon’s offense looked good, which turns the Trojans’ loss into an even rougher look for Riley. Oregon struggled against Boise State and Oklahoma State to varying degrees, then hit its worst stretch of the year, but USC was the matchup that let the Ducks find some footing again.
That changes the way the result looks in hindsight. Before the season, losing to Oregon would still have meant going down to a team with national championship-level expectations.
Instead, 2026 Oregon is nowhere near that level. The Ducks won’t make the College Football Playoff and will probably finish no better than 8-4, which makes USC’s 14-point loss feel even more damaging.
Riley is now 0-3 against Lanning, and this was supposed to be the year to get Oregon. Even with the Ducks not at their best, USC still couldn’t cash in. If Riley can’t beat Lanning in a season like this, the question only gets louder about what happens when Lanning is back to being a good coach and has a better offensive coordinator in place.
The broader Big Ten picture only adds to the frustration. Indiana hasn’t matched last year, and neither have Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan, Illinois or Washington.
USC and Riley were supposed to take advantage of that down year across the league, but instead they’ve slid backward. If USC couldn’t get it done in a conference this vulnerable, the criticism isn’t going away anytime soon.
In Other News...
USC Blew A Showcase Chance Fans Have Wanted For Years
USCs latest loss to Wisconsin did more than knock the Trojans back in the standings. It also took some shine off a game that had been carrying real national-stage buzz, the kind of spotlight fans around the program have been waiting years to see return to the Coliseum. Instead of lining up for a possible ESPN College GameDay visit, USC is watching that show head to Minnesota for the Indiana game.
The drought is the bigger backdrop here. College GameDay has not been to USC since 2013, and this was shaping up as one of the cleaner chances for that streak to end. Now, with that window closed again, the wait only gets longer, and the possibility of that long-awaited return may end up being tied to a different head coach entirely. [Read more 🡒]
Lincoln Rileys USC Future Just Became A Real Trojans Debate
Lincoln Rileys long-term future at USC has become the kind of topic that can hang around a program whenever expectations and results start to drift apart. The latest discussion around the Trojans is not about a firing or an immediate move, but about the possibility of a negotiated separation if another school comes calling and Riley himself is open to a fresh start. In that scenario, the conversation has naturally turned toward possible landing spots, with Baylor, TCU and Texas Tech all mentioned as programs that could fit.
For USC, the issue is as much financial as it is football-related, since any exit would have to account for Rileys buyout and the structure of a deal that would not be simple for either side. There have been no reported negotiations or agreement, and the idea remains speculative for now, but the comparison to a previous USC basketball coaching departure shows how these situations can move from rumor to reality quickly. For a fan base watching closely, the real question is whether this becomes just another offseason talking point or the start of a much bigger reset. [Read more 🡒]
USC Just Hit A Point Lincoln Riley Cant Ignore
USCs latest loss did more than dent the record. It pushed the Trojans further down the Big Ten pecking order at a time when the leagues top teams are already separating themselves through steadier quarterback play, cleaner execution and more reliable coaching week to week. Ohio State remains the standard at the top of the rankings even with some vulnerabilities of its own, which only underscores how little room there is for error in a conference where the margin between contender and pretender can vanish quickly.
For Lincoln Riley, the concern is no longer just the one result on the schedule, but what it says about the seasons overall ceiling. The rankings assessment makes clear that USCs path has narrowed after recent setbacks, and the team now has to prove it can respond against the kind of competition that defines a Big Ten race. In a conference shaped by current records as much as perceived upside, the Trojans have reached a point where the next stretch matters more than any preseason promise. [Read more 🡒]