The Lincoln Riley era seemed to turn a corner at the beginning of the 2024 college football season, but USC could not be further removed from that impressive win over LSU. The Trojans lost in Week 8 at Maryland, dropping them further into the Big Ten basement and adding volume to the questions about the program’s trajectory.
Fellow Pac-12 defector Oregon, however, could not be more thrilled with its debut season in its new conference. The Ducks moved into the No. 1 spot this week in the AP Top 25 after they avoided a letdown in the wake of their program-defining win over Ohio State. Dan Lanning and his crew took care of business on the road against a pitiful Purdue team and maintained pole position in the conference title race.
Even Colorado, which entered the season with countless question marks, opened the second half of the campaign in better fashion than the Trojans with its statement win over Arizona. Those results headline a Week 8 on the West Coast in which the divide between the region’s best teams and the rest of the pack grew significantly wider.
USC LACKS DIRECTION UNDER LINCOLN RILEY
Matt Leinart expressed his concerns earlier this month about the USC program being “stuck in neutral” under Riley’s watch. The Trojans proved his point with another disappointing loss, falling in a 29-28 heartbreaker at Maryland. It was another one-score defeat for a program that cannot seem to get over the hump against middle-of-the-road competition despite its perceived coaching edge, hordes of talent and ample resources.
USC is stuck in neutral. It does lack direction. But it is also in danger of slipping into reverse. If this season spirals — which would be far from unprecedented after a string of losses to seemingly inferior competition — Riley’s future in Los Angeles will be all the murkier.
“It’s been a really tough stretch,” Riley said, via USCFootball.com. “Emotionally, it’s tough, man. When you fight like these guys are fighting and put yourself in position to win some of these games, do a lot of good things out there, but it just simply hasn’t been enough. Just like last week, I own it. It’s my responsibility. I’ve got to get this team to play better at the end of games, and I’ve obviously not done a good enough job of that, clearly.”
This is the same issue Clay Helton ran into during his disappointing tenure. It ended the Lane Kiffin era. Even Steve Sarkisian could not get over the hump before his dismissal. Beating the teams that USC should beat is a task that some of the most highly regarded names in the sport continue to fail to achieve. That raises the question: Does USC have a Lincoln Riley problem, or does Lincoln Riley have a USC problem?
OREGON COULD HOLD NO. 1 RANKING FOR WEEKS TO COME
No top-ranked team in the AP Top 25 this season has been at the No. 1 spot for more than three-straight weeks. Could Oregon be the team to buck that trend? With the Ducks making light work of Purdue in their first shutout since 2012, and with a favorable schedule ahead, it would take a significant upset for Lanning’s program to fall out of college football’s catbird seat. Oregon has its first No. 1 ranking of the College Football Playoff era, and if it gets past Illinois in another top-25 showdown this week at Autzen Stadium, it could run the table as the top team in America entering the postseason.
COLORADO ON VERGE OF BOWL ELIGIBILITY
Colorado opened the year with perhaps the most vocal doubters in college football. Those who questioned Deion Sanders have been awfully quiet, though, over the last two months. The Buffaloes rolled past Arizona this weekend in a 34-7 drubbing and guaranteed more wins in Year 2 of the Sanders era than in Year 1. This already marks two steps forward for the Colorado program in as many seasons since Coach Prime took over, and the campaign is only just over halfway complete. The Buffs’ first bowl game since 2020 and third postseason appearance since 2007 is just one win away; that is proof of concept for Sanders’ unconventional approach.
UNLV SAVES PLAYOFF HOPES, SETS UP MOUNTAIN WEST SHOWDOWN
UNLV trailed Oregon State by 11 points midway through the second quarter, and climbing out of a hole inside a hostile Reser Stadium is no easy feat. Hajj-Malik Williams sparked a scoring spree, though, en route to a 33-25 win that kept the Rebels in contention for the Group of Five’s automatic playoff berth. UNLV stands outside the AP Top 25 but would undoubtedly receive consideration for the selection committee’s first batch of rankings should it defeat Boise State on Friday in the Mountain West Game of the Year.
FINAL NOTES
DeShaun Foster has his first Big Ten victory. UCLA went across the country, defied the time zone challenges in a noon local kickoff spot and defeated a reeling Rutgers squad to snap its nearly two-month-long losing streak. Most impressively, the Bruins’ 35 points more than doubled their previous season-high.
The Sam Leavitt injury snapped a terrific run for Arizona State, which emerged as one of the countless surprise teams in college football by the season’s midway point. Jeff Sims stepped into the starting lineup, and the Sun Devils posted a season-low 14 points in a loss to Cincinnati, halting the momentum Kenny Dillingham built in a breakthrough second year at the helm.
Heartbreaking losses and the California football program go hand-in-hand this season. Another blown lead and more special teams troubles cost the Golden Bears their first ACC win. They have now held a lead in each of their last four losses.
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Settling the quarterback situation at Utah did little to spark the offense, which managed just seven points against one of the Big 12’s worst teams. The Utes have major issues given that a fully healthy Isaac Wilson was just as ineffective as a severely injured Cameron Rising.
