Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans have had quite the interesting week. Just ahead of Friday night's matchup against Northwestern, CBS Sports college football analyst Josh Pate dropped a bombshell (or a grenade, as he mimicked) on Bussin' with the Boys as he mentioned Riley as a candidate to "keep an eye on", whether that was in connection to jobs like Florida, Auburn, or LSU, or simply with USC moving on. So, after his Trojans trounced the Wildcats, he was forced to address the rumors. Namely, he denied them, saying, "You guys know what I sacrificed to be here. I'm where I need to be."
With USC sitting with two losses and still and outside shot at sneaking into the College Football Playoff, that's what Trojans fans certainly want to hear. At the same time, Oklahoma Sooners fans should be quick to remind their now sworn enemies of what it looked like when Riley made his exit from Norman for Los Angeles back in 2021.
Because if you look a bit deeper at that, Riley's declaration about the Trojans is quite similar to something he said before he made his Oklahoma exit that left the Sooners fanbase feeling eternally betrayed.
Lincoln Riley also denied coaching rumors before leaving Oklahoma
Near the end of the 2021 season after the Sooners lost Bedlam to rival Oklahoma State and lost their chance at playing for a Big 12 championship, Riley was a hot-button name floated to be the next coach of the LSU Tigers. So after the loss, he was asked about them and made it unmistakable that he wouldn't be heading to Baton Rouge.
"I'm not going to be the next head coach at LSU," Riley said at the time.
What came after, though, was the head coach talking about faith in the administration and Oklahoma program moving forward into the SEC and overall. And all signs pointed to him staying there. The next day, he was named the head coach at USC.
So, on one hand, Riley wasn't blatantly lying — he was not the next head coach at LSU. Having said that, when you compare that type of statement that was technically true, but missing the spirit of what was actually being discussed in regard to his future with the Sooners, it's hard to not look at his quotes with the Trojans amid a swirling coaching carousel and not feel something similar. I'm sure Oklahoma fans certainly pick up the same vibes.
Yes, Riley did sacrifice quite a bit to go to USC. He put his reputation on the line with the unpopular move from Oklahoma as the hand-picked successor to Bob Stoops. And more than that, it's worth noting that his time in Los Angeles hasn't exactly gone as smoothly as anyone would've hoped, this year perhaps not withstanding. So, it would make sense if he's pot-committed to this program for as long as they're committed to him.
But again, Oklahoma fans felt the same way about Riley in 2021, and he's no longer the head coach of the Sooners. That should mean that, while we can possibly cool the heat on Riley after Pate's comments for the meantime, that it's still a situation worth monitoring closely.
Lincoln Riley rumors are shrouded in uncertainty from top to bottom
One thing that stands out in all of this, though, is the lack of clarity that Pate provided in starting these rumors and speculation. He wasn't connected to a specific job, nor was it even certain that we weren't simply talking about Riley possibly being fired by USC. That was obviously intentionally played tight-lipped from Pate, but it does raise plenty of questions.
Not the least of those questions, though, is if the reason the details were kept vague are because the reality of Riley's situation is that we're looking at a bit of both him being a candidate who could leave and USC also being ready to move on? It's not out of the question, as we've seen mutually beneficial partings in this manner many times before in college football.
That, of course, doesn't guarantee a damn thing, but it's certainly one way to read the situation. What's certain, though, is that Oklahoma fans — if they were so (unlikely) inclined — could send USC fans a warning about Riley's comments addressing the rumors. Make sure you listen carefully to what's being said, because you can't take everything just at face value when there could be much more bubbling below the surface.