Lincoln Riley tried to dodge LSU and college football Twitter wasn't surprised

Lincoln Riley has a reputation and he's not very good at shaking the allegations.

He was accused of not caring about defense. Then he allowed Alex Grinch to field the 121st-ranked scoring defense in the country last season.

He was accused of bring scared of the SEC when he left Oklahoma for USC in the first place. Then it came out that the Trojans have spent the last two years trying to get out of an SEC matchup with LSU.

USC and LSU will play the biggest non-conference game of opening weekend, facing off on Sunday, Sept. 1 in Las Vegas. But according to Matt Hayes of Saturday Down South, Riley and USC did all they could to get the game off their schedule because Riley "didn't want the game."

As you can imagine, college football Twitter wasn't going to pass up the chance to troll Riley for that one.

Best memes and tweets as CFB fans roast Lincoln Riley like a dried out brisket

There was no way for Riley to escape the teasing. The only way he'll get the last laugh is by beating LSU, but this isn't exactly the most promising way to head into that game.

I'm inclined to be somewhat generous towards Riley on this one. There is an explanation for USC's efforts to get out of the game that doesn't come back to Riley simply not wanting to play an SEC opponent.

USC's non-conference schedule is already harder than most year-in-year-out because the Trojans play Notre Dame. The move to the Big Ten has only made the 2024 schedule more challenging from a logistical perspective at the very least.

Riley already has to figure out how to manage cross country travel and a slate of entirely new opponents. It's understandable that he might not want to have to worry about a high-profile non-conference opponent on a neutral site, which means one less home game.

Having said that, USC fans got used to the Pete Carroll approach, which was to take on all comers. Carroll reportedly tried over and over again to schedule SEC opponents to no avail. They dodged him.

Riley appears to be doing the opposite, looking for ways to ease the schedule instead of viewing each challenge as a way to sharpen his team. That's not what Trojan fans want from their head coach. And it's fodder for the trolls.

The only way Riley shakes his reputation is by winning the games in front of him, SEC or otherwise.