USC, Lincoln Riley were actively trying to dodge LSU to open 2024 season

Despite going to essentially a Power Two conference, Lincoln Riley continues to want to take the easy way out. The Oklahoma Sooners joining the SEC played a part in him leaving for USC ahead of the 2022 college football season. Fate would have it, the Trojans would be Big Ten bound in the same academic year that OU would be joining the SEC. You cannot run away from your problems forever.

Just when I thought I could get behind USC having a great first year in the new Big Ten, Matt Hayes of Saturday Down South offered this. His intel suggests USC was actively trying to duck LSU ahead of their Week 1 meeting over the last two years. I understand the Trojans are joining a tougher league in the Pac-12's demise, and that they have a new athletic director in Jennifer Cohen, but come on, guys.

There is a reason why bitter Oklahoma fans not so nicely refer to Riely as TBOW. I will let you figure out what that acronym stands for. Because he runs an Air Raid offense and often features a team that plays no lick of defense, he has earned the label of being a finesse king. Yes, his quarterbacks will win the Heisman Trophy, but they don't win College Football Playoff games. You cannot have it both ways.

All the while, Brian Kelly left Notre Dame to come to LSU because he wasn't afraid of competition.

Admittedly, I am very high on what USC can do this year, but I cannot trust really to be a fox hole guy.

Lincoln Riley, USC Trojans wanting to duck LSU Tigers is a terrible look

I touched on this with my FanSided.com colleague and podcast co-host Cody Williams on the latest episode of False Start. A coach we are very fond of in Dan Lanning didn't try to duck Georgia ahead of his first game coaching the Oregon Ducks. Georgia was his former employer, coming off its first national title in 41 years. It was in Downtown Atlanta at the Benz. They got smoked, but he showed up.

I will always give Lanning a ton of credit for taking his pounding and moving on. I may like him a lot as an emerging rockstar coach in his profession. Fate would have it, it would be that game where Oregon had an honest conversation with itself and improved accordingly. No longer would the Ducks be Chip Kelly soft. In fact, Oregon has reinvented itself as a physical and utterly dominant national power.

Lanning has been in Eugene as long as Riley has been in Los Angeles. After two years, who does the college football world like more? Honestly, people like the curmudgeon Kelly more than Riley because he had the stones to leave a great situation in Notre Dame for a potentially better one in LSU. With the help of Jayden Daniels, Kelly did something that I long thought was impossible. He became ... likable.

Overall, you can always change. You have more time than you think. However, change is hard, and that is if you want to change. Finally moving on from Alex Grinch in favor of D'Anton Lynn was the right call. In a way, I think the team will respond more to Miller Moss than it ever did under Caleb Williams last year. Moss is not an all-world talent, but he is relatable and could be one of the guys. Good for USC.

Ultimately, Riley has to accept that shortcuts are not going to bring him championships. He had more talent than anyone in the Big 12 at Oklahoma, and that played a big reason why they won so prolifically. But this the Big Ten, and this is USC. Pete Carroll was kicking tail not that long ago. What he did in nine years was the stuff of legend. It all starts with Riley choosing to not be afraid of fear itself.

It all starts with looking Kelly straight in the eyes on Sept. 1 and saying, "I am not afraid of your team."