USC fans and power brokers can ignore this, or they can face up to it: Oregon football and coach Dan Lanning have mopped up against the Trojans and Lincoln Riley.
Not convinced? Connor Morrissette of 247Sports lays out the details. Here’s just a small sample of the recruiting battles Oregon has won against USC when the two programs have gone head to head:
“Pellum is the latest example of a blue-chip recruit opting for green and yellow over Cardinal and Gold. Four-star Gardena (Calif.) Serra cornerback Dakoda Fields was a one-time USC commit, but he also signed with Oregon Wednesday. Four-star Long Beach (Calif.) Poly linebacker Dylan Williams is in the same boat. He was committed to USC as an underclassman, but signed with Oregon. The Trojans were a finalist for four-star junior college cornerback Sione Laulea this cycle. But so were the Ducks. And you guessed it — Laulea too signed with Oregon.”
In 2022 — as Morrissette also lays out in his article — Oregon won another stack of high-profile battles against USC, none bigger than the pursuit of offensive lineman Josh Conerly, who was viewed as a likely USC pickup until the Ducks turned the tide at the last minute.
We can debate whether these recruiting results are truly the work of the coaches themselves or the NIL operations at each school, but what remains is that the Lanning era and the Riley era exist concurrently. In these eras, Oregon has dominated USC in recruiting. No one can ignore that.
Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire.