It took Lincoln Riley only one year to make the Pac-12 Championship Game at USC

This is a long-term rebuild, the critics said. There’s way too much mess at #USC to get this done in one year, the skeptics said. They were wrong.

Click, clack.

It’s a night to be proud if you’re a USC Trojan football player, and it’s a night to be happy if you’re a USC football fan.

The Trojans might not win the Pac-12 championship this year, but they reached the Pac-12 Championship Game with their win over UCLA.

A lot of people across the country and the Pac-12 footprint were highly skeptical that the Trojans could go from 4-8 to the conference championship game in one year. It was an understandable line of thought, given the mess that Clay Helton left behind, but Riley was bringing Caleb Williams and Jordan Addison and Eric Gentry and Shane Lee with him to USC. Those are really good football players.

National commentators undersold the ability of the transfer portal — married with a great coach — to instantly transform USC’s roster. USC will play for the Pac-12 title in Las Vegas on Friday night, Dec. 2.

It’s real. The Trojans are 10-1.

Enjoy the spectacular highlights of the USC win over UCLA, followed by some notes about the road ahead and Lincoln Riley’s remarkable (continued) streak: