It has now been more than 16 months since it was announced that USC and Oregon would be joining the Big Ten Conference together in 2024. At the time of the announcement, USC football and Oregon football appeared to be in similar places. Both were coming off of double-digit win seasons under first-year head coaches, were recruiting well, and appeared poised for long-term success.
Since then, however, the Trojans and Ducks have gone in completely different directions.
Since the start of the 2023 season, Oregon is 25-2. On Saturday evening, the Ducks defeated Penn State to win the Big Ten championship in their first season in the league and lock up the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff.
USC, meanwhile, is just 14-11 the past two years. At 6-6 this year, the Trojans barely even made a bowl game, and were nowhere near the playoff.
The unfortunate truth for USC fans is that Dan Lanning is doing at Oregon exactly what Lincoln Riley was hired to do at USC.
The Ducks have recruited elite talent. They consistently have high-level quarterback play. They are extremely physical along the lines of scrimmage. They have a culture of toughness and discipline.
The Trojans? Not so much. USC had a great season with Caleb Williams in 2022, but the Trojans have yet to prove that they can field an elite team in the trenches. USC has been dominated along the lines of scrimmage on numerous occasions under Riley, and there have not been enough recruiting wins to suggest that is going to change in the imminent future.
For decades, USC has been the premier football program on the West Coast. Right now, Dan Lanning and the Ducks are stuffing the Trojans into a locker. Given how much Riley is getting paid, USC fans have every right to be furious with the results.