USC football inched nearer to Top 5 standing in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, shifting up one spot to No. 6 on Sunday morning. The Trojans additionally moved up one spot in the USA Today Top 25 Coaches’ Poll to No. 6 as nicely.
The Trojans (4-0, 2-0) are coming off a hard-fought, ugly 17-14 win over Oregon State at Reser Stadium. USC’s offense and star QB Caleb Williams struggled for many of the evening, recording simply three factors in the primary half. But the Trojans discovered two TDs in the fourth quarter, together with 21-yard TD strike to Jordan Addison with lower than two minutes remaining.
The protection performed its greatest sport of the season, holding Oregon State to seven factors for 3 quarters and forcing 4 interceptions, together with a game-sealing choose.
No. 6 USC (4-0) will return to the confines of the Coliseum to host struggling Arizona State (1-3), which just lately fired head coach Herm Edwards.
The football program is nicely on its means to bouncing again from final season’s 4-8 file in 2022 after hiring Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma. Riley, who changed longtime Sooners head coach Bob Stoops, got here to USC with a 55-10 teaching file after 5 seasons on the helm of Oklahoma. He guided the Sooners to 4 Big 12 convention championships in first 4 seasons and three College Football Playoff appearances (0-3), most just lately in 2019-20. Riley was the youngest head coach in FBS when the Sooners employed him at 33.
Riley has not tampered down the expectations for the Trojans in Year 1.
“Not my place to say whether they’re fair or not. Like I said in my opening press conference, before even one of these players had come in, I mean, you don’t come to USC and you don’t come to Los Angeles to do things small. You got to set your sights big. I don’t think it’s too much. I don’t. I believe in what we’re doing. I believe in what we’re teaching. I believe in the people that we have in there,” mentioned Riley at Pac-12 Media Day. “Obviously, it’s going to continue to evolve through years. I didn’t come here for one season. I didn’t come here to do this in a short-term. In some respects, you keep the long game in mind. The people we brought in here, the staff we brought in here, we didn’t come here to play for second. We are not wired that way. We came here competitively to win championships, win them now and to win them for a long time. That will always be our expectation.”
USC’s roster noticed 54 departures from the 2021 staff, however has been overhauled it for the reason that arrival of Riley, thanks to signing the No. 1 switch class in the nation, which included the Oklahoma five-star QB switch Caleb Williams, Virginia offensive deal with Bobby Haskins, Pittsburgh broad receiver Jordan Addison, Wyoming defensive lineman Solomon Byrd, Oklahoma receiver Mario Williams, All-Pac-12 Oregon operating again switch Travis Dye, Alabama linebacker Shane Lee and Auburn edge rusher (*25*) Height.
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