Lincoln Riley Has No Room for Error in USC's Final Stretch

The USC Trojans had the week off but now enter November with a College Football Playoff appearance within reach as they prepare for their toughest stretch of the season.

With two games against top-10 CFP-ranked opponents ahead, can Lincoln Riley finally get it done and lead USC back to the playoff for the first time?

“You're a USC fan if I told you before the year you were going to have three games, you're going to be 7-2, and you just beat Ohio State.

Would you take it? The answer is yes,” Joel Klatt said. “USC is walking into November, and Lincoln Riley has this team on the precipice of going to the playoff.”

The Trojans sat idle in Week 10, but despite not taking the field, they should come out of the week ranked higher than No. 20, where they landed in the inaugural College Football Playoff rankings, after watching six teams ranked ahead of them lose over the weekend.

While no one expects the Trojans to move into the top 12, five of the six losses were non-competitive, allowing USC to climb the rankings without playing a game in November yet.

USC should have an opportunity to jump Missouri, LSU, Ohio State, and Ole Miss after all four suffered critical losses over the weekend.

Missouri, ranked No. 18, lost by 14 to No. 7 Texas. Meanwhile, No. 14 LSU, No. 12 Ohio State, and No. 10 Ole Miss were embarrassed on their home fields. The Rebels fell 42-7 to No.2 Georgia in a game that was effectively over by halftime.

The Buckeyes watched the Horseshoe empty out before the fourth quarter started in a 41-28 loss to Oregon. LSU may be second-guessing the Lane Kiffin hire after suffering a 31-13 loss to No.5 Alabama for its third loss of the season.

No. 9 BYU fell 28-20 in the Holy War, while No. 6 Kentucky lost 34-6 to Tennessee, both ranked inside the top 10. The question becomes just how far the committee will decide to drop both when the rankings come out Tuesday.

The human element in the committee's decisions and its tendency to move the goalposts when evaluating teams make it difficult to pinpoint exactly where USC will land. However, the expectation should be somewhere between No. 13 and No. 15.

Even if the Trojans remain on the outside looking in, they will control their playoff fate with two of their final three games coming against top-10 CFP opponents.

It starts with a trip to Bloomington to face No. 4 Indiana at Memorial Stadium. The Hoosiers will be coming off a bye week, while USC should carry momentum after bouncing back from its loss to Wisconsin with a win over Ohio State. Indiana, meanwhile, needed overtime to win its last two games and could be facing a quarterback competition heading into the matchup.

Maryland comes to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum next after already parting ways with its head coach and sitting at 3-6. It should be a game the Trojans handle, provided they don't overlook the Terrapins with undefeated in-state rival UCLA looming.

If college football has taught us anything this season, nothing is a guarantee, especially in a game that fits the definition of a trap game.

No one would have thought lightning could strike twice, but that appears to be a real possibility at UCLA.

Indiana hired Curt Cignetti away from James Madison, and he immediately turned the program around. He led the Hoosiers to the CFP in his first season and their first national championship in his second.

UCLA went out and hired Bob Chesney away from James Madison and is now 9-0. He appears to have the Bruins following a similar path. That could make the regular-season finale against UCLA one of the toughest tests on USC's schedule and a must-watch matchup.

Riley has already come under increased scrutiny, and a loss to the Bruins, resulting in a missed CFP appearance, could make the calls for change too loud to ignore. If the Trojans fail to secure a spot, Riley will have only himself to blame.

“They would have no one to blame but themselves if they don't go to the College Football Playoff because here it is: You beat Ohio State. You've got Indiana off of an off week,” Klatt said.

The pressure is on Riley to duplicate the performance against Ohio State over the final three games. Can he get his team to match that same intensity, discipline, and attention to detail across all three phases of the game, offense, defense, and special teams? That is the question.

“You have one responsibility, and that is consistency,” Klatt said. “Consistency of effort, consistency of detail, and consistency of discipline. If they can do that, they can win every one of these games, and they'll be in the College Football Playoff.”

The opportunity is there for Riley and USC. Now it's about proving the win over Ohio State wasn't a fluke and that Riley can lead the Trojans through a tough stretch, with the reward being a spot among college football's best programs in the CFP.