USC Football: Lincoln Riley has officially become the villain of college football

New USC football coach Lincoln Riley has officially become the villain of college football amid the whole Jordan Addison transfer controversy.

College football has needed a new villain for a while. Tired are the days of hating on Jim Harbaugh, Brian Kelly, and Dabo Swinney, but now we’ve landed on a new name to demonize: Lincoln Riley.

The new USC football coach is already making enemies while living on the West Coast, drawing the wrath of Pat Narduzzi. He has reportedly been tampering with 2021 Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison of Pitt, setting up a monster NIL deal for the talented wideout if he decided to transfer to USC.

While these are all just rumors, it has flipped the college football world on Riley and after he brought in Caleb Williams from Oklahoma with him, Sooner fans have already turned.

Heck, when he left Oklahoma suddenly for USC after denying any interest in the LSU job (which was a funny lie by omission), he immediately turned the entire Sooner fanbase on him. It’s fair to say he won’t be welcome back in Oklahoma despite the multiple conference titles and playoff berths he led the Sooners to.

But now the rest of college football is starting to get the “slimy salesman” feel from Riley.

Fans need a coach who they can always hate on no matter what and Riley is becoming just that. All the heat is off of Harbaugh, Nick Saban, Kelly, and Swinney and now everyone is directing their hatred toward Riley and the Trojans.

Maybe this is what he wanted. Eyes are being drawn to the USC football program now more than ever before and it just feels like the Trojans are going to be that next most hated school that will back it all up with success.

Either way, if the Addison rumors are true, Riley deserves all the criticism in the world. There’s no place in college football for tampering and if it is true and he goes unpenalized, we are about to see an ugly future for the sport.