When Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma for USC, it sent shockwaves throughout college football as we hardly ever see coaches leave one of the premier jobs in the sport for another top job. Lincoln Riley's agenda was clear, he felt that recruiting California's talent gave him a better chance to build the best roster after years of falling short in the Playoff.
More importantly, Lincoln Riley was always opposed to Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 for the SEC and bolted at the first chance he could picking the much easier Pac 12. That notion was quickly blown up when USC made the decision to join the Big Ten.
After Riley took the USC job, he was asked about what attracted him the most to which he said the following:
"I don't think anywhere is positioned like this place is to build an elite roster."Lincoln Riley
Brent Venables has clinched a win for Oklahoma in the breakup
On Saturday Afternoon, the Oklahoma Sooners survived an upset scare from LSU to, in all likelihood, punch their ticket to the College Football Playoff.
Isaiah Sategna’s TD sent GFOMS into a FRENZY 🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/l5355xIJGK
— Red Dirt Media (@RedDirtMediaCo) November 30, 2025
While Oklahoma and Brent Venables were cementing their place in the college football playoff, Lincoln Riley and USC battled to beat a lowly UCLA team to finish the season 9-3, marking another season with nothing significant to show for it.
Lincoln Riley made the bet that he could rebuild the USC Trojans into a power and make the College Football Playoff easier than he could at Oklahoma. While Riley destroyed the program, Brent Venables rebuilt Oklahoma far quicker, and was able to make the Playoff in the same league Riley ran away from.
The USC Trojans could still have a succesful run under Lincoln Riley, and the Trojans still may have a higher ceiling in the end. Nonetheless, Lincoln Riley took what he viewed as the easier path, and his replacement ended up making the Playoff on the harder path quicker than Riley could.