LOS ANGELES—USC head coach Lincoln Riley has been named a semifinalist for the George Munger Coach of the Year Award.
Riley is one of the nation’s most successful coaches. He’s had more success by the age of 40, now 42, than any other head coach in college football history. Riley has been a head coach for 8 seasons and has developed 3 of the last 8 Heisman Trophy winners. In addition to being the only head coach to tutor three Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks, Riley is the only coach to have 3 quarterbacks selected No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft, as well as the most No. 1 overall draft selections in the common draft era.
From coaching 3 Heisman Trophy winners to having a 78 percent winning record to appearing in 3 College Football Playoffs, Lincoln Riley’s coaching achievements set a standard of excellence.
In his fourth year at USC, the Trojans are 8-2 and 6-1 in Big Ten Conference play after defeating No. 21 Iowa 26-21 in a gritty, hard-nosed football game in the pouring rain in the Coliseum on Saturday, November 15. During the last 10 years, Iowa had an 83-5 record when leading by 8 points or more. The Trojans made it 83-6. USC is the first team since 2020 to beat Iowa when the Hawkeyes held a lead of at least 14 points. Heading into halftime, USC was down 21-10.
Prior to Saturday, the most USC had been down by at the half this season was eight points against Nebraska (which resulted in a 21-17 win). In true “Fight On” spirit, the Trojans battled back, scoring 19 unanswered points on five consecutive drives. The last time USC came back to win a game after being down by double-digit points at the half was against UCLA in 2020.
USC’s defense continues to perform at an extremely high level. USC has not allowed its opponents to score more than 3 points in the second half of its last three games. The last time USC held opponent defenses to 3 points or less in the second half three games in a row was in 2013. USC’s current 21.7 points per game allowed is on pace to be the best for a USC team since allowing 21.2 ppg in 2013. This is the first time since 2008 that USC has held four straight opponents to 150 or fewer passing yards.
The Trojans are currently ranked No. 15 in the CPF Poll and No. 16 in the AP and USA Today Coaches Polls.
