College FootBall power Ratings
September 28

It’s really easy to rip Lincoln Riley after USC’s loss to Oregon, and parts of Saturday were embarrassing. Desman Stephens’ antics after the late hit on Dante Moore were embarrassing. The loss itself was not.

USC had a golden opportunity against an Oregon team that looked vulnerable earlier in the season, and the Ducks eventually took control by making the biggest plays in the fourth quarter. But anyone who actually watched the game saw a high-level football game that was essentially even through three quarters.

Oregon won. Oregon deserved to win. And what is already becoming obvious is that Oregon is really good and absolutely belongs in the national championship conversation.

There is also a developing pattern with Dan Lanning teams. Oregon can look vulnerable early, people start questioning whether the Ducks are overrated, and then a few weeks later everything starts coming together. We may be watching that happen again.

Last week I wrote that whichever coach lost USC-Oregon would get thoughtlessly shredded by the media, and I’d probably be sitting here defending him because both Riley and Lanning are outstanding football coaches.

Here we are.

Lincoln Riley is absolutely under pressure. If USC misses the College Football Playoff this season, then we can have a serious conversation about the future of the program. If the Trojans lose a third game, those questions become completely legitimate.

But we’re not there yet.

I look at USC’s schedule, I look at the level at which the Trojans played Oregon, and I still see a team capable of competing at the highest level of college football.

We’re going to learn a lot very quickly.

USC now hosts a very good Washington team coming off a loss of its own. If Riley has really lost the locker room, if this team has quit, if the program is supposedly falling apart the way some people are already suggesting, then Washington is going to expose it.

That makes this one of the most interesting situational spots of the week.

This is exactly where blindly buying into the mainstream narrative can become expensive.

The only thing that matters for handicapping USC right now is what is happening inside that locker room. Not the headlines. Not the outrage. Not ten different media personalities repeating the same opinion until it becomes accepted as fact.

We’re about to get an answer.

Lincoln Riley’s résumé tells me USC responds. His teams have historically been dangerous offensively, resilient after losses, and capable of putting together strong stretches when the noise gets loudest.

Could that change? Absolutely.

If Riley loses this team, we’ll know it.

But there is no evidence that has happened yet.

And I keep coming back to one question for everybody declaring USC finished:

Did you actually watch the Oregon game?

Because I did.

I saw two teams playing at a very high level for three quarters before Oregon made the decisive plays late.

Those looked like two Top 10-caliber football teams to me.

USC lost the game.

That doesn’t mean USC suddenly stopped being good.

And if the market starts pricing the Trojans based on the media narrative instead of the football being played on the field, that is exactly where I want to start paying attention.

September 29, 2026