On Saturday, ESPN College GameDay analyst Kirk Herbstreit lit the rumor pit, suggesting Florida might have its eyes on USC HC Lincoln Riley. It was speculative, but it sent the Trojans fans a wave of paranoia. Yet the only person whose voice mattered played an entirely different tune.

“Lincoln Riley is asked if he anticipates coaching at #USC next season given the coaching carousel going on,” USC insider Chris Treviño wrote on X on November 25. “He said ‘100 percent.’ Excited about what they are building here at USC.”

“I’m right where I’m supposed to be,” Lincoln Riley told LA Times’ Ryan Kartje after Tuesday’s practice. “I think nothing other than what we’re building, literally, and I love being here. Yeah, that’s really the end of it.”

To be fair, Lincoln Riley has reasons to feel anchored. USC is about to unveil the No. 1 recruiting class, its best crop since the Pete Carroll golden age. The 2026 class has multiple instant-impact players, including blue-chip talent like 5-star OT Keenyi Pepe. Also, USC’s brand and Big Ten exposure gives him a national runway he didn’t always get in the Big 12. But if you’re the Trojans HC, you didn’t ink a reported $90 million deal to fear the deep end. And the support system around him might be the strongest he’s ever had.

Between powerhouse AD Jen Cohen who is fresh off national honors, elite assistants like OL coach Zach Hanson and DC D’Anton Lynn, and a connected front office, Lincoln Riley has stability he didn’t always enjoy at Oklahoma. And coaches don’t always leave when the machine is finally assembled. So does that mean the Trojans can feel secure even if Ole Miss HC Lane Kiffin ignores Florida’s coaching hunt? Perhaps, after you read what his big USC statement is. 

Lincoln Riley is confident with USC

None of these storylines would have existed without the season USC just navigated. The Trojans are not making the College Football Playoff. Again. Four years under Lincoln Riley and still zero CFP berths. Still, he insists the program is closer than critics want to admit.

“Lincoln Riley characterized USC’s season as ‘a very good year — right on the verge of being a great year, but a very good year,’” Ryan Kartje tweeted.

He’s not wrong there. With a potential win against UCLA, USC will finish 9-3, a mark only five Trojan teams have hit in the 16 years since Pete Carroll left. Oddsmakers pegged their win total at 7.5. Lincoln Riley cleared that with games to spare. But here’s where things get real.

USC may have fallen short of the playoffs, but they beat every team it was supposed to beat. It won a real road game against a .500 team for the first time since 2022. It blew only one fourth-quarter lead, progress compared to last year’s five. These are foundation bricks. Because next year, the excuses will expire. The Playoff path will be brutal, but that’s the assignment Lincoln Riley signed up for. USC is “right there,” he keeps saying. By this time next season, we’ll know if that’s a promise fulfilled.