Lincoln Riley’s team finally enters the most crucial stretch of the season. With three games—Iowa, Oregon, and UCLA—lying on his schedule, the race to the CFP is not a walk in the park for them. But they started strong, smacking a 26-21 home victory against Iowa. Now, even though they won the game, they couldn’t live up to fans’ expectations.

So, before going up against Iowa, Lincoln Riley’s team made a huge giveaway promise to all the Trojans fans of distributing 40k cardinal rally towels at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. But they couldn’t fulfill it as their official account, USC Trojans, hits fans with an update on X: “UPDATE: Due to logistical challenges with shipping, we will not be able to hand out towels before today’s game against Iowa. We will aim to bring the towels back for the home finale against UCLA.”

Well, the Trojans had distributed the branded USC “Win The Era” rally towels to game day attendees against Michigan, too. The best part, you may ask? Fans waved their towels above the USC sidelines during the second half of the game when things started to turn in Lincoln Riley’s team’s favor. The event manager, Nataliarivera.events, even posted the entire thing on IG with a caption that read: “USC vs. Michigan Football Game Activation 🏈💛♥️ Distributed branded USC “Win The Era” rally towels to game day attendees upon entrance to the @lacoliseum.”

Something of this sort even took place back in 2013 during a USC men’s basketball game against Oregon, when they gave away rally towels to the first 1,000 fans coming in. But even if USC couldn’t do it this time, they made sure they ended up winning the game. Every player was in their best form against Iowa QB Jayden Maiava, who passed for 254 yards, and Bryan Jackson rushed for two touchdowns to overcome their largest deficit of the season when they trailed 21-7 late in the second quarter. But five drives later and with Jackson’s TD in the fourth quarter, they made a huge comeback.

Even their wide receiver, Ja’Kobi Lane, made seven catches for 65 yards. With this win, the team keeps its playoff hopes alive. And Lincoln Riley shuts down the buzz that he’s looking at other job openings once and for all.

Lincoln Riley shut down leaving USC rumor

Lincoln Riley arrived at USC back in 2021 after the Trojans successfully poached him from Oklahoma. Four years later, many coaches lost their jobs, and he became a major name in replacing them at teams like LSU, Florida, and Penn State. And speculations grew more after analyst Josh Pate made a bold remark, saying, “Let’s just keep an eye on Lincoln Riley at USC.”

Teams pushing for Riley make sense, given his coaching history. Back in Oklahoma, he posted a 55-10 record from 2017 to 2020 after taking over for Bob Stoops and leading them to three straight College Football Playoffs from 2017 to 2019.

But Lincoln Riley made one thing pretty clear: there’s no place better than USC for him right now. “You guys know what I sacrificed to be here. I’m where I need to be,” he said. With Riley’s statement, one thing is pretty clear: there’s no way he’s leaving USC for any other job. Also, considering his 10-year, $110 million contract with USC, which he signed in 2022 and includes a $70 million buyout, recruiting him won’t be straightforward.

Coming to USC, he made an 11-win debut season but missed the playoffs after a loss in the Pac-12 Championship game. And after that, they had seasons with 8-5 and 7-6 finishes. In fact, there’s a high chance that they make it to the playoffs this time, too. But despite all their success, USC still seems to be his only destination.