“My plan and my vision is to bring that back and to take care of this state. The state deserves it.” Maybe Chad Bowden wasn’t just throwing out empty words? Maybe the Hollywood magic is still very much alive with Lincoln Riley and USC? Maybe the Trojans DO have a shot at making a big splash?

Yes, there are a lot of “maybes,” but don’t let that fool you from the fact that Lincoln Riley and Bowden can actually make the Trojan war machine run again. See, if we go with Paul Finebaum’s claims, yes, Riley’s last 2 years at USC were a disaster. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t any redemption. With the “Fire Riley” guillotine hanging above his neck, the HC has to make every shot count.

It looks like he might’ve just done it. With Rivals breaking the news on X that, “@samspiegs and @SWiltfong_ have logged expert predictions for USC to land elite WR Boobie Feaster.” This is a huge win for the squad and Riley. Coming straight from DeSoto, Ethan “Boobie” Feaster is a great option to have on the offense. He is ranked 94.95 by On3 and has easily cemented himself as one of the most sought-after prospects in the 2027 class. Oh, and how could we forget No. 5 WR in the 2026 class?

However, what makes this recruitment gut punch even better for Southern Cal fans is the fact that Riley and Bowden might’ve just managed to snag Ethan away from the big, bad red team. No, not Ohio State. We are talking about Alabama. JaMarcus Shephard from the Crimson Tide was handling the recruitment process, but it looks like Dennis Simmons from USC takes the win.

In short, USC is pretty much on a roll right now. It doesn’t matter that they lost Ryder Lyons to BYU because their 2026 class is still No.2 in the country with 30 different commits (17 of them are on the ESPN Top 300 list).

If Bowden keeps this momentum up, then the sun might finally shine on Southern Cal. However, will all of these recruitment hallelujahs be enough to cover their 2025 conquest?

Lincoln Riley on the coaching hot-seat

Let’s be real, if Lincoln Riley is going to save his job at USC, it has almost nothing to do with his offense. Might sound extreme, but for years, Riley’s teams have been saddled with defenses that were, frankly, a joke. We all saw it. But after firing his buddy Alex Grinch and bringing in a legitimate defensive coordinator in D’Anton Lynn, there’s finally some hope.

Entering year 2 with Lynn and NFL heads like Eric Henderson and Rob Ryan, there is absolutely 0 excuse for failing. We think we speak on behalf of every USC fan when we say that the defense doesn’t need to be the ’85 Bears, but it has to stop being a liability that forces the offense to score 50 points just to stay in the game.

Now the offense doesn’t scare us too much. Yes, the Caleb Williams era is gone, and Riley has long lost his “quarterback whisperer” title, but this team still has a shot with transfer Jayden Maiava and freshman Husan Longstreet.

The final formula is simple: Good enough defense + Elite offense = A successful season. Riley, please don’t fail this test.