No more excuses – Lincoln Riley and USC must beat Dan Lanning, Oregon

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USC football has lived in the growing shadow of Oregon for nearly a decade. It's embarrassing for USC to continuously watch Oregon rise to the level of quality and status the Trojans have enjoyed in their best and most glorious eras. Dan Lanning is doing now what USC's great coaches — Pete Carroll, John McKay, John Robinson, and Howard Jones — achieved in past eras. Oregon has risen to the level where the College Football Playoff is a minimum expectation and competing for national championships is the standard. USA TODAY Sports ranked Dan Lanning fifth among all FBS head coaches entering the 2026 season:

"Fair or not, Lanning won’t get his national due until Oregon wins a national championship. The Ducks have been closer than ever since he took over in 2022, including a 26-3 mark in two seasons as members of the Big Ten. The 2024 team went unbeaten in winning the conference title and taking the top spot in the College Football Playoff rankings, while last year’s group advanced to the national semifinals before losing to the Hoosiers. Overall, Lanning is a gaudy 48-6 but will feel unfulfilled until he has greater postseason success."

It's true that USC football fans enter 2026 still able to say that the "O" in Oregon reflects the number of college football national championships the Ducks have won. However, at some point, the value of a college football season needs to be what USC accomplishes, not what Oregon fails to achieve. It's getting old and tired. Even though Oregon doesn't win the big one, the Ducks are still a top-eight program which makes College Football Playoff quarterfinals and is playing in the biggest games of the season. USC isn't. It's long past time for Lincoln Riley to beat Dan Lanning and change the college football conversation on the West Coast.

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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: No more excuses – Lincoln Riley and USC must beat Dan Lanning, Oregon

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