USC's Lincoln Riley not ranked among top five Big Ten football coaches

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Lincoln Riley was unquestionably a top-tier college football coach when he came to USC in 2021. His first year in Los Angeles did nothing to change his position. He brought the Trojans an appearance in the Pac-12 Championship Game and a New Year's Six bowl game. Then, however, the wheels have fallen off. USC has had three straight unquestionably failed seasons from 2023 through 2025. Where does Riley stand in the new Big Ten head coaching rankings? USA TODAY Sports has done what really can't be argued against at the moment: It put Riley outside the top five coaches in the Big Ten.

"Riley might’ve been near the top of the list among all coaches nationally as recently as 2020, when he wrapped up his fourth playoff appearance in as many years at Oklahoma," Paul Myerberg wrote. "Things have been much rockier at USC, which hit a high with an 11-win 2022 season in Riley’s debut but has since gone 24-15 with just one ranked finish. But things are starting to look up after USC went 7-2 in the Big Ten last year and then inked one of the nation’s top recruiting classes."

Indiana's Curt Cignetti is quite obviously the best college football coach in the Big Ten. That requires zero explanation. Ryan Day of Ohio State and Dan Lanning of Oregon also have to be in the top four with zero questions asked. Then the conversation gets interesting. Kirk Ferentz has done a lot of good work at Iowa and has been in Iowa City nearly 30 years as a head coach, doing more with less. Kyle Whittingham of Michigan is a newcomer to the conference, but he was obviously a better coach than Lincoln Riley when Utah and USC were both in the Pac-12. Whittingham definitely deserves to be ranked ahead of Riley. Ferentz might be the one really debatable choice, but overall, Lincoln Riley has not clearly earned a top-five spot in the Big Ten.

He has to earn that status this coming season.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC's Lincoln Riley not ranked among top five Big Ten football coaches

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