Why USC's 2025 team is the best Lincoln Riley has had — yes, better than 2022

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Over the weekend, following USC football‘s huge comeback win over the Iowa Hawkeyes, Booger McFarland of ESPN said USC football’s 2025 team is the best Trojan squad Lincoln Riley has had.

It has certainly already proven to be better than the last two seasons, but many fans balked at the notion that it was the best Riley-led USC team, because USC’s 2022 squad went 11-1 in the regular season and would have made the four-team College Football Playoff had the Trojans beaten Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game. If the 2025 team beats Oregon this weekend, the Trojans will likely finish 10-2. They need to beat the Ducks to even make the 12-team CFP.

But let’s take off our rose-colored glasses for a second, because Booger is unequivocally right. Here’s why.

Strength of schedule: satisfying wins and devastating losses

I think it’s pretty fair to say USC has three wins this season that are extremely satisfying, because they came in hard-fought battles against top-notch opponents. The 31-13 win against No. 15 Michigan, this past weekend’s defeat of No. 21 Iowa, and USC’s road win against Nebraska, one of the gutsiest road wins of the Lincoln Riley era.

The Trojans also have only one truly devastating loss in my view: the 34-32 loss to Illinois, given the season the Illini have gone on to have. The Notre Dame loss was expected preseason, and I don’t feel the fanbase of a rebuilding USC team should be completely devastated at losing to last year’s national championship runner-up.

2022 was less-than-fully satisfying — admit it

Now, think back to 2022. I want you to be honest with yourself. Is there any game in 2022 that truly felt like a satisfying defeat of a top opponent?

There are two memorable ones: at No. 16 UCLA and vs No. 15 Notre Dame.

To beat No. 16 UCLA, the Trojans needed 48 points and a last second interception by Korey Foreman. They started the game down 14-0. They gave up 513 yards to an offense led by Dorian Thompson-Robinson and coached by Chip Kelly.

Props to Caleb Williams, Austin Jones and Jordan Addison for some incredible offensive heroics in that game, but let’s be honest with ourselves, that was not a culture-building, team-oriented, program-advancing win. That was a defensive mess bailed out by the heroics of a few absolutely incredible offensive players. USC needed 649 yards of offense to win this game by 3 points. 649!

The 2022 game against Notre Dame was famous for winning Caleb Williams the Heisman, but let’s be honest again: Notre Dame didn’t have a quarterback that year. Just becuase the Trojans let Drew Pyne pass for over 300 yards doesn’t mean he was good then, or ever. He still sucks and he plays at Bowling Green now! His stats for the Falcons this year: 882 yards, 4 touchdowns, 5 interceptions. EW!

Then on the flip side, USC clearly had two devastating losses: a 47-24 loss to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game where the team died after Caleb Williams got hurt, and a loss to Tulane in the Cotton Bowl where the Trojans gave up 46 POINTS to the Green Wave!!!

Non-ranked opponents

USC’s nine other wins? Rice, Stanford, Fresno State, Oregon State, Arizona State, Washington State, Arizona, Cal, Colorado. USC’s best win from that group was against Oregon State — another team that had no quarterback (Chance Nolan sucks!) and whose fans were limited by stadium construction. This was a weak schedule, and there are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Utah and Tulane were the two best teams USC faced, and the Trojans were 0-3 against those two teams.

Opponent defense by the numbers

In 2022, USC’s high-powered offense faced only two defenses that were kind of okay. Notre Dame, which had the 23rd-best pass defense in the country, and Oregon State, which had the 15th-best run defense in the country.

This season, USC has faced the No. 9 scoring defense (Iowa), the No. 18 scoring defense (Notre Dame), the No. 12 run defense (Michigan), the No. 3 pass defense (Nebraska), the No. 6 pass defense (Iowa again) and the No. 6 total offense by yards (Iowa 3x).

Michigan, Notre Dame, Nebraska, and Iowa were all tough defensive tests and USC went 3-1 in those games. The ultimate proving ground (Oregon) still lies ahead, but it seems to me that even this offense has accomplished more.

Give me the 31-13 2025 win over Michigan or the 26-21 win over Iowa in the rain over any of USC’s offensive performances in 2022 any day.

Roster depth

I want to make something clear: I don’t believe Jayden Maiava is better than Caleb Williams at all. I’m not even convinced that Makai Lemon is better than Jordan Addison yet.

USC had a lot of top-end talent on that 2022 team, especially on offense. At certain positions, they were better. But one of the hallmarks of this Trojan team is depth.

USC has dealt with injuries to their starting running back, backup running back, third string running back, starting center, starting left tackle, No. 2 cornerback, and several backup wide receivers for large chunks of the regular season. Other players (unlikely heroes) have stepped up: King Miller, Kaylon Miller, Tanook Hines, Jaden Richardson, J’Onre Reed, Marcelles Williams, Kennedy Urlacher.

USC’s most devastating significant injury in 2022 was probably to starting running back Travis Dye? The Trojans did have some RB depth and Austin Jones performed admirably, but that offense (and entire team) was so reliant on Caleb Williams. As soon as Williams was even limited by injury in the Utah game, the Utes blew out the Trojans.

Well-roundedness

I keep trying to hammer home the fact that USC simply did not have a good defense in 2022, and their defense got worse as the year went on. But let’s dive into even more numbers that prove my point.

USC had the 94th scoring defense in 2022. They allowed 29.2 points per game with a whole lot of nothing on their schedule, including Rice and a Fresno State team whose starting quarterback was injured during the game. They were 80th in rush defense (allowing 159.8 rush yards per game) and 112th in pass defense (allowing 264.1 rush yards per game). Against a Pac-12 schedule where they didn’t have to play Oregon or Washington, and also got to play Rice and Fresno State. That sucks!

In 2025, the Trojans have been inconsistent defensively, but the numbers have improved staggeringly across the board even with so much youth and inexperience on the defensive side. The Trojans are 41st in scoring defense this season (21.7 opponent points per game). They are 63rd in rush defense (145.8 yds allowed per game) and 43rd in pass defense (198.3 yards allowed per game). It’s not elite, but its better than 2022 against a tougher schedule.

Plus, Ryon Sayeri is better than Denis Lynch and Hank Pepper has been very consistent. So USC clearly has a deeper AND more well-rounded roster.

The small irrelevance in this conversation

Here’s the thing: I don’t care if you think the 2022 team was better. I have a lot of great memories associated with that team also. Those Trojans were really fun to watch.

The fact of the matter is that the program is in a better, more sustainable place. Recruiting is better. USC is clearly developing homegrown players in house. Most of their starters have been in the program for multiple years. They have more depth. They’re upgrading their football facilities. They’re more well-rounded. They have mostly great coaches across the board.

This is much a better, more sustainable, and more optimistic situation than when USC relied on a handful of star veteran transfers on offense and a weak Pac-12 schedule to almost sneak into the CFP. 2025 > 2022.

The Oregon bottom line

When I first expressed this opinion, Trojans Wire editor Matt Zemek said that if I think 2025 USC is better than 2022 USC, I must be picking the Trojans to beat the Ducks this weekend.

I certainly believe the Trojans can beat the Ducks this weekend. But once again, it doesn’t matter. Because 2022 USC would NOT beat 2025 Oregon, which has the best pass defense in the country.

Caleb Williams would struggle, and the Ducks rushing attack led by Noah Whittington and Jordon Davison would stampede all over the 2022 USC defense.

The fact that widespread belief exists that this USC team even has a chance this weekend is a clear sign that the 2025 team is better.

And, with the exception of Caleb Williams who we should always celebrate, we all should be much more proud of the state of this program now than we were in 2022.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Comparing USC football’s 2022 and 2025 teams — talent, depth, resume

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