College football insider reveals realistic expectations for USC in Lincoln Riley's first year

The USC Trojans went just 4-8 overall and 3-6 against Pac-12 opponents last season, but expectations are higher entering next season with Lincoln Riley now at the helm. College football insider Bruce Feldman recently joined The Herd with Colin Cowherd to address his realistic expectations for USC in the first year under Riley.

For Feldman, he sees the Trojans having some real success and improvement in the first season with Riley leading the charge. A lot of that is due to the star power on offense.

“I think nine wins is realistic,” Feldman said of his expectations for USC in Riley’s first year. “Everything went wrong for them and they won four games. The Pac-12 is not the SEC, it’s not even the Big Ten. So that is there for the taking. You bring in a quarterback in Caleb Williams who’s very talented. He’s played some, he hasn’t played a ton, but he had more good than bad last year. He knows Lincoln Riley’s system. That’s big. You get a running back who, I don’t know if people outside the west coast realize just how productive Travis Dye was. Travis Dye is a southern California kid, went up to Oregon, put up huge numbers in Joe Morehead’s offense. I think he will have a similar impact in Lincoln Riley’s offense.”

Defensively, USC still has some catching up to do. But with the offense and the weaker competition across the Pac-12, Feldman believes that USC has a path to exceeding the expectations of most right away under Riley.

“Because of the transfer portal, you can upgrade faster,” said Feldman. “But the defense, to me that’s the biggest issue is they were so bad on defense personnel wise that I think it’s going to take time to upgrade. But I do think, again, you’re not facing even Oregon, which I think has the most talent in the conference. They (Oregon) have a new coaching staff, they’re going to play Georgia in week one, they’re missing a bunch of dudes too. So I look at the league and say you’re gonna be in every game. They’re gonna probably have to be outscored and it’s gonna feel a lot like the Big 12 from five years ago.”

Feldman: USC has an identity under Riley

In addition to the improvements on the roster itself, Feldman pointed to the identity that USC will have under Riley as a reason to have high expectations. Ultimately, nine wins feels very realistic in Feldman’s eyes.

“Now, and this is to me the biggest thing, they have an identity,” Feldman continued. “When was the last time USC had an identity? Lincoln Riley will bring that and don’t underestimate what a really good quarterback could do because remember when they won the Rose Bowl when they beat Saquon Barkley, (Sam) Darnold was fantastic. He had some good players around him, but it wasn’t like he had what Matt (Leinart) had around him when he was at USC. There was no guys on the d line of that caliber, there was no guys in the back end. So I think if you have a big time quarterback, and they do, and you have a great offensive system, which they do, and they have some pieces, I think they can win nine.

“I wouldn’t be shocked if they won more than that. But I wouldn’t bank on it because look at the schedule. They’re not opening up with Alabama. So I think they can get a little momentum. But I do think a bunch of games are gonna be toss up games. Utah will be more physical than them because they always are. UCLA last year kicked their tails because they’re more physical. So those games are going to be tough games. But when you look at it, I think they have a chance to get some momentum and I think nine wins, to me, feels realistic.”

USC opens the regular season at home against Rice on September 3, and then hits the road to take on Stanford on September 10.