2025 USC Football Win Totals: Odds released for pivotal season under Lincoln Riley

Lincoln Riley is entering Year 4 with USC. After going 11-3 and flirting with the College Football Playoff in Year 1, the Trojans have been one of the major disappointments in all of the sport.

That’s why 2025 will be a pivotal season for the 41-year old coach. With that in mind, FanDuel Sportsbook has released the over/under as it pertains to wins for many of the sport’s top teams for the 2025 campaign. USC’s number has been set at 7.5, and that’ll be their benchmark for this coming season.

It’ll be a bit of a make or break year for Riley this season in Los Angeles. At least that’s what ESPN’s Paul Finebaum is thinking. Riley is 26-14 in three seasons at USC, which isn’t bad on the surface. However, considering the expectations, especially after he was hired away from Oklahoma, he hasn’t come close to what Trojan fans wanted.

So when Finebaum looks at it, Riley has this next fall to get it together: “I think it’s a make or break year for Lincoln Riley,” Finebaum said on McElroy and Cubelic, “and I think to his credit, winning the bowl game was really important. I mean, it’s amazing what a bowl game win will do, especially if you’re a school out there beating an SEC team to book-end your season. 

“What I’m concerned about is all the players that (have) bailed out of there, though, and I don’t know exactly what their roster looks like today, but I’ve seen a lot of players leaving compared to players coming in. But I think that’s self explanatory. The expectations for him are through the roof, and you can’t get away with a couple of bad years at ‘SC, even if you end on a high note.”

Alas, USC has a bit of a reprieve to start the season. Their first two games come against Missouri State and Georgia Southern inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Their first road game comes in Week 3 against Purdue, and they’ll avoid Ohio State and Penn State this season.

Some of their tougher games throughout the regular season include Michigan on Oct. 11, Notre Dame on Oct. 18 and a trip to Eugene to play Oregon on Nov. 22. If they make good on their potential, USC could end up more like the Year 1 iteration of Riley’s Trojans, and not the disappointment we’ve seen over the past two seasons. 

Regardless, USC will remain one of the more interesting teams to watch in 2025. Whether or not they punch above their 8.5 mark set by FanDuel remains to be seen, but bet against Lincoln Riley’s team at your own risk.

— On3’s Nick Kosko contributed to this article.