USC coach Lincoln Riley enters his fifth season believing the Big Ten has become college football’s premier conference.
Riley told On3’s J.D. PicKell that the conference’s recent additions have created something special. The Trojans joined alongside Washington, UCLA and Oregon this season.
“I think it’s pretty clear that the Big Ten and the SEC have separated themselves. I think everybody in college football understands that. That’s just the reality of where the situation is, in terms of the schedules.”
Riley went further, suggesting the Big Ten might have an edge over the SEC.
The coach hasn’t reached the College Football Playoff yet. But he’s confident about the conference’s strength of schedule moving forward.
“Both conferences are fantastic. Both conferences, you play elite-level teams very, very often. The strengths of schedules are very different, and I think that’s honestly made rankings and playoff rankings that much more difficult.”
The schedule disparity across college football has created ranking challenges.
Riley believes human voters face an impossible task comparing teams from different conferences. The gap between strong and weak schedules keeps growing.
“The discrepancy in schedules right now has never been higher in football than where it is now. You’re asking humans to do a very difficult job, given how we currently rank teams.”
USC experienced the Big Ten’s difficulty firsthand last season. The Trojans fell to Oregon in Eugene during a brutal late-season stretch.
That loss helped keep them out of the playoff entirely.
But Riley sees progress despite the setbacks.
He pointed to improvement even with significant injuries throughout the roster. The team learned lessons about competing at an elite level.
“And we did it better than what we have done in the first few years. And there was some real progress, even despite the number of injuries having to deal with.”
Riley emphasized that championship teams must adapt game by game. USC showed promising signs of that development last season.
The coach believes recruits understand what they’re signing up for now.
Players choosing USC know they’ll face one of the country’s toughest schedules. They’ll play marquee games both on the road and at the Coliseum.
“I think guys know now that if you come to USC and play in the Big Ten, you’re gonna play one of the best schedules in the country. Your strength of schedule is not going to be questioned.”
Riley’s optimism will be tested this fall as the Trojans navigate their new conference reality.
