USC Football: Lincoln Riley Addresses Pressure of Changing Conferences

USC officially joins the Big Ten on August 2.

Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

Their conference has changed, but the expectations remain the same — USC football wants to win championships.

USC football made their introduction to the Big Ten on Wednesday during Big Ten Media Day, one of the key steps heading into their first seasons in the new conference. Despite heading to a new conference, USC head coach Lincoln Riley doesn't believe there is more pressure on the Trojans. After all, their goal is always to win.

"To sit here and say these will massively change the expectations at USC, I'm not making it up the guys that were there the first day I came in, it was a four-win team and I said 'our expectations are championships this year.'" Riley said. "We put ourselves right on the doorstep of that pretty quickly. That's just part of it at a place like this. No matter what what conference you're in, it's always going to be. That's why blue bloods are different than all the rest."

Lincoln Riley opens up on if there’s added pressure with USC transferring to the Big Ten Conference this season: pic.twitter.com/o0KtZwXAy3

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During Riley's first season at USC, the Trojans improved from that four-win team to an 11-3 team behind Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams. They lost just one game in the regular season, and finished the year ranked No. 12 in the AP Top 25 poll.

Rather than worry about pressure, Riley is instead excited about the increased opportunity that will come from playing in the Big Ten.

"It's not about the pressure, it's about the opportunity," Riley added. "The opportunities we've had have been great. In some ways the opportunities will even be better in this conference because of the matchups that are gonna happen, and obviously the expanded playoff and all of that. I think it's going to be a great thing.

The move to the Big Ten is expected to bring in increased revenue, especially from television revenue. USC is now playing in the biggest conference in college football, which in the long-run will give them more games in big windows against the top opponents in the country.

The change will also keep USC from regularly playing in the late-night window, when games would often start at 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET. These games were common for Pac-12 teams, and often prevented a larger national audience from tuning in.

These factors combined are expected to benefit the Trojans more in the Big Ten than burden them with pressure.

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