The USC Trojans lost the annual Notre Dame game after Thanksgiving this year to fall to 6-6. Without phenom quarterback Caleb Williams, the program regressed in Year 3 under head coach Lincoln Riley. And while some might press the panic button as USC adjusts to life in the Big Ten, Los Angeles resident and veteran sports analyst Colin Cowherd is only just realizing there’s a problem.
Following USC’s two-touchdown loss to the Fighting Irish in Week 15, Cowherd posted on X that it “just dawned” on him that the Trojans were a worse team now than when Riley took over.
Just dawned on me —USC has gotten worse the last three years.
— Colin Cowherd (@colincowherd) December 1, 2024
This isn’t exactly rocket science. USC was 11-3 in Riley’s first season, when Williams won the Heisman. They fell to 8-5 last season despite still having Williams behind center. And this year, despite starting the season 23rd in the AP Poll and being picked to finish sixth in the Big Ten, the Trojans fell off.
A .500 season tied with the likes of Nebraska in the conference is a far cry from where USC was when Riley started — and where they want to be.
Overestimating USC is a pattern for the host of The Herd and the founder of The Volume. In October, Cowherd got ahead of himself praising the Trojans for a halftime lead over Penn State before watching the Nittany Lions come back and beat Riley’s team. Cowherd also picked USC to beat the College Football Playoff-bound Fighting Irish last week.
Despite hailing from rural Washington, Cowherd constantly fixates on L.A. teams. He has new Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh on The Herd often, loves to praise the Rams, and spends far too much time talking USC compared with more relevant college football programs.
But somehow, despite over-indexing on the Trojans for years, Cowherd forgot to check the record. Turns out the team is getting worse!
