"I would probably rather see it more spread out": Lincoln Riley speaks his heart on conference realignment in college football

The 2024 conference realignment drastically shifted the dynamics of college football to unprecedented levels. The Pac-12 implosion left 10 teams finding new homes in other conferences. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and the Big Ten's Tony Petitti took full advantage of this situation and signed some of the biggest powerhouses in college football. USC was one of them.

Lincoln Riley and Co. became part of the Big Ten. This shift of powers has created lopsided conference powers within Power 4 and the entire college athletics. It is now SEC - Big Ten vs everyone else. Speaking about the new dynamics, Riley had an interesting answer.

The USC coach spoke to Josh Pate on Monday, sharing how conference realignment affected USC and whether he endorses this new setup.

Riley mentioned that if he were not the head coach of such a big program, he would have it spread out more. However, the current model is pretty exciting since they get to play top teams like Penn State, Michigan and Notre Dame every season, giving them a competitive edge over others.

“If I wasn't a coach in this business, I would probably rather see it more spread out. There's a part of me that's still a traditionalist in kind of the regional conferences and the matchups and the rivalries that created,” Riley said to Pate on Monday. [Timestamp - 10:00]

“But the flip side of it is like, that's not the world anymore. And that doesn't mean that what we're doing right now still doesn't have some great advantages. I mean, again, you go, look at the schedule that we played last year, the matchups that happened.

"I mean, you know, when you're playing, you know LSU, you're playing Penn State, you're playing Notre Dame, you're playing Michigan, I mean, you're going right down the line. I mean some incredible matchups. So there's some new things happening that are great, and I think we've all got to embrace it, because that's what college football is,” he added.

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Lincoln Riley overhauled the USC roster in 2024

Last season was quite interesting for the Trojans since they were undergoing a massive revamp. After star QB Caleb Williams’s departure to the NFL, there was a need to rebuild the program, and most importantly, the coaching staff.

He hired D'Anton Lynn as the new defensive coordinator - replacing Alex Grinch - and brought in Rob Ryan as the assistant coach.

Similarly, the program is going aggressive with high school recruitment. They have the most commits in the 2026 cycle and lead the leaderboard with major transfer portal moves. Expect nothing less than a national championship for USC in the next two years.