No. 14 Trojans begin season against Rice, beginning the Lincoln Riley era

On October 6, 1923, USC played their first game in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Trojans defeated the Pomona Sagehens 23-7, marking the beginning of one of the most storied programs in college football history. 

The next chapter of Trojan football comes after an eventful offseason in which USC hired Lincoln Riley as the new head football coach and gained notable transfers such as quarterback Caleb Williams and wide receiver Jordan Addision. The football team will begin a new era on Saturday against Rice.

USC and Rice are both coming off 4-8 seasons and Saturday’s game will be the programs’ first meeting since 1971. The last time these two teams played in the Coliseum was 1948, with the Trojans winning 7-0.  USC will look to extend their home opener winning streak to 15. Historically, the Trojans have had a lot of success with season openers, with a record of 96-24-8 and 36 shutout wins; USC is 68-16-7 in home openers.

“They’re excited. They’ve handled the preparation well,” said head coach Lincoln Riley in a press conference Tuesday. “Right now you kind of feel the urge to look ahead, but you still have to prepare at a high level. You got to come out here and work every day and try to have a singular focus.”

Ahead of the season opener, Coach Riley announced offensive lineman Justin Dedich, defensive lineman Tuli Tuipulotu, linebacker Shane Lee and quarterback Caleb Williams will be the four team captains for this season.

“I’m grateful to serve this team,” Dedich said in a press conference Tuesday. “I’m excited they chose me to represent them as well as Shane, Tuli and Caleb. None of us are above one another, we’re there for them and they’re there for us. We just have to be a player-led team and make sure we get this thing rolling for this season.”

Riley spoke highly of his new captains, citing their leadership abilities and dedication to the team.

“The team pretty clearly looks to those four as the guys they want to represent them,” Riley said. “It’s a big honor for those guys, that’s something that none of them take lightly. They’ve done a tremendous job leading the whole way through.”

Saturday’s game will also be the debut for the many transfers USC gained through the transfer portal. As one of USC’s most notable transfers, Williams is a candidate for the Heisman Trophy this season after his freshman season at Oklahoma University in which he was named a second-team offensive Freshman All-American. Addison transferred to USC after a season where he set the University of Pittsburgh’s record for receptions with 100, had 1,593 receiving yards and tied for the most touchdown receptions in the nation with 17.

Addison spoke about how he has progressed in terms of learning Riley’s offense before his USC debut on Saturday. 

“I’m getting one step closer every day. It’s just all about getting in the reps, so the more reps I get, the more comfortable I get with the offense,” Addison said.

Some of USC’s other notable transfers set to make an impact this season include former Orgeon running back Travis Dye – the Pac-12’s leader in scrimmage yards last season with 1,673 – and wide receiver Mario Williams from Oklahoma, a freshman All-American from a year ago.

The Trojans also welcomed eleven true freshmen to the team, most notably five-star cornerback Domani Jackson, four-star running back Raleek Brown and four-star wide receiver C.J. Williams. All three players are coming from Mater Dei High School, a football powerhouse that has produced former Trojans such as Amon-Ra St. Brown, Matt Barkley and Matt Leinart, among others.

Coach Riley mentioned that although the team is very excited to start the season on Saturday, Rice is an opponent that they will not overlook.

“They’ve played some extremely competitive games. Defensively, it’ll be one of the more experienced groups we play all year with a ton of returning starters,” Riley said. “They do a good job of being very multiple. It’s a quality football team coming in here and it’s the first game – so we know the level of competition that we’re going to face and we’ll have to be ready to play.”

Rice is returning 13 starters from last year’s 4-8 team and will be led by quarterback Wiley Green, who won the starting job during camp. Rice’s backfield features running back Ari Broussard – the team’s leading rusher last year with 569 yards and 3 touchdowns – and running back Cameron Montgomery.

Although Rice reached 150 rushing yards as a team in just four games last season, the Owls were still No. 10 in the nation for time of possession. Their wide receiver group will be led by Cedric Patterson III – who had 38 catches for 583 yards and 6 touchdowns last year – and Tulsa transfer Sam Crawford, who had 114 catches for 1,623 yards and 10 touchdowns last year.

Rice’s defense features defensive lineman Ikenna Enechukwu, who led the team in sacks last year with five. USC’s offensive firepower has the potential to expose Rice’s pass defense that ranked 123rd in the nation last season, compared to 26th in 2020.

USC’s home opener against Rice kicks off at 3 p.m. at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.