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    • Lincoln Riley to LSU rumors revisited ahead of USC game
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    Lincoln Riley to LSU rumors revisited ahead of USC game

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    Former Oklahoma football coach Lincoln Riley seemed like a possible contender for the LSU job that ultimately went to Brian Kelly. Or was he?

    Riley, now at USC, will face the Tigers in Las Vegas on Sunday, a night that echoes the 2021 season when the Sooners fell to in-state rival Oklahoma State, which ended in defeat just hours before he took the Trojan job.

    REQUIRED READING: How much money will LSU football make by playing USC in Las Vegas for the 2024 season opener?

    There was speculation that Riley would be considered for the SEC high-profile job that opened up after LSU fired Ed Orgeron midseason. But as we now know, Riley was determined to get the USC job. Even that night, LSU reporters traveled to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to ask Riley about the LSU rumors. Riley was even asked if he would accept the LSU job after the game.

    Riley was considered one of the best coaches in American college football at the time, leading the Sooners to three appearances in the College Football Playoff, including coaching two Heisman Trophy winners.

    Here’s a look back at the rumors surrounding Riley’s transfer to LSU, and how he ultimately ended up at USC:

    REQUIRED READING: What LSU football coach Brian Kelly expects from the defensive line against USC in the season opener

    Lincoln Riley and LSU rumors revisited

    Riley’s rumors about LSU began to heat up in the lead-up to Oklahoma’s loss to Oklahoma State in the final half of the regular season, and he was eventually asked if he would be interested in the job.

    “No, I will not be the next head coach at LSU,” Riley said.

    Riley wasn’t lying, strictly speaking, but he wasn’t necessarily telling the truth about his next move either. Riley reportedly accepted the job at USC the next morning.

    The reporter asked Riley a follow-up question about the future of Oklahoma’s administration.

    “Don’t worry about our administration, our AD, our president,” Riley said. “We’ve been through a lot together. This isn’t our first rodeo together. So we always have conversations about the future and especially with everything that’s changing in the college landscape right now, everything is about to change.

    “For us, this is going to move on to a new conference at some point. Those are always conversations that we’re going to have, and we’re going to have them every year, no matter what. We’re all trying to make this place better, this program better, and you can’t do that without working together and talking to each other. So of course we’re going to continue to do that. We work well together, and we’re going to continue to work well together.”

    In the week leading up to the race, Riley was asked about the track during his weekly press conference.

    “There’s nothing to deal with,” Riley said. “It’s pretty easy. I coach the University of Oklahoma football team. You guys know how I feel about this place and this program. We’ve been down this path before. You guys know where I stand on this and it hasn’t changed.”

    Riley has maintained that his decision to leave Oklahoma for USC came in the hours after Bedlam that season, and he has written to The Player’s Tribune as much. He says he did not contact USC until after the game, which ended near midnight Sunday morning.

    “Everything that happened next was a blur,” Riley wrote. “I got on Zoom with USC officials, I informed our athletic director, Joe Castiglione, of my decision and then, in one of the most difficult moments of my life and career, I stood in front of our Oklahoma team to let them know I was leaving. I saw the immediate effects of my decision on the faces of our players.

    “I really hated the timing, as our team had just suffered a heartbreaking loss, but with the recent rule changes in college football affecting the recruiting cycle, it definitely affected the timeline and made a difficult transition even more difficult. Shortly after that meeting, USC announced the news and my family and I were on our way to Los Angeles.”

    Lincoln Riley Tried to Avoid LSU Game

    Now, Riley is set to take on LSU at USC, one of the top games of Week 1 of the college football season. It almost didn’t happen.

    Earlier in the offseason, Saturday Down South reported that USC had been trying to pull out of the game against the Tigers for nearly two years because Riley didn’t want the game, the report said. The USC administration tried to pull out of the game even after hiring former Washington Athletic Director Jen Cohen, the report added.

    Another source told Down South on Saturday that “more than 10 games” would have to be changed to accommodate USC’s wishes. The report also added that Riley, who is represented by the same agent as Kelly, even asked him to help convince Kelly to have LSU drop the game for another opponent.

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