USC football fans know that in 2025, the Trojans went back to being an offense-first team after the defense-first season of 2024. The defense regressed under D'Anton Lynn, but Jayden Maiava emerged as a formidable Big Ten quarterback with help from a revived running game, the dynamism of Makai Lemon, and a much-improved offensive line under high-quality position coach Zach Hanson.
The result was a 9-3 record. The defense wasn't good enough against the top teams on USC's schedule, and it's the defense which should bear most of the blame for those three losses. However, it's not as though the USC offense maxed out in those games. It played fairly well against Illinois but was way too sloppy against Notre Dame and Oregon. The Trojans left plenty of points on the field. They lacked the extra measure of discipline needed to score what a Lincoln Riley offense should be able to score.
Lincoln Riley was able to win 55-52 and 56-49 games at Oklahoma in the Big 12. He hasn't been winning them at USC. He lost 43-42 to Utah in his first year. He lost 52-42 to Washington in his second season. He lost 46-45 to Tulane in the 2023 Cotton Bowl. It's not a sustainable way to play. However, in 2025, USC's offense wasn't even scoring 40 points in the most important games on the schedule.
USC should try scoring 40 again. The Trojans could see if that will be enough to win.
USC lost 34-24 at Notre Dame last season. It lost 34-32 to Illinois. It lost 42-27 to Oregon. If USC had scored 40 in those three games, it wouldn't have won all of them, but it would have won two of them. The difference between being 0-3 and 2-1 in three marquee games is the difference between being a playoff team and an Alamo Bowl team.
USC needs to not leave points on the field this season. The margins are going to be very small. Let's see a Riley offense max out. We haven't seen it since 2022.
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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: It won't guarantee wins, but Lincoln Riley needs a 40-point offense
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