Lincoln Riley transitioned to the Big Ten and had a rough start, finishing with 6 regular-season wins. Going into the 2025 season, the critical voices grew even louder, questioning whether Riley deserves that $11.5 million annual salary. A prominent voice among them was ESPN College GameDay host Pat McAfee . But now that Riley sits at the cusp of playoff qualification, with the Oregon game being the decider, he has a stern reply.

The USC head coach appeared on a podcast episode for ‘USC Athletics’ and was asked about the mindset going into the Oregon game. “ Yeah, a lot of hype around this one’s going to be a fun one. GameDay has been announced, will be there, ” said the host. Not just that, the host also pointed out how the Oregon vs USC game would be a “national” spectacle in Wee

See Full Page