Oh, how the tables have turned. Some of us hate Paul Finebaum while others love his take. Back during the SEC Media Days, Finebaum was quite harsh while talking about Trojans HC Lincoln Riley. As per Paul, Riley was probably the worst coaching job he had seen back in the 2023 season. The jab was kind of fair because the team which had a 11-win run back in 2022 was now standing at 8-5 win-loss in the 2023 season. Not only that, they had also lost their prized QB Caleb Willaims. However, despite everything being against him, Lincoln Riley has pulled something Deion Sanders could only dream of.

On September 9th, ArrogantNation took to X to share some solid stats about Riley and the Trojans. “USC currently leads college football in points per play at 1.154,” ArrogantNation mentioned in the caption of their post. The Trojans are currently leading at 1.154 points per play in the 2024 season. Last year, the team was standing at 0.932. Another fact is that Riley’s offenses have never gotten lower than the 7th rank in points per play.

Finebaum had noted back on ESPN First Take, “Last year was so bad, and with this new schedule, I don’t see it getting any better.” The Trojans start of the season and the current stats should be enough to shut Finebaum up for now. The Trojans opened up their season with a  27-20 win over a team like the Tigers. The team’s defense was on point and didn’t allow LSU to march over the field. Following this, Riley took the Trojans to a massive 48-0 win over the Aggies.

Joel Klatt, back on September 4th, noted, “This USC win is going to reverberate around college football.” This is quite true because while people had their doubts regarding USC, the game against the Aggies solidified the fact that Riley has put in work to change the team and take back the same grace that they commanded during the Caleb Williams era. This also resolves another point that many of us had in mind; Can Miller Moss become Riley’s new starboy?

Taking the team to great heights

We had talked about whether Moss was capable enough to fill the void that Williams left behind. Well, after the LSU start, we can say that this guy has the potential. Moss led the Trojans to a 75-yard game-winning drive. Woody Marks locked the final TD in, but you have to give Miller Moss the praise for leading the team on an eight-play.

During the game against Utah State, Moss landed 1 touchdown and played for 21-30. This is remarkable. While things did slow down in the final quarter, the dude was on point and went for 229 yards. Riley is in a good spot right now. The QB is in proper shape and the team’s defenses are finally coming together. Pretty sure Trojans fans cannot wait to see what the team achieves in the future.