Lincoln Riley could never solve Gary Patterson -- now he needs him to help save USC

CHICAGO -- Lincoln Riley has spent five years at USC doing the hard parts. He rebuilt the roster from scratch. He locked down California recruiting and landed the nation's No. 1 signing class. He brought in a general manager, overhauled the staff a time or two and moved into a $200 million facility. He found Jayden Maiava, a redshirt senior who led the Big Ten in passing yards a year ago, then passed on the NFL Draft to come back for one more run.

He has done just about everything a coach can do to position the Trojans for the College Football Playoff.

Everything except fix the defense, but that's why he lured Hall of Fame coach Gary Patterson out of retirement.

"It's tougher to move the ball in practice," Riley said Tuesday at Big Ten media days, smiling. "Coach Patterson is one of one."

All the pieces are in place for a breakthrough season in the Big Ten. Fifteen starters, the most in the country, return from last season's 9-4 team, including nine on an offense that ranked eighth nationally last season. Patterson is tasked with flipping a defense that has been a rollercoaster of highs and lows since Riley's arrival in 2022, ranking 51st last season while allowing 23 points per game. 

As Riley has led one of the nation's top offenses, the defense has mostly been a burden. Since Riley's arrival, USC leads the nation in offensive yards per play. On defense, the Trojans rank 117th. It is one of the harshest dichotomies in the sport.

"I'm proud of the progress that we've made on that side of the ball, but my expectations are for us to be just as good defensively as we are offensively and on special teams," Riley said. "I wanna see it across the board. … I'm bullish on how good that group can be."

USC under Lincoln Riley (since 2022)

Old rivals

Riley spent two years convincing Patterson to join him at USC. The two were coaching rivals in the Big 12, where Riley led Oklahoma to a 55-10 record and Patterson guided TCU to five No. 1 finishes on defense. He finally got him in January, thanks in part to a conversation over a round of golf at Pebble Beach. No one will argue Patterson is one of the top defensive minds in the modern era, but he also hasn't coached a game since leaving TCU after the 2021 season.

"I've never coached against somebody that I thought was more unique and tougher to go against than Gary Patterson," Riley said. "Him doing it with different skill sets -- a lot of time the OU versus TCU years that we competed against one another, we had a lot better players than he had top to bottom. They had good players; I don't want to disrespect anybody there, but the talent level was different. He just consistently year after year adapts and coaches and develops in such a unique way."

USC didn't require a stellar defense to win big early in Riley's tenure. They started 11-1 despite ranking near the bottom of the country in most defensive categories. They seemingly got worse as the season progressed, giving up 47 in a loss to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship and 46 to Tulane in the Cotton Bowl.

The trend worsened the next season, cratering to a 116th-place finish in total defense while allowing 34.4 points, more than five points worse than the year before. Alex Grinch was fired as coordinator, and Riley looked across town to hire rising star D'Anton Lynn away from UCLA. The defense improved, but it never hit high marks in the first two seasons of the Big Ten to catch up to the likes of Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State.

Then Lynn left for his alma mater, Penn State, to start anew.

Riley said Tuesday that USC's defensive issues have taken years to overcome.

"What we inherited here, the offensive talent was much different than the defensive talent," he said. "There were some pretty big deficiencies there talent-wise, honestly, in the beginning. We've certainly gotten better here over these last few years and built."

The complicating factor has always been that opponents know what they're getting into on offense against USC, he said.

"People know when they play us offensively that history would say you're gonna have to score a little bit," Riley said. "And sometimes we see a little bit different types of aggression -- aggressiveness in terms of fourth downs. And so we know what that is. And that doesn't change our opportunity to stop them."

A wealth of experience 

Enter Patterson to correct course as USC tries to contend for its first Big Ten title, which carries a prerequisite over the last five years of the league: a top-20 defense. Patterson brings his 4-2-5 scheme -- the defense he spent two decades perfecting at TCU. It's built around speed, an extra defensive back and a simplified assignment structure designed to let players run to the ball without overthinking. 

The first thing USC's defenders noticed was how clean the communication became after "stepping on their toes" last season.

"I just feel like coach Patterson gives more broader terms and our jobs are a little more simplified in this defense," Jide Abasiri, the veteran defensive lineman, said Tuesday. "It's more configured toward college players. He knows how college players learn. He's been in the game for a long time."

Alex VanSumeren, the Michigan State transfer who arrived in January, simplified the change: "He's gone 45 years without getting fired, so when he talks, you listen to what he has to say. He has a ton of energy, and it makes you want to go harder for a guy that truly cares about his players."

Patterson was not at Big Ten media days on Tuesday, but his presence was the dominant subject anyway. Riley talked about the head coaching experience Patterson brings to the building and his ability to understand what Riley is managing in ways a career coordinator never could.

"You can't replace that type of expertise and experience that he brings to the table. He's incredibly motivated. He wouldn't have done this without it. I think he senses the opportunity. Even for a guy that's accomplished just about everything you can in this game, there are a few other things left out there. He knows he can do that here."

The pieces are there

Patterson inherits a defensive roster that, on paper, has more talent than any Riley has assembled at USC.

Jahkeem Stewart, the former five-star recruit who enrolled early and earned Freshman All-American honors in 2025, is the centerpiece of the line. He played through a stress fracture in his foot and still recorded 7.5 tackles for loss and an interception. Alongside him, Abasiri and VanSumeren provide an experienced interior presence. On the edge, Kameryn Crawford (10.5 TFLs, 5.5 sacks) and Braylan Shelby (4.5 sacks) give Patterson proven pass rushers.

Then there are the freshmen flooding the room: five-star edge Luke Wafle and five-star tackle Jaimeon Winfield.

"They're just really advanced for their age," Abasiri said. "And they can catch on to a playbook really well, much better than I did. I was really surprised."

The depth question has nagged Riley before, but he believes that changes this season.

"I do feel differently this year in terms of the quality of players, returning starters, the freshmen, some of the transfers that we've added," he said. "There's just a ton of competition. We have a lot of guys on both sides of the line of scrimmage that we feel like we can win with and dominate with. We just do."

Status quo on offense

While the defense has been Riley's recurring headache, the offense remains his calling card.

Maiva returned to USC because he thinks this is the year. That only works if the defense holds up. He saw it up close in spring practices.

"Tough. Sticky in the back end," he said. "It was really cool going against them in spring. I'm really excited for that to be showcased on Saturdays."

Riley said Maiava's growth has been unlike that of any player he's coached, which is saying something after mentoring Heisman Trophy winners Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Caleb Williams.

"Of all the guys I've been fortunate enough to coach, I don't know that I've had any that have improved from Day 1 to this point as much as Jayden has," Riley said. "It's been fun to see him grow as a player and leader, starting to embrace what it means to be the starting quarterback at USC. I think a guy that's just going to get better and better in his prime to play his best football."

The elite roster

Riley's USC tenure divides neatly into two chapters: before he figured out how to build a roster, and after. The first chapter featured portal gambles, defensive dysfunction and a program still searching for its Big Ten identity. The second chapter -- the one that began with GM Chad Bowden's arrival in January 2025 -- looks like what Riley envisioned when he left Oklahoma.

The difference, every year, has been defense. Riley went 55-10 at Oklahoma with four Big 12 titles and three CFP appearances. At USC, he's 35-18, including 16-10 the last two years, with zero titles.

It might be "Talking Season," when every team is undefeated, and championship hopes seem achievable, but the mood certainly seems different at USC.

"We're more equipped than at any point in the previous few years," Riley said. "That's not a hope or wish -- those are facts. There are a lot of facts to back that up. The alignment and momentum in the program is real, palpable. We feel it. Our recruits feel it. Our team feels it. Our fan base feels it. I think a lot of people across the country feel it, whether they like us or not. That's how it should be at USC."

Patterson's Hall of Fame résumé doesn't guarantee results. He hasn't coached a game since 2021. The Big Ten is not the Big 12 of his TCU years. Installing a new system, even one built to simplify, takes time. Something a program with USC's expectations doesn't have.

But everything Riley has built here -- the recruiting reset, the gigantic NIL war chest, the GM structure, the staff overhaul, the new building -- converges this fall. And all of it will lean on the defense.

For the first time in five years, the man running it is somebody who gave Riley fits at a place he led to the CFP three times. If Patterson can do the same to Big Ten opponents as Riley's ally, USC might find itself in the playoff.

"They don't put College Football Hall of Famer behind your name for nothing," Riley said.