Lincoln Riley is just a boy playing with tin soldiers

SOUTH BEND, IN - OCTOBER 18: USC Head Coach Lincoln Riley yells at the official on the sidelines during a game between University of Southern California and University of Notre Dame at Notre Dame Stadium on October 18, 2025 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Miller/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images) | ISI Photos via Getty Images

In some conversations with some of my friends and family, we’ve often talked about how politics has turned into sports with the most unathletic people on the planet. The incredible political divide in the country is akin to like living in Toledo or Findlay and dealing with the Ohio State and Michigan Rivalry. The absolute loyalty to whatever bullshit is being pushed is just incredible.

And that’s where we are with USC.

We all saw how the ending of the Notre Dame and USC rivalry went down — and we all saw it coming. Lincoln Riley started this nonsense by bringing up the game as being something USC might have to get out of so they could have a schedule more conducive to make the college football playoff. He was absolutely hammered by both fanbases and the media for being soft, shortsided, and a serious coward. And then… again… we all saw what went down and there’s no reason to really hash it all out again.

Which leads us to now. Lincoln Riley is really out here beating his chest about a “championship window.” Seriously. He said USC is in a championship window now with they way they have everything aligned… but conveniently leaves out that part of that alignment was made possible by running for the hills away from Notre Dame — a school that has owned them for a decade and a half. He talks about this in the same way he talked about needing to get Notre Dame off of the schedule.

Anyone who still thinks that Notre Dame is the one that “dropped the rivalry” is just a political lamb being led to the slaughter via bullshit covered in fake gold. Those people will believe anything other than the truth right in front of them… that a coach with a 35-18 record over the last 4 years has somehow found the secret sauce to winning. Even if you flip the Notre Dame losses around, he’s still just 38-15 — a real contender for a national championship run.