Lincoln Riley stresses 'belief' after USC's loss to Indiana crushes CFP hopes: 'Know how close we are'

The Trojans coach's road struggles agains quality competition continue and this time, snuffed out a promising season

Nov 15, 2026 at 9:41 am ET • 2 min read

So much for 18th-ranked USC barging into the College Football Playoff's backdoor this season.

Saturday's 27-13 loss at No. 9 Indiana closes the book on CFP dreams for Lincoln Riley's Trojans, who needed to be perfect in the final weeks to emerge from the Big Ten as a potential national championship contender.

Instead, it's a nine-win ceiling for a team equipped with a top-end roster whose lone ranked win came sandwiched between tough-to-stomach losses.

"I believe in what we're doing. I believe in myself," Riley said after USC's fourth-quarter struggle against the Hoosiers. "I believe in our leadership. I believe in our administration, and I believe everything happening here. Trust me, there's nobody that wants it as bad as all of us involved. We know how close we are as a group and we know how close were as a team. 

"We got a good view of that tonight.  We're going to keep battling. We will get there. And all of this will continue to make it more sweet when that time does happen."

With job security concerns in the rearview since recovering from the wretched showing at Wisconsin in October, USC was one of the few teams outside of the top-12 rankings to still be in control of its destiny before failures in crunch time against the Hoosiers.

The win over Ohio State earlier this month appeared to be Riley's breakthrough moment at USC, but this latest loss was further indicative of his tenure-long struggles in the marquee matchups. He's now 6-15 against nationally ranked opponents as coach of the Trojans, which includes one victory in nine tries on the road.

USC dropped four interceptions — including three in the end zone — while quarterback Jayden Maiava tossed three picks, one going to Indiana linebacker Isaiah Jones at the 5-yard line in a one-possession game. 

Maiava only had five total on the season coming into this one.

"We just had too many mistakes," Riley said. "We played hard, thought we played physical. I thought we were really resilient throughout the game. … We did a good job putting ourselves there, but we gotta go shut the door, and we understand that."

Riley read a prepared statement after USC's win over Ohio State, but had nothing of the sort after losing to Indiana. It was simply more of the same dialogue uttered after other losses in other similar spotlight opportunities.

"We've come a long way as a program, but obviously, we have a little ways to go," Riley said. "And closing out games like that is what you've got to do to be the best. We're right there, close tonight, and this game came down to a couple of plays. But we've got to shut the door and get back to work. 

"We're going to get back on the plane to LA, correct what we needed to correct, and move on to the next one."

That "next one" is the home finale against Maryland with considerably less at stake on Nov. 21 before heading to Pasadena to battle unbeaten UCLA in the finale. The Bruins can clinch a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game under first-year coach Bob Chesney with a win over Michigan before playing the Trojans.