It was only Week 1. It was a non-league game.

It doesn’t matter.

This was Lincoln Riley’s biggest win since his highly-hyped arrival at USC. The most significant win. A feat that was an exception for the Trojans.

USC didn’t beat a favorite for the national title on Sunday in Las Vegas, it has to be admitted. LSU began the season ranked 13th nationally after losing Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels and superstar receiver Malik Nabers to the NFL. The Tigers were projected to finish fifth in the tough SEC as favorites for the College Football Playoffs.

Still, this was a significant win for Riley over a quality program from the best league in the country, in part because of what this win could mean for the USC team that was coming off a dismal 8-5 season. This team hasn’t won more than 11 games since 2008, when Pete Carroll was coach, and is entering the Big Ten this year. Expectations were low, the season full of uncertainty. Caleb Williams was gone. A new defensive coordinator, D’Anton Lynn, was brought in. USC started the year ranked 23rd, the lowest a Riley team has ever been. Remember, this is a coach who succeeded Bob Stoops at Oklahoma in 2017 and had a 55-10 record in five seasons, making the playoffs four times. When he went to USC, expectations were a little unrealistic. Even if Williams followed Riley to the West Coast, it would be some time before the Trojans were a title contender again.

The last two seasons were disappointing. The Trojans put up points but couldn’t stop anyone. In Riley’s first season, all they needed to do was win the Pac-12 title game, but Utah outran them, and then followed that with a loss to Tulane in the Cotton Bowl. Last year was even worse. After a 6-0 start, USC lost five of six games. The defense was a sieve, allowing 186.5 rushing yards and 34.4 points per game.

That was the main takeaway from the win over LSU, the improvement on that side of the ball. The Tigers were limited to 117 rushing yards and 20 points. USC had a goal-line stand on its first possession of the game and held LSU to a field goal on its final four possessions. The defensive stars – linebackers Mason Cobb and Eric Gentry – were holdovers, although UCLA transfer safety Kamari Ramsey had a big game of his own. It was hardly surprising that the offense totaled 450 yards under new starting quarterback Miller Moss. Riley is an offensive genius who has trained three different Heisman Trophy winners – Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Williams – at the position.

But defense has always been his teams’ weakness. That wasn’t the case against LSU. Maybe the Tigers just aren’t very good and in time we’ll look back on this win as less impressive. For now, though, it was pretty significant. Lincoln Riley hasn’t had a better win since he arrived in Los Angeles.

Keeping an eye on the hurricanes

I was interested in Miami before the season, and I’m even more intrigued now. Not only did the Hurricanes beat Florida in the Swamp, but the two teams they’ll face at the top of the ACC – Florida State and Clemson – were extremely disappointing in their losses. It’s way too early to call Miami the team to beat in this league, but the 41-17 win at Florida was certainly impressive. New quarterback Cam Ward paced the Gators for 385 yards and three scores, and the defense posted eight tackles for loss and three sacks. The Hurricanes’ path to a 7-0 start leading into an Oct. 26 showdown with Florida State is clear. On paper, their toughest game was the Sept. 27 meeting with Virginia Tech, but that was before the Hokies lost to SEC punching bag Vanderbilt. The trip to Louisville on October 19 may be difficult, but Miami has a legitimate chance to reach last year’s total of seven wins by Halloween.

Gator needs help

It’s not too early to start thinking about Billy Napier’s future at Florida. After an 11-14 record in his first two seasons, this year could be a disaster. Seven ranked teams remain on the Gators’ schedule, including visits to No. 15 Tennessee and No. 4 Texas, and home games against No. 1 Georgia and No. 6 Ole Miss. It’s hard to imagine this team avoiding another sub-.500 season. And would Florida really keep a coach who has had three straight losing seasons?