4 things to know about USC before Penn State’s first game at the Coliseum in 33 years
Penn State will travel to the West Coast this weekend to take on USC for the first time since 2017 when the Nittany Lions and Trojans squared off in the Rose Bowl. Unlike that game, this one will not be held in the Rose Bowl, and instead will be held in another one of the most historic venues in the country — Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
This will be Penn State’s first time playing the Trojans at the venue since 1991, giving fans a chance to travel there for the first time in more than 30 years, and the first time at all since the Trojan fight song — “Fanfare, Tribute To Troy, Fight On” — rang out in the Rose Bowl repeatedly during the 2017 game as the Trojans defeated Saquon Barkley and the Nittany Lions, 52-49.
What do you need to know about the program and how has it changed over the last seven years? Let’s take a look.
USC is back on firm footing after Clay Helton era
The last time PSU saw the Trojans, they were led by Clay Helton and seemed to be on the upswing. But things fell apart from there and Helton went 22-21 over the next four years, leading to his departure. To replace him, USC went out and brought in former Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley, who was widely regarded as one of the best coaches in the nation.
Riley brought eventual No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft Caleb Williams with him from OU and went 11-3 in his first year before going 8-5 last year. While the program hasn’t reached the playoff under Riley — and is unlikely to this season after already losing twice — it is back on solid ground compared to where it was late in Helton’s tenure.
Riley is one of the best offensive coaches in college football
And while there have been some struggles on the defense in his first two years — more on that momentarily — there have been very few issues with the Trojan offense. Riley was one of the best offensive minds in the sport when he was the offensive coordinator (and then head coach) at Oklahoma, and has not lost his touch in the slightest.
The group this season is No. 8 in the country according to ESPN’s SP+, a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency, and has put up points consistently this year against a much tougher set of defenses in the Big Ten than the ones it faced last season in the Pac-12. While eighth is a slight step back from third at the end of last season, Riley remains one of the best in the country at calling an offense.
Penn State alum D’Anton Lynn leads defensive turnaround
The other side of the ball had been an unmitigated disaster for the Trojans in Riley’s first two years, despite Riley bringing in plenty of new players from the transfer portal. That has begun to shift this season after the head coach re-did the defensive coaching staff. He brought in North Dakota State head coach Matt Entz, Houston defensive coordinator Doug Belk, and Los Angeles Rams defensive line coach and run game coordinator Eric Henderson as defensive assistants.
The biggest addition, however, was UCLA defensive coordinator and former Penn State football player D’Anton Lynn, who leads the unit as its defensive coordinator. Lynn has taken the group that was ranked No. 105 in SP+ last year to No. 62 so far this season. While that is still not to the level it needs to be to make the playoff, it’s still a marked improvement from what most became familiar with from Riley’s first two USC teams.
The Coliseum is one of the country’s best
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has seen most of the best outdoor sporting events in the country, hosting the Summer Olympics twice (the third time is coming in 2028), two Super Bowls and a World Series, while also serving as USC’s home — and for an over-50-year stretch it was also UCLA’s home. It’s service as the Trojans’ home began in 1923, the same year the stadium opened.
Throughout its history it has been a vessel for teams making the move out to the West Coast. It hosted the NFL’s Rams, MLB’s Dodgers, and the NBA’s Lakers. In 1984 The Coliseum was named a State and Federal Historical Landmark, cementing the value it has brought to California and the rest of the country.
