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The University of Southern California has landed one of the biggest fish in college football, naming Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley to take over its faltering football program.

USC has been looking for a new coach since dismissing Clay Helton in mid-September. It took its time in the search and has answered the prayers of Trojan fans anxious for a return to football glory after several lackluster years.

Riley is considered one of the bright young innovators in college football. He becomes the 30th head coach of the Trojans and takes over a program that struggled in 2021 to an overall 4-7 record in the Pac-12, going 3-5 in league action.

Riley led Oklahoma to the College Football Playoff in each of his first three seasons as their coach. He has won 55 games and four consecutive Big 12 championships as the Sooners coach, while finishing no lower than seventh in the polls in any of his five seasons.

A former standout from the USC football team has sadly passed away.  On Monday, April 19, the USC Athletic Department's official Twitter account confirmed that offensive lineman Chris Brown has died at the age of 24. No cause of death has been announced for the player, who began attending the school in 2014 and started for the team in the 2017 and 2018 seasons. "#FightOnForever, Chris Brown," the tweet read. "So young. So talented. Gone far too soon." This follows USC head coach Clay Helton tweeting a tribute message to Chris just before midnight on Sunday, April 18. "Heartbroken to hear the news that we lost Chris Brown today," Clay wrote. "Our thoughts...

USC’s football game against Colorado scheduled for Saturday at the Coliseum has been canceled and will be declared a no-contest. The action was taken by the Pac-12 because USC does not have the minimum number of scholarship players available for the game at a specific position group as a result of a number of positive Covid-19 cases. According to ESPN, the position group was the offensive line.

USC is currently leading the Pac 12 South at 3-0 after nail-biter wins against Washington and Washington State and a more definitive victory last week against the former division powerhouse Utes. With the victory, the rose to number 18 in the AP’s weekly rankings.

On Tuesday, USC announced that one player had tested positive. The university announced on Wednesday that a second player has tested positive for Covid-19. Another five players quarantined after contact tracing protocols were followed. School officials canceled practice Tuesday...

USC head coach Clay Helton says there's no hard feelings with Kliff Kingsbury for leaving the coaching staff to take an NFL head coaching job ... saying he doesn't blame the guy for jumping ship. Of course, Kliff -- who was fired from Texas Tech -- signed a contract to become USC's offensive coordinator just last month ... only to back out this week when the Arizona Cardinals expressed interest. Kliff officially signed with the Cards on...

The University of Southern California has decided to keep Clay Helton as its football coach, ignoring his 5-7 record this year, including a loss to arch-rival UCLA.

Helton presided over the Trojans’ first losing season since 2000, but USC athletic director Lynn Swann said today he will be back. He may have been swayed by USC’s superior effort in a narrow loss to undefeated Notre Dame.

Many boosters and fans were clamoring for a coaching change, but Helton owns a contract extension through 2023, granted just nine months ago. Overall, Helton is 32-17 at USC, his first head coaching job.

The Trojans won the Rose Bowl two seasons ago and topped the Pac-12 last season. This year it lost five of its final six games.

“I am a strong advocate of consistency within a program, sticking by a leader, supporting them and helping them and their team improve,” Swann said in a statement.

Clay Helton's days as a USC coach are numbered ... Unless he beats both UCLA and Notre Dame in the next two weeks -- so says Trojan Rodney Peete. The former USC superstar tells TMZ Sports he's a fan of Clay and likes him personally ... but with the way Sc's looked this season -- Peete says the dude is about to get fired. "I think that over time, it's shown that we've kind of fallen off a little bit,...