No. 14 USC kicks off new era under Lincoln Riley vs. Rice

By The Associated Press

Lincoln Riley will coach his first game at Southern California when the 14th-ranked Trojans host Rice on Saturday. Riley was hired away from Oklahoma following a dismal 4-8 season for USC that included the dismissal of Clay Helton two weeks into the campaign. The Owls also went 4-8 last year, but it represented another small step forward for the program under former Stanford assistant Mike Bloomgren.