USC at Oregon tilt a battle for power, prestige and recruiting clout

Games like this resonate and define eras. Oregon hosts USC for a playoff spot on Saturday, 12:30 p.m. PT from Autzen Stadium on CBS, but there's more on the line than a single number up or down in the loss column.

Put bluntly, this is an opportunity for Dan Lanning and the Ducks to send the Trojans back into their hole. At 8-3 they'd be just another mediocre football team. After all the hype about a new attitude and being "back" they'd be on the fringes of the Top 25, headed for a minor bowl and irrelevant again.

In the last 13 seasons SC has finished in the AP Top Ten twice, in 2016 and 2017 when Clay Helton was there. BCS Champions in 2004, they've never made the College Football Playoff.

Lincoln Riley's deteriorating reputation as X's and O's guru with a limited grasp of how to shape a culture and build a program would take another hit. Fans and boosters would start using the "U" word: Underachiever. His resume would be reexamined.

With Lincoln Riley's reputation on the line, the Ducks can wound it

Riley won big at OU when he inherited a winning program and culture and he was able to dominate in the Big 12. He hightailed it west when the Sooners went to the SEC, took a Heisman Trophy quarterback with him and finished 11-3, missing the playoffs.

The nagging questions remain: What has he done on his own? and When has he finished the job?

Any time you have an opportunity to deal a blow to your enemies, to wound them critically and send them away defeated, a program has to exploit that opportunity. In the words of the immortal Conan the Barbarian, "What is life? To see your enemies driven before you and hear the lamentations of their women."

The Ducks have an opportunity to make "Conquest" a mockery of itself, to tell the Men of Troy, "You have conquered nothing. Your reputation is a relic of an era that no longer exists." It's another game where the Ducks have to talk with their pads.

Trojans at Ducks a game with huge recruiting implications

Lanning and his staff have set this weekend up for a huge recruiting surge, a massive array of high-profile targets coming in both for 2027 and 2026. Committed players will lead the charge with Immanuel Iheanacho making a return visit, along with Tank Jones, Jalen Lott, Tommy Tofi, Bryson Beaver, Tony Cumberland and Tristan Phillips.

A win over USC is an opportunity to seize momentum and define the programs, reinforce Oregon's reputation as the true contender on the west coast and the Trojans as a pretender. A convincing win could even put Riley back on the Hot Seat.

In the 2027 class they're scheduled to entertain Josiah Molden, Kesean Bowman, Marcus Fakatou, and Rashad Streets. In the 2026 they're trying to get Kaden Dixon-Wyatt to make a return trip, working on a flip. Azel Banag, a cornerback from South Carolina is scheduled to visit.

With two weeks until the early signing period Lanning is looking to work his magic and flip a couple of players to round out his class.