Ultimately, people just got the initials wrong.

For two weeks, speculation (some of it seemingly powerful, but most of it wishful thinking) had Lincoln Riley bolting Oklahoma for soon-to-be conference rival LSU. That was dead wrong. But not much was said about USC.

On Sunday afternoon, reports not only had Riley meeting with Sooners players to tell them of his departure for Southern Cal, but had Bob Stoops stepping in for one game to coach Oklahoma in a bowl. For the first time since Riley replaced Stoops, the Sooners are not competing in the Big 12 Championship after OU lost to rival Oklahoma State 37-33 Saturday night in Stillwater. The Cowboys will play Baylor here Saturday.

Riley collected four Big 12 titles and made three trips to the CFP while going 55-10 at Oklahoma. The Heisman Trophies won by Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray along with Jalen Hurts substantial improvement as a passer in his one season in Norman made Riley the great quarterback whisperer and a powerful candidate for any college job.

Its always curious to see what kind of job a highly successful coach will pack his bags to undertake. Two years ago, without question, Riley could have replaced Jason Garrett as the Dallas Cowboys head coach, but he never showed interest in the NFL. LSU has been more competitive than the Trojans ever since Pete Carroll left the private school in a state of NCAA disarray more than a decade ago. And, to some degree, before that, too.

But USC has two things going for it that must have jumped out at Riley a powerful history and a promising future.

The Trojans won national titles under Carroll, John Robinson and John McKay and claim others going as far back as 1928. Regardless, USCs reputation as a national power is as strong as almost anybodys outside of Alabama. The other and more important attraction has to be the future.

Riley can look at the AP rankings heading into December and find the Pac-12 represented by Oregon at 10 and Utah at 14. But in the SEC, where Oklahoma is headed, there is Georgia at 1, Alabama at 3, Ole Miss at 8 and, yes, the Sooners at 13. Then there are Arkansas, Texas A&M and Kentucky at 23-24-25, not to mention Florida and LSU ready to bounce back in 2022.

Basically, the Sooners (and Texas Longhorns) are destined to face tougher battles for conference supremacy than anything they have seen in the last century. If ever there was a time for Riley to leave behind one solid legacy and begin the establishment of another, that time is now. We can all speculate on whether a 12-team playoff is coming and how many SEC teams might earn invitations each year, but until that happens, its better to just go conquer a much more winnable conference.

Whether or not he can do for USC what he failed to do in three tries with OU only one of his CFP defeats was close remains to be seen. Meanwhile, Oklahoma has not had a football coaching search this century (since Stoops directly handed the reins to Riley when he resigned).

The Sooners could ask their longtime rival Texas how that works, but, come to think of it, they might want to take a pass.

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USC has history, but its the Trojans promising future that lured Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma - The Dallas Morning News