The USC football program won’t have a spring game in April. Like many other head coaches across college football, Lincoln Riley pulled the plug on the game last month, but he offered a different reason for doing so than Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule.
While Rhule fears a Nebraska spring game would lead to opposing teams tampering with his roster, Riley shut the USC spring game down because it no longer added value for his team.
“The negative to the spring game is that now these get broadcast all over the place,” Riley said Thursday. “So nobody wants to do anything schematically that they’re going to do. So you end up spending a day or two days just to get ready for the spring game and it’s a spring game where you’re going to be limited on what you can do.”
Riley has had a spring game in his three previous years with the Trojans. USC’s head coach believes it’s no longer the best use of his team’s time because they can’t execute their real offense.
“For us, as opposed to having to prep and do that and dedicate practices out of our 15 to the game, we felt like we could just continue to progress and not maybe have to worry about that a little bit,” he said. “We thought it would be best for our football team.”
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Riley acknowledged the spring game’s main purpose is for the team to connect with the fanbase and that plans are in place to replace that experience.
“Now we’re still going to do some things to create something for our fans because obviously creating that interaction is important,” Riley said. “The atmospheres inside the Coliseum the last several years I think have elevated in a lot of ways. But that’s got to continue to grow. We want to continue to have that interaction with our fans, but we also want to do what’s best for our football team.”
The Trojans actually moved away from a traditional spring game several seasons ago under former head coach Clay Helton, holding what was deemed a Spring Showcase. The Showcase, which was attended by fans, was more of an open practice that included scrimmage periods.
USC’s 2025 spring camp will continue through April wrapping up with a practice on Saturday, April 26th. Expect the event that Riley mentioned to either take place that Saturday or after spring ball wraps up.
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