Editor's Journal: Rooting for Lincoln Riley

If anybody needs an excuse to stay up late to watch college football, Muleshoe's Lincoln Riley gives us one.

The University of Southern California's third-year coach has been under fire since last year's 8-5 season that was even more disappointing in the Pac 12 (5-4).

But all is forgiven for now after Riley's Trojans beat 13th-ranked LSU, 27-20, on Sunday.

Sports writer Luca Evans of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune called it Riley's first "signature win" at the West Coast school.

The winning score came with 13 seconds to play.

"The seconds that followed were pure jubilation, a USC team in need of a seismic offseason culture shift suddenly knocking off a national-power SEC program and relishing every bit of it," Evans wrote.

What Riley said:

"This was kind of, our day here, on one of the biggest stages. So, yeah, to show up like that, I know there was a lot of people watching that."

No one has ever doubted Riley's teams could score.

Wrote Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times: "Finally, in Lincoln Riley's third year as coach, the Trojans have a defense."

Next up: Utah State travels to USC for a 9 p.m. (MDT) start on Saturday.