Lincoln Riley and Dorian Thompson Robinson face off again in USC-UCLA rivalry game

When Lincoln Riley’s Oklahoma Sooners played a home-and-home with UCLA in the 2018 and 2019 seasons, he probably thought that was the last time he’d have to face that team--much less, that quarterback--in his lifetime. 

Because that first game, even though the Bruins were major underdogs –- Oklahoma was ranked 6th at the time and had eventual Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray at quarterback -– and ultimately lost the game 49-21, an unknown freshman quarterback still turned a few heads. That freshman was Dorian Thompson-Robinson (DTR) who despite making his first-ever collegiate start in Norman against the Sooners, was 16/26 with 254 yards and a touchdown. 

The second matchup between Oklahoma, with starting quarterback Jalen Hurts, and UCLA went about the same on the scoreboard, with the 7th-ranked Sooners winning 48-14. In that game, DTR went 15/26 for 201 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw two picks. 

Fast forward more than three years and Riley’s team is about to take on UCLA in his first crosstown game as head coach of USC, and DTR finally gets his third shot at beating him. 

Last year, DTR and the Bruins trounced a USC team in disarray 62-33. The year before, the Bruins lost a 43-38 shootout. The year before that, UCLA was beaten 52-35. And in DTR’s freshman year, the Bruins won 34-27. DTR is 2-2 against the Trojans, and naturally, he aims to finish his career with a winning record. 

“We want to be even better, we want to break 60 [points] and all that stuff,” DTR told the L.A. Times Monday. 

“Obviously we hate those guys across town, it’s a bitter feeling with those guys.” 

Riley told reporters DTR was, ”impressive from the jump,” and chuckled at the fact that he has coached four different quarterbacks at two different schools in the time DTR has been at UCLA. 

“When you watch him, you see a guy that’s played a lot of ball and played a lot of ball in that system,” Riley said. “He’s had a phenomenal year and it’s fun to see it.”