Lincoln Riley hopes to one day coach in the second week of January. He has reached the College Football Playoffs four times — three as a head coach, once as an offensive coordinator — but he has never won a semifinal and earned a berth in the national championship game.
A USC coach will be coaching deep into January, however. Pete Carroll will coach an NFL game on Saturday, January 14, when the Seattle Seahawks face the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Wild Card Game in Santa Clara.
The Seahawks clinched a playoff berth Sunday night when the Green Bay Packers lost to the Detroit Lions.