USC's splashy leap into the Big Ten was supposed to restore the glory days in Los Angeles. Instead, the Trojans are stuck in neutral, and the noise around head coach Lincoln Riley is getting louder by the week.
Just days after escaping Rutgers with a narrow win, USC got dismantled in its own building by Oregon — and the Ducks did it with a backup quarterback under center. The 2025 season is already threatening to slip away, and the College Football Playoff feels like a distant mirage.
On The Matt Barrie Show, college football analyst Paul Finebaum delivered a blunt assessment: Riley is not the guy to fix this.
"Lincoln Riley is not an elite coach," Finebaum said. "He is not a coach capable of turning a program like Southern Cal around."
Finebaum stopped short of calling for Riley's job, but he made it clear that USC's administration needs to decide what kind of program it wants to be.
"If they want a nice program, they can figure out a way to keep enabling Lincoln Riley," Finebaum added. "But I'll tell you right now..."
The numbers back up Finebaum's skepticism. Riley arrived in 2022 after a shocking departure from Oklahoma and immediately led USC to an 11-3 record, a Pac-12 title game appearance, and a No. 12 ranking. Since then, the Trojans have been stuck in the middle: 8-5 in their final Pac-12 season, 7-6 in their Big Ten debut, and a 9-3 campaign last year that never seriously threatened for a playoff spot.
That's roughly the same ceiling USC had under Clay Helton — a reality that makes Riley's $11.5 million annual salary look like an expensive bet gone wrong. And with a buyout reportedly north of $60 million, moving on won't be easy.
For now, the two sides appear married to each other, for better or worse. Unless another program comes calling, USC and Riley are stuck together — and the pressure will only intensify.
As the losses pile up, the question isn't whether Riley can win big at USC. It's whether he ever could. Finebaum's verdict is already in.
