USC’s big money move to the Big Ten has not yielded the big results they’ve wanted so far. After barely beating Big Ten minnow Rutgers last week, they got smacked around in their own stadium by a backup quarterback in a blowout loss to Oregon.
For college football analyst Paul Finebaum, one thing is becoming clear: USC head coach Lincoln Riley is not the man for the job. He said as much on The Matt Barrie Show this morning.
Finebaum pointed out that the Trojans are performing about the same under Riley as they did under former head coach Clay Helton and it shows him that Riley is simply “not an elite coach” and “not a coach capable of turning a program like (USC) around.
“But let’s talk about Lincoln Riley for a second, and this is not going to be one of these, ‘Lincoln Riley is a fraud. He should be fired,’” Finebaum said. “I think it’s up to USC to decide what they what kind of program they want. If they want a nice program, you know they had a couple of good years under (Clay) Helton, they’ve had one good year under Lincoln Riley. Then they can figure out a way to, you know, keep enabling Lincoln Riley. But I’ll tell you right now, Lincoln Riley is not an elite coach. He is not a coach capable of turning a program like Southern Cal around.”
Rocky for Riley
Riley is in his fifth year with the Trojans after his shocking move from Oklahoma at the end of the 2021 season. In his first year at the helm he led USC to an 11-3 record, a Pac-12 title game and a No. 12 overall ranking. But the team hasn’t really come close to that level of success since then.
Their final year in the Pac-12 was an 8-5, their first year in the Big Ten was a mere 7-6 and last year they went a respectable 9-3 but never sniffed the College Football Playoff.
After last night’s loss to Oregon, the playoffs seem just as distant as the last few years.
At a certain point, USC may have to decide if the lackluster results are worth the $11.5 million he’s being paid per year. It might be tough to get rid of him though as his buyout is believed to be over $60 million.
So unless some other football program wants Riley to be their new leader, the two sides may be stuck with each other for another couple years come hell or high water.
