"There's a ton of pressure" - CFB analyst puts USC HC Lincoln Riley in hot seat heading into next season

College football analyst Brad Crawford has predicted USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley to be on his way out of the program by the end of the 2025 season. Crawford was asked about the pressure on Riley this season during CBS Sports’ preview of the upcoming Big Ten media days.

Crawford outlined how the former Oklahoma coach needs to deliver results at USC and how much that puts him in the hot seat. He said (7:31-8:25):

“There’s a ton of pressure considering you’re in LA, where Luka Dončić, LeBron James and Shohei Ohtani. All those guys are on the billboards, not Lincoln Riley and Southern Cal. He has to get USC back to being an annual power to steal some of those headlines on the West Coast. But my question is, at what point will Lincoln Riley field a defense at USC that’s capable of winning big-time games in the Big Ten?

"We saw last season how the Trojans got eaten up at times by a tough Big Ten schedule. They’ve got a new quarterback. Lincoln Riley has a big buyout, and while that buyout’s huge, I do think he’s on the hot seat. And if he goes, you know, five and seven, six and six, fail to live up to expectations this fall in LA, that might be a huge college football vacancy at season’s end.”

The chronology of Lincoln Riley’s struggles at USC

Riley took over at USC in 2022 after five successful seasons with the Oklahoma Sooners. His team went 11-3 in the first season. With an 8-5 record and a 7-6 record in the last two seasons, the patience of USC fans is wearing thin.

Unsurprisingly, when Pro Football Focus ranked college teams in the order in which they’re facing pressure, the Trojans were in the top five.

Riley’s struggle at USC should be viewed in context, however. He inherited a losing USC team that went 4-8 in the season before his arrival. His arrival then ushered in an 11-win season, coupled with a conference title appearance led by Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams.

With the loss of momentum and failure to make the College Football Playoffs in 2024, however, Riley must restart an upward trend for the team. The Trojans will face the Missouri State Bears on Aug. 30.

About the author

Kayode is a College and High School Sports writer at Sportskeeda since June 2023. Hailing from Nigeria, he has an undergraduate degree in Linguistics and African Languages, and has previously had stints as an entertainment and politics writer for around 7 months. Adept at creating content around historical perspectives, he strives to report stories based only on verified information. His mantra is - truth is always more important than sensationalism.

A fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team, Kayode admires how Nick Saban developed talent at the team and delivered consistent results, and hopes that the post-Saban era is just as fruitful. He is thoroughly impressed by Johnny Manziel’s talent, and feels that Shedeur Sanders is massively underrated. Nick Saban is his all-time favorite college coach.

While Kayode believes there is little to separate college and mainstream sports, pro leagues absorbing the best athletes leads to their quality being higher. Witnessing the Colorado Buffaloes’ hot streak at start the 2023 football season was one of his all-time favorite college sports moments.

When not writing, Kayode enjoys reading and watching sports documentaries. His most recent watch was "Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In."

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Edited by Dipayan Moitra