Joel Klatt examines pressure on Lincoln Riley in 2025, highlights game USC can't lose

Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt examined the pressure on USC coach Lincoln Riley for the 2025 season and there are questions. The questions are if this is going to actually work for Riley and the Trojans.

Riley is 26-14 in three years with USC after going 11-3 during his first season. The win totals have dropped each year. Despite the resources, his ability to coach up quarterbacks, and so forth, Riley’s defenses have struggled and USC fell well short of expectations.

Perhaps 2025 gives him an opportunity to right the ship. Klatt examined the pivotal moment coming this season, which is a game against Illinois coming off a great campaign.

“Lincoln, Riley is firmly in the category of, is this going to work,” Klatt said on his podcast. “We have seen it work once, in the year that they almost went to the College Football Playoff, that was his first year. And yet we look up and it’s like last year was incredibly underwhelming. Riley’s tenure started off gangbusters, but he’s coming off these two underwhelming seasons. I will say they had a good finish last year. I do think that there’s things to get excited about.

“They won three of their last four, including the bowl win over (Texas) A&M. When Riley was hired, it was widely viewed as a home run. I said it, others said it, and I think that that’s still true. This is still an elite coach. Look at what he’s done during the course of his career. He’s an elite coach.”

Illinois on the road is going to be vital for Riley and USC. There’s a chance for the Trojans to get on a bit of a run, as Klatt pointed out.

“Okay, so you look at the schedule and you’re like, all right, well, where’s that moment? Where is the pressure moment? And it’s easy to look at the biggest games, but there’s this sneaky game on the road in September that is vital for USC,” Klatt said. “Because I think it tells you everything that you need to know about what they would potentially be at the top end and what they would potentially be at the bottom end. So where does the pressure really ratchet up for Lincoln Riley? 

“It’s the road game in September at Illinois. That’s the moment, because think about it, USC really should be 4-0 when they go to Champaign. I think Illinois is going to be a 4-0 team at that point, likely in the top 10. USC might be sniffing the top 10. It’s going to be a first tough four game stretch that’s going to go a long way to determine how the season goes and how the fan base feels about Lincoln. Because look at what that four game stretch is … which is Illinois, then you’ve got Michigan on October 11, then you’re at Notre Dame, and then you’re at Nebraska … If you lose to Illinois. Well, now I don’t have a lot of faith that you’re going to beat Nebraska. I don’t have a lot of faith that you’re going to be Notre Dame, and, like, traveling to Nebraska, I don’t, you know, I don’t know what that means for USC. 

Riley can’t have a pedestrian season though. USC brought him in from Oklahoma to get to the College Football Playoff and beyond. Especially with a 12-team bracket and expansion coming, not making it does not seem acceptable for the program.

“They cannot have another 7-5 season,” Klatt said. “So that’s why it’s like, is this going to work with Lincoln Riley? I think that we find out in that September match up against Illinois, and then a win that provides a huge boost. It provides a huge boost in recruiting, which they’ve done remarkably well. I believe they’re right now, at least for next year, one of, if not the top rated class in the country, depending on the service that you use to rank those, and you look up, and that would continue that narrative. 

“And then they could go and they could build on that. If you win that game at Illinois, knowing what we know about Illinois, bringing back their quarterback, you know, winning 10 games last year, Bret Bielema what he’s been able to do, now you can look at nine wins or 10 wins, and now you can start to think about, ‘Wait, are we a playoff team at USC?’ So that’s how that game really takes the season, and it makes it a huge fork of the road for Lincoln Riley and it’s the pressure meter game right there.”