Matt Leinart: Lincoln Riley is 'on the hot seat' going into 2025 college football season

Former USC quarterback Matt Leinart said head coach Lincoln Riley is on the hot seat going into the 2025 season. Coming from the Heisman-winning QB, he said Riley would say the same thing.

Granted, it doesn’t seem like Riley would be going anywhere after 2025, considering his buyout for one. But after the win totals dropped year to year at USC, some question if this partnership is actually going to work long term.

A new look USC team in 2025 could bring a lot of success to the LA area. But there are certainly a lot of questions following last year’s Big Ten debut.

“I know Lincoln very well, and he is on the hot seat,” Leinart said, via The Escapist. “I think he would tell you that, because you have to win there – especially when you win 10 games or 11 games out the gate. USC is flying under the radar. I don’t even know if they’re in the top 25 in one poll or both polls, which sometimes that’s a good place to be.”

USC isn’t actually forgotten, but the Trojans aren’t expected to compete at the top of the Big Ten with Penn State, Ohio State, Oregon and even Michigan. But Leinart sees a world where USC gives those teams a run for their money under Riley, this year!

“It doesn’t mean there’s less expectation, but it kind of means no one’s really talking about you,” Leinart said. “You can keep your nose to the ground, you can grind, and you can start letting your play do the talking. They have a team this year that can compete in the Big Ten.”

Riley is 26-14 in three seasons at USC, topping out with 11 wins in 2022 and finished No. 12 in the final AP Poll. That team lost the Cotton Bowl to Tulane and have been very inconsistent since then.

“That’s always a challenge: is it getting to a playoff, is it winning double digit games, is it just improving upon last year?” Leinart said. “The deficiencies that they had last year, closing out games and finishing, they couldn’t put it together. Does that change this year? There’s a lot of definitions of what makes a successful season. I do think USC is different. There’s a lot of pressure there, there’s a lot of expectation.”

USC and Riley open up the season Week 1 against Missouri State. The game will kickoff August 30th at 4:30 p.m. in LA.