Paul Finebaum claims Lincoln Riley's credibility has been 'shot' after USC's second loss

USC suffered their second consecutive loss and their third straight loss to Utah under Lincoln Riley this weekend. That’s why, at this point, nothing about the Trojans is legitimate to Paul Finebaum.

Finebaum addressed USC’s 34-32 defeat to the Utes on ‘The Matt Barrie Show’ on Sunday. To him, this loss once again proved that we may have put too much spotlight on the Trojans this offseason based on how they’ve looked at times over their 6-2 mark this season.

“They got the ESPN-LeBron James treatment in the offseason,” Finebaum said. “All I heard in August was Caleb Williams.”

“I was concerned maybe about four weeks ago,” said Finebaum. “I sat here with you, they looked like a fraud, and I thought, ‘Did I just stick my foot in my mouth?’. No – what we’ve seen the last two weeks has been building.”

Finebaum also expressed frustration with the behavior of Lincoln Riley following this loss. He isn’t sure what there is to smile about when this season is going like it is, where they’re headed next year, and how they’re still managing to lose games.

“To look at Lincoln Riley after the game, that frat boy smirk? I mean c’mon. Your credibility has been shot too,” said Finebaum. “You’ve got a good program, you’re a good coach, you’re going to the Big Ten – and your problems remain the same.”

USC’s bye week seems to have had a negative effect on the team. Over their first three games, the Trojans went 3-0 with an average margin of victory of 42 points per game. Since then, while the competition has stepped up, they have fallen apart as they’ve gone 3-2 with all three of the wins being close calls in their own way.

Considering all things, the overall opinion of USC has started to change with their results and the talent at their disposal. That has now started to impact how some people, including Finebaum, view Riley as well as the head coach and leader of the program.

Riley calls Utah loss the most gut-wrenching loss of his career

With two losses, USC can practically kiss the College Football Playoff goodbye this season.

It’s tough to lose to a familiar foe for Lincoln Riley. Following the loss, he called the latest loss to Utah the most “gut-wrenching” loss of his coaching career.

“This is the first time I’ve come into this room not with a win, so definitely not a feeling that I want to get used to,” Riley said postgame. “As gut-wrenching a defeat as I can remember in my career. Hate it for the guys in there. We fought our tails off.

“We fought so hard, and what a great surge there in the fourth quarter to take the lead. One play away. Give credit to Utah. We’ve had three great games with them. Great competitors. It was a heck of a ballgame. Wish we would have played a little bit cleaner, though.”

Riley chalked the game up to missed opportunities. That ended up being the difference in front of their home crowd.

“Had some opportunities, especially during the first half, to separate a little bit but didn’t get it done,” Riley said. “Stalled out offensively there in the second and third quarter and were able to kind of get it going there a little bit at the end. I thought defensively we battled all night. Had the huge pick-six, had some really big-time plays, some big plays in the kicking game as well. It was a good heavyweight battle. Two good football teams going at it, and it came down to the last play. 

“The locker room’s pretty torn up right now, as it should be. We’ve had two tough losses in a row and obviously not how any of us scripted this. But you can’t script it — it’s college football. It comes down to little things here and there and we haven’t quite played clean enough here in the last couple of weeks to take advantage of it. We have played very hard and the guys really sold out. We got a lot better this week at practice. And our fight cannot be questioned. We have to play better – we realize that.”