National voices talk USC Trojans and tipping point for head coach Lincoln Riley

We’re deep into the offseason but it’s college football year round for some of the sport’s national voices. The USC Trojans opened last season with a big win over LSU but played its way out of the spotlight thanks to four losses in five games, including embarrassing road slip-ups at Minnesota and Maryland. But with the program’s history of success and a big-name head coach, the Trojans are always going to draw attention. This week, both Joel Klatt and Colin Cowherd discussed USC, and specifically, what this season means for head coach Lincoln Riley.

Klatt looked at “Ten head coaches under pressure this season” and put Riley in the mix along with other coaches such as Kalen DeBoer at Alabama, James Franklin at Penn State and Brent Venables at Oklahoma. Klatt provided five levels of concern, ranging from “Just happy you’re here” to “It’s time.” Riley slotted in at the fourth level from the top: “Is this going to work?”

“We have seen it work once, in the year that they almost went to the College Football Playoff,” Klatt said. “That was his first year. And yet, we look up and last year was incredibly underwhelming. Riley’s tenure started off gangbusters. But he’s coming off these two underwhelming seasons.”

Klatt said the finish to the 2024 season did provide a few reasons for excitement going forward and reinforced his belief that Riley remains “an elite coach.” He pointed to a midseason stretch, including very specifically the road game at Illinois, as the make-or-break part of the USC schedule. After what should be a 4-0 start, USC played Illinois, Notre Dame and Nebraska on the road, sandwiched around a home game at Michigan and two bye weeks. That covers the final few days of September, all of October and the first day of November and Klatt said that stretch is “gonna go a long way to determine how the season goes and how the fanbase feels about Lincoln.”

Klatt said multiple losses in that stretch could send the Trojans toward another 7-5 season, adding emphatically, “They cannot have another 7-5 season. So that’s why it’s ‘Is this going to work with Lincoln Riley?’ I think that we find out in that September matchup with Illinois.”

Cowherd had former Utah, Florida and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer on as a guest and the two of them talked USC a bit.

“I saw the over/under on USC, 7.5 games, and I think that’s accurate,” Cowherd said. “I think their best player is a safety. I think they’re very, very young. I think they’re an eight-win team. At some point, when does the hammer come down? Or do you think this remains, long term, Lincoln is fine? What if they go 8-5? Would that be good enough?”

It remains to be seen why having your best player be a safety would heavily contribute to five losses in a season, but Meyer answered the questions. And he echoed points he’s made plenty of times in the past.

“The way I’ve always looked at USC is I equate them to Ohio State, Alabama, Texas and Florida,” Meyer said. “I’ve always looked at USC as one of the top-five jobs in America. I’ve got a lot of respect for Lincoln Riley. I promised myself I would never call for jobs, because I’m not going to do that. However, when seven, eight wins is acceptable at USC…I don’t know. I don’t agree with that. I think you take a five-hour net and drop it on USC and you see the best players in the country.”

But Meyer ended in a high note concerning the Trojans’ chances in 2025

“I think they’re going to have a great year and I think we’re not going to have to have this conversation,” Meyer said. “But 8-5? Go 8-5 at Ohio State and see what happens.”