On Saturday evening, the USC football team suffered an embarrassing 24-7 loss at Wisconsin. As we wrote following the game, this was the last straw for Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley.
In a recent story, veteran college football writer (and USC alum) Bryan Fischer offered a similar sentiment.
“Lincoln Riley instead sat down on one that may well have been on flames,” Fischer wrote. “After five seasons in charge of one of the sport’s most iconic bluebloods—after being handed everything he could ask for in terms of resources and firmly in charge of one of the best rosters USC could claim in nearly a decade—Riley instead showed that his project in Los Angeles is over.
“It’s time for the Trojans to raze it all down and start again, beginning with the chief
architect of the enterprise who needs to be shown the door.
”This is a team built to Riley’s specifications, one of the most expensive teams in the Big Ten (and by extension college football). He boasted in the preseason about how the school’s alignment is greater than it ever has been and didn’t shy away in the summer from this, finally, being the year to meet the program’s usual lofty expectations.
“So what did they do? Coming off a bye week, the Trojans mustered a single touchdown, had two turnovers, gave up five sacks and came dangerously close to setting a school record with -17 rushing yards.
“It was the type of performance that should lead the administration to finally tell Riley no, and that he no longer is needed.”
At this point, Fischer’s opinion is representative of that of the vast majority of USC fans. Right now, it is extremely difficult to envision a scenario where he is back as the Trojans’ head coach next year—unless USC’s administration wants to risk completely alienating the fan base.
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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: College football writer says Lincoln Riley has run out of time at USC
