On3 college football analyst Ari Wasserman released his list Wednesday of the top 10 coaches facing the most pressure this upcoming season. Unsurprisingly, one Big Ten coach broke the top five.
After leading the Trojans to a less-than-stellar 7-6 (4-5 Big Ten) finish in USC’s first season in the Big Ten, head coach Lincoln Riley came in at No. 4 overall. Wasserman expects Riley to face the most pressure among Big Ten coaches.
“USC may not have to make the CFP this year, but there are plenty of questions in regards to whether Riley is equipped to have his job,” Wasserman wrote. “That’s an incredible statement given it looked like USC hit a grand slam in hiring him.”
Riley came to USC from a successful stint as Oklahoma’s head coach (2017-2021). He led the Sooners to four straight conference championships and playoff appearances, going 10-2 in his final season. When he went to USC, the expectations were high and so was his salary.
“This isn’t a hot seat list. This is a pressure list,” Wasserman wrote. “So Lincoln Riley, though too expensive to fire at the moment, enters a critical season at USC. The Trojans almost made the College Football Playoff in Riley’s first season, but they have gotten incrementally worse in each of the two years since.”
In 2022, Riley’s first season at the helm for the Trojans, the program’s seven wins tied the USC and Pac-12 records for most victories by a first-year head coach (John Robinson, 1976). But, like Wasserman said, USC is on a downward trajectory since: the Trojans finished fifth in the Pac-12 in 2023 (8-5, 5-4) and continued to struggle last season in a new conference.
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“Now you can make the case that USC is entering the season and doesn’t even have a top-10 quarterback in the Big Ten, which isn’t what you’d expect from Riley, given his extensive resume coaching that position,” Wasserman wrote.
USC will need to rely on rising junior quarterback Jayden Maiava, who went unranked on On3’s preseason top-10 Big Ten quarterback list. The Trojans were 6-1 with the 6-foot-4 Hawaii native as their starter, losing only to Notre Dame in the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl Nov. 30, 49-35.
The Trojans have a doable 2025 schedule. They’ll play a tough home game against Michigan and face road challenges from Notre Dame and Oregon, but will avoid games with Ohio State and Penn State. If Maiava can run his offense effectively and USC can reverse their one-score game results (1-5 last season), the Trojans could have a fighting chance.