Is Lincoln Riley on the hot seat? USC coach under fire after Week 8 debacle

The USC Trojans have been struggling to hold onto leads, as they blew a 14-point lead in Week 8 against the Maryland Terrapins and lost on the road, 29-28.

USC coach Lincoln Riley has not been able to do too well throughout the 2024 college football season, as the Trojans have now fallen to 3-4 (1-4 Big Ten) and are tied with the UCLA Bruins for the second-worst conference record in the Big Ten.

People are beginning to discuss the potential of Riley being on the hot seat for his coaching performance. How accurate are they, or is this just an overreaction to another poor performance?

Is USC head coach Lincoln Riley on the hot seat?

Fans seemingly have begun to start calling for Lincoln Riley's job and it has been a tough season. Looking at his response to Saturday's loss could cause some more fuel to the fire.

"It just simply hasn't been enough. I have to get this team to play better at the end of games. I've obviously not done a good job of that. Clearly," he said, per the LA Times.

However, it's difficult to justify firing Riley based on how much time he has remaining on his contract, as he signed a 10-year, $110 million contract back in 2022, meaning this is the third year of his tenure. That means USC would have to pay him about $85 million to not coach the team.

That is not including the fact that Riley has a 22-12 record during his 2.5 seasons with the USC Trojans, meaning he is doing well. The transition from the Pac 12 Conference and having an elite quarterback in Caleb Williams to joining the Big Ten Conference and having Miller Moss under center is massive.

The only argument that can be viewed as legitimate regarding putting Riley on the hot seat has been his lack of recruiting, especially offensive linemen and defense. The Trojans have few offensive linemen that have NFL futures and the defense has been a concern in the past, but look better overall.

Lincoln Riley is not on the hot seat right now, but the job security is not going to last for much longer if things keep trending in this direction.