Weeks after predicting Lincoln Riley's firing, Paul Finebaum drops another massive statement on Big Ten powerhouse

Paul Finebaum has shared his thoughts on Lincoln Riley's future as head coach of the USC Trojans, predicting his tenure might end after the 2024 season. On Thursday's episode of "McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning," the veteran TV personality said that Riley could face a major setback, especially with USC's move to the Big Ten Conference.

Just weeks after predicting Riley's firing, Finebaum made another bold statement, this time about USC.

"I'm underwhelmed by USC," he said. "I don't think USC is ready for the Big Ten."

Lincoln Riley's head coach of the USC Trojans - Source: Imagn

Finebaum has been vocal about his disappointment with Riley's performance at USC, noting the decline from an 11-3 record in Riley's first year, to an 8-5 record the following year.

He even mentioned that if he were the Athletic Director, he would have already fired Riley due to these setbacks.

Finebaum’s comments make 2024 a pivotal year for Riley to prove himself.

Paul Finebaum criticized Lincoln Riley multiple times

During an appearance on ESPN’s ‘First Take' on July 15, Paul Finebaum made a blunt prediction that by this time next year, Lincoln Riley might be coaching as an NFL assistant — if he's lucky.

"[2:04] This is a guy who owned LA for about a half a minute and quite frankly next year at this time, I think he’ll more than likely be an assistant in the NFL, if he’s that lucky,” Finebaum said.

According to Finebaum, we need to look back three years when Oklahoma and Texas joined the SEC. To understand the scenario — What did Riley do? He left Oklahoma, possibly avoiding the tough competition of the SEC, and went to Southern Cal and brought QB Caleb Williams.

That move seemed promising for a year, but things have gone downhill since then. It's now a question of whether the most important part of Finebaum’s prediction, that Riley gets fired, will come true.

USC is moving to the Big Ten, which appears tougher than the Pac-12 and Finebaum didn't hold back and criticized Riley multiple times on ESPN.

During the SEC Media Days, Finebaum suggested Deion Sanders as a backup,

“I thought about this the other day, ‘Okay, maybe [Riley] does well, maybe he doesn’t, but the answer is really moving forward, and I believe the answer after this season is Deion Sanders.’ He’s going to be tired of Colorado because, quite frankly, it’s not prime time,” he said.

What the future holds for Lincoln Riley remains to be seen.