Lincoln Riley sure is being grilled, but he’s taking the heat and channeling it to create a solid 2025 campaign for USC. He has to end the Trojans’ downturn this season, at any cost. The chatter about Riley being fired after this season continues getting louder. But he will not go down without a last fight. “We’re not content with any part of this program being average or even being good. That’s not our mentality,” Riley said. Compared to how USC fared last season, the odds for the Trojans this season are remarkably good. However, there is one major question mark that Lincoln Riley has to guarantee a good answer for.

This is the same Lincoln Riley who ruled the Big 12 conference. That too with his first head coaching stint. He moved to the Golden State to help bring back glory to a once-reputed team. But that has not quite materialized yet. The Big 10 is proving to be difficult for Riley, especially after the myriad of problems he was dealing with last season. The offense fell through, his star quarterback was benched, and he somehow saved a sinking ship with a 7-6 record. But there was one upside to that season, for which Riley does not see a lot of criticism.

The defense, being coached by D’Anton Lynn for the first time, held together whatever was left of the Trojans last season. Fans will naturally hope that the one working unit from last season gives better returns this year, too. But Greg McElroy has his doubts. USC is bouncing back in a commendable manner in critics’ eyes, at least managing to bag a spot in preseason ranking discussions. McElroy ranked the Trojans as No. 11 in his Top 25 teams and brought attention to this one major unit. The Trojans’ defense looks good, but can they reach the zenith this season?

The analyst said in an August 4 episode of Always College Football, “What concerns me is the continued improvement defensively. Last year was amazing [with] what D’Anton Lynn did in year number one. To cut 10 points per game off their previous year, to cut 60 yards per game off their previous year, to allow far fewer explosive plays, to be a much better tackling unit, to be far more sound defensively—all those things were amazing. But now you got to replace eight starters off last year’s team.” USC’s defense looks sound on paper. But Lynn has to go a long, long way to make this unit a powerful one.

Lynn’s first year saw the Trojans finishing 77 in total defense and 87th in yards per play. Which is a tell-tale sign that he has more work to do. He will be doing that with a lot of new faces, like Keeshawn Silver, who was the 6th-best DL in the transfer portal. Also worth mentioning is Jamaal Jarett, coming in from Georgia. Lincoln Riley has the elements set, but the question is whether he will be able to put them together to produce better results. “I think they can improve greatly, but by how much could take them from a team that’s a real dangerous team in the Big 10 to a team that is a legitimate college football playoff contender?” McElroy said.

Lincoln Riley now has his job on the line and cannot afford his defense to stay in those same ranks this season. D’Anton Lynn himself acknowledged that the newness of it all is a problem they’re dealing with at the moment.

D’Anton Lynn admits to major problem in Lincoln Riley’s 2025 defense

“Watch the defense. If they take that next step, we’re talking about a team that can go in and play with the best programs in the nation again,” an anonymous Big 10 coach told Athlon Sports. There are a few names worth being excited about in that unit. Kamari Ramsey returns at safety this season as the best name on that list. Rob Ryan debuts as USC’s LB coach this year, so there should be some improvement from that room as well. But overall, just like D’Anton Lynn, he will be shaping a newly put-together Trojans defense from scratch.

“We have a lot of inexperience in that room,” Lynn told USC team reporter Keely Eure. “So we have depth as far as bodies. But we don’t have a lot of guys who have played… We felt like this past year we did a good job of piecing together a Big Ten front seven, but we didn’t have Big Ten depth, and you need depth to play in the Big Ten every single week,” he added. Lincoln Riley failed big time in recruiting last season and paid the price brutally. New players were thrust into the forefront abruptly, with veterans for a band-aid-like fix.

“But all those guys got a ton of reps in the spring. So we’re excited to see what they do in the fall,” Lynn added. Lincoln Riley’s 2025 squad is getting the buzz. That should be a relief for him, considering how loud the talks got about his firing. But the onus is on the HC when it comes to putting forward results that speak for themselves. We know Lincoln Riley will do everything he can to save his neck after this season. But will he put forward a season that’s worth taking note of, even if it’s his last with the Trojans?