The USC football program is reeling after a home loss to Oregon that caused Joel Klatt to send a chilling warning to coach Lincoln Riley. A knee injury to star wideout Corey Simms has complicated matters further amid program legend Matt Leinart's recent comments on the rough state of the Trojans.
Leinart spoke on FOX's Big Noon kickoff about his beloved team, noting that there is a bad feeling around what Lincoln Riley has built in Los Angeles.
“I don't make the tough decisions for USC but I will say this, last week I said on the show, they had an opportunity to beat an Oregon team that was sort of limping into the Coliseum, and what happened? You lost by two touchdowns at home.
Article Continues Below“I said it this week…It feels like this program is stuck in the same cycle. It's stuck in mud with nowhere to go. And I think it's a reasonable expectation that they should be a playoff team. This is year five with Lincoln Riley, the schedule shapes up, it's gonna be tough. I think that's the problem is, nobody knows where it's gonna go.”
Riley attempted to mitigate the damage of the Oregon loss afterward but fans were not having it. Another unnecessary loss to Washington in Week 5 could spell doom for the Riley regime in Los Angeles, adding to the already considerable amount of drama and suspense surrounding coach Riley's latest Big Ten challenge against Demond Williams Jr., coach Jedd Fisch and the Huskies.