Paul Finebaum Gets Into It With ESPN Analyst Over College Football Hot Take

Lincoln Riley's first season as head coach of the USC Trojans could have been a script in Hollywood. The Trojans were coming off a 4-8 season and hadn't achieved a 10+ win season since 2017.

Riley quickly transformed the Trojans into winners, leading USC to an 11-3 record and quarterback Caleb Williams to win the Heisman Trophy. However, Riley's second season was a disappointment for Trojan fans. Despite the return of Williams, USC, which had been ranked No. 6 in the preseason, ended up with an 8-5 record and lost five of its last seven games.

That led ESPN's Paul Finebaum to say last season was "one of the worst coaching jobs I have ever seen." Finebaum said if he had been the athletic director at USC, he would have fired Riley.

That fired up Chris "Mad Dog" Russo. During ESPN's First Take , Russo and Finebaum engaged in a heated discussion about Riley.

"He didn't take over a good program; they were terrible," Russo said. "He won a Heisman Trophy at a place where they win Heisman trophies... You talk about a Heisman Trophy at USC, that means everything... it's a much better program than Oklahoma. I'm surprised at you. Go talk about Vanderbilt football."

Finebaum questioned whether winning a Heisman Trophy is a valid reason to say that Riley has done a good job at USC. According to Finebaum, Riley has not demonstrated that he knows anything about defense after many years as a head coach. Finebaum pointed out that Riley has gone through several defensive coordinators.

Finebaum also believes that things will be five times worse for Riley as USC enters its first season in the Big Ten.

Related: Paul Finebaum Didn't Hold Back In Scathing Critique Of Former Oklahoma Coach