Paul Finebaum Puts Major College Football Coach on the Hot Seat

With the college football season past its midway point, the coaches whose jobs are on the line are starting to become clearer. ESPN's Paul Finebaum has been critical of USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley, even saying he would have fired the offensive guru after last season.

However, after USC pulled off an upset over the LSU Tigers in Week 1, the spotlight shifted away from Riley. The Trojans have since lost three conference games, bringing their record to 3-3.

The most recent game was a collapse against the No. 4 Penn State Nittany Lions. The Trojans were leading 20-6 at halftime but lost 33-30 in overtime. Finebaum discussed Riley's tenure on "The Matt Barrie Show," suggesting it now looks uncertain.

"Lincoln Riley, here we are once again," Finebaum said. "We're sitting here in mid-October, you've got three losses, you're out of the playoffs, and your tenure is looking as shaky as it was back when I was making idiotic statements, or I thought, before the season."

The Trojans should receive help from their schedule for the rest of the season.

USC will travel to Maryland this weekend, and Maryland also has a 3-3 record. The Trojans have only one game remaining against a currently ranked team, which is the final week of the season against the No. 12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish at home.

Looking back to last season, Riley and the Trojans have been struggling. USC has a 5-8 record in its last 13 games. Finebaum thinks that Riley will have to improve things if he wants to stay in Southern California for much longer.

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