bleacherreport
Two reports from earlier this fall, one by 247Sports' Matt Zenitz and another by ESPN's Paul Finebaum, indicated that the buyout for USC football head coach Lincoln Riley's 10-year, $110 million contract stands at $70 million. That staggering figure has resurfaced after the No. 16 Trojans suffered a 24-7 road loss to unranked Wisconsin on Saturday.
USC began the season with aspirations of reaching the College Football Playoff, but that path has become significantly more difficult. A home matchup against No. 3 Ohio State awaits before a trip to No. 6 Indiana. While the Trojans should be heavy favorites against 2-5 Maryland (0-4 in Big Ten play), the regular season concludes with the annual rivalry game against crosstown foe UCLA. The Bruins are undefeated at 7-0 and ranked ninth in the AP poll, though they are expected to climb after several upsets ahead of them.
If the favorites hold, 6-2 USC would finish the year at 7-5 in head coach Lincoln Riley's fifth season. Riley arrived in 2022 with considerable hype after tremendous success at Oklahoma, and his first season delivered: an 11-3 record, a Cotton Bowl appearance, and a No. 12 final AP ranking. However, the subsequent three-plus seasons have largely failed to meet expectations. The Trojans went 15-11 across the 2023 and 2024 campaigns and were absent from the final AP poll. They showed improvement in 2025, going 9-4 and finishing 20th, but this year's team appears to be regressing.
Notably, USC narrowly escaped a 2-6 Rutgers team, winning 42-35. No. 20 Oregon also defeated the Trojans 41-27 in Los Angeles. USC does have five other wins, but those opponents hold the following Sagarin ratings: 122nd (San Jose State), 82nd (Fresno State), 83rd (Louisiana), 41st (Washington), and 36th (Penn State). The Wisconsin loss is simply a bad one. USC managed minus-17 rushing yards while allowing the Badgers to gain 142 yards and two scores on the ground. Wisconsin also won despite accounting for just 58 passing yards.
Ultimately, the program seems to be heading in the wrong direction, even with a talented and capable quarterback in Jayden Maiava, whose 3,711 passing yards led the Big Ten in 2025. USC has little time to recover, as Ohio State comes to town on Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Originally reported by bleacherreport.