In College Football, no Head Coach is safe from criticism even if it's coming from another Head Coach. Lincoln Riley has found himself to be at the center of attention whether it has been for his team's struggles on defense, his decision to leave Oklahoma for USC, and as of late his struggles at USC.
Heading into 2025, Lincoln Riley is in a massive year as the Trojans fanbase wants to start seeing the results on the field. Off the field, Lincoln Riley is doing everything that he can to get USC back on track as he currently holds the Nation's top ranked recruiting class. The problem for Lincoln Riley is that he may not have a roster good enough to contend in the Big 10 this season.
Legendary Head Coach Urban Meyer appeared on The Herd with Colin Cowherd where the USC Trojans were brought up. Cowherd asked if the Trojans beating their projected over under was good enough to which Urban Meyer made the point that an 8-5 record at a program with the level of expectations that USC has should be unacceptable.
"Go 8-5 at Ohio State and see what happens."
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) June 11, 2025
More from Urban Meyer and Colin Cowherd on Lincoln Riley at USC. pic.twitter.com/cZKDlTrQsO
Plenty of Urban Meyer's points couldn't be more correct than his stances on the Trojans program. USC holding the Nation's top ranked recruiting class shouldn't save Riley as that should be the expectation with the level of talent coming out of California on a yearly basis. The Trojans also shouldn't accept the record the team has had going 15-11 over the past two seasons as Riley was brought in to revive the program.
While Urban Meyer says he won't call for someone else's job, he's putting Lincoln Riley in the crosshairs with this interview. Every point that Meyer makes is fair but, for another Coach to make the points only makes the conversation around Lincoln Riley worse.
The agenda by Urban Meyer couldn't be clearer as he's once again putting his name into consideration if the Trojans chose to move on from Lincoln Riley. Meyer's name was in the conversation when Clay Helton was fired but, he was still coaching the Jacksonville Jaguars. Urban Meyer has taken a subtle shot at a former USC coach as well as he once liked a tweet in 2019 about Clay Helton potentially being fired.
And Urban Meyer is thinking now I will have a quarterback to work with
— Carl Balch (@Hitman206) September 21, 2019
At 60 years old, Urban Meyer could easily land another job in College Football if he chose to seriously pursue it. The lasting memory of Urban Meyer will be how his tenure in Jacksonville ended, and he likely knows it, which makes it possible that we eventually see him on the sidelines. If Meyer was going to come back, he wouldn't want to do it with a lower-tier program, which is likely where the love for USC's tradition has always come from.