Lincoln Riley’s USC Trojans closed out the 2025 season with a heartbreaking overtime loss to TCU in Tuesday’s Alamo Bowl, falling 30-27 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The loss wrapped up USC’s year with a 9-4 record and 7-2 in the Big Ten.
It dropped the Trojans’ all-time mark against the Horned Frogs to 2-4, which has once again fueled discussion about Riley’s job security.
National Voice Pushes Lincoln Riley Toward Hot Seat After D’Anton Lynn Fallout
USC’s defense unraveled late in the Alamo Bowl as it collapsed in the fourth quarter of a loss to TCU. The Trojans surrendered 30 points (six in overtime) and allowed 375 total yards.
It reignited criticism of Riley’s inability to stabilize the defensive side of the program. Much of the scrutiny has been on his failure to retain defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, who departed for Penn State to take the same position at his alma mater.
Speaking on The Colin Cowherd Podcast this week, the longtime analyst discussed how Riley handled the Lynn situation and the broader concerns surrounding USC’s defense.
“Riley’s a really smart guy, very good offensive coach,” Cowherd said (32:30). “Next year he’ll have his best offensive line. They’ve run the ball since he got there. They ran the ball at Oklahoma. He’s doing a great job. Jayden Maiava at UNLV didn’t look anything close to this when he came to USC. He develops quarterbacks. I think next year he should be on the hot seat, what he doesn’t do, they had 16 missed tackles against TCU. He has yet to develop a defense at Oklahoma or at USC.
“And D’Anton Lynn, the defensive coordinator, going to Penn State, was supposed to coach in the Alamo Bowl. I mean, he addressed the media the day before and then something weird happened. I don’t know. I don’t have it sourced. I tried to find out today. I don’t know. And then he just didn’t coach it. But my take is that a lot of people will say this.”
Riley had previously stated that USC made efforts to keep Lynn on staff. However, shortly before the matchup with TCU, reports said that Eric Henderson would handle defensive play-calling duties, not Lynn.
“Yeah, Henny did a great job,” Riley said following the TCU loss. “That staff really rallied around him, and there was a lot of energy with the guys. The other part of it I’m not gonna share details on.”
USC allowed 348.8 total yards and 23 points per game during the season, earning a 76.9 grade in the PFSN College Football Defense Impact Metric. Lynn was widely viewed as a pivotal figure in USC’s defensive turnaround during his two seasons with the program.
The Trojans finished last season ranked No. 21 nationally and No. 2 in the Big Ten in third-down defense, allowing conversions at a 33.5% rate. It was a massive improvement from their No. 106 ranking (43.6%) in 2023.
Before joining USC, Lynn served as UCLA’s defensive coordinator in 2023 and spent nine years in the NFL, including stints as the Baltimore Ravens’ safeties coach in 2021 and 2022.
With Lynn now in Happy Valley, Riley and USC must turn their attention to hiring a new defensive coordinator ahead of a daunting Big Ten slate next season. His squad is set to face a much more difficult Big Ten schedule next season, which will include a road game against Lynn and Penn State.
