As the 4-5 USC Trojans are about to face off against 5-4 Nebraska this Saturday afternoon in the famed Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, both teams are dealing with the anxious uncertainty of fresh starts.
The Cornhuskers, losers of three straight after an impressive 5-1 start, made the bold decision to hire former West Virginia and Houston coach Dana Holgorsen as an offensive advisor, only to promote him within a few days to offensive coordinator in an effort to jolt a seemingly lifeless Nebraska squad whose star quarterback, Dylan Raiola, is questionable for Saturday.
For the Trojans, it is the birth of the Jayden Maiava era after 10 inconsistent starts from team leader and culture catalyst, Miller Moss.
While I’ve always maintained Lincoln Riley should get until the end of 2025 before receiving his final report card, one cannot argue that a 23-13 record this deep into year three wasn’t what the Trojan Family had in mind when Riley declared the Coliseum as college football’s newest Mecca.
While an approximately $70M-$80M buyout is completely off the table for the Trojans to digest even if Athletic Director Jennifer Cohen was ready to pull the plug on the Riley experiment, are there creative 50/50 buyout scenarios with desperate NFL teams if she did, in fact, have itchy trigger fingers?
Two franchises certainly come to mind.
Lincoln Riley Joins Caleb Williams And The Chicago Bears
The dysfunction in Chicago has reached deafening levels. The Bears look like the worst offense in the NFL following an inexplicable 19-3 home loss to the New England Patriots.
Chicago fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron on Tuesday and the juxtaposition between the Bears 4-5 struggles led by #1 pick and 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams with the Commanders 7-3 resurgence led by #2 pick and 2023 Heisman Trophy winner, Jayden Daniels, is jarring.
Outside of two terrific performances against arguably the NFL’s two worst teams in Carolina and Jacksonville, Williams only has three touchdowns and four interceptions across seven starts.
The Commanders surprising success this year can in large part be attributed to the hiring of offensive coordinator, Kliff Kingsbury, to pair with the dynamic Daniels.
Also Read: Lincoln Riley Eyeing Backup Plan For Julian Lewis Exit?
Why wouldn’t Bears ownership split Riley’s USC buyout at $40M to get the ultimate version of Kingsbury, Riley himself, and his decorated lineage of five NFL quarterback successes to revitalize one of the NFL’s proudest and most historic franchises? One that would undoubtedly soar in value if the Bears were a contender again and make a $40M initial buyout seem like cents on the dollar of a transformative investment.
Could that be worth a phone call from Jen Cohen?
Lincoln Riley Leaves USC Trojans For America’s Team
This has always felt like a match made in heaven, after all, Riley is originally from West Texas and has openly talked about valuing different life experiences, both personally and professionally, with the subtext being he’s not cut in the mold of a head coach that will stay with one team for a sizeable period of time.
Three years ago, there was talk about Riley potentially becoming the head coach of the Cowboys given his resounding levels of success at Oklahoma, and while that shine has certainly dimmed since with the Trojans’ mediocrity, it still makes all the sense in the world for Riley to potentially become the Cowboys’ next offensive coordinator.
After all, what’s $40M to Jerry Jones, who’s desperate to end the $10B Cowboys’ 30-year Super Bowl drought in his lifetime and prove it was he, not Jimmy Johnson, that was the central figure to Dallas’ 90s dynasty?
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Furthermore, Jones made a heavy investment last year in Dak Prescott, who’s now the NFL’s highest-paid player, and the Cowboys’ most dynamic weapon, CeeDee Lamb, played and flourished for Riley at OU.
Jerry Jones is the NFL’s Phil Knight – an individual who isn’t bashful by any amount of money if it means getting closer to that elusive ring in his lifetime. Certainly, a characteristic Cohen can use as leverage to split the cost of the Riley buyout in half.
In the spirit of fairness and realism, Riley should get the 2025 season as his ultimate audition. However, if Cohen’s only rationale for keeping Riley is solely based on the daunting buyout, there are creative 50/50 propositions around that.
Spend On. Fight On.