Deion Sanders touted as the “perfect replacement” for Lincoln Riley at USC

ESPN college football analyst believes USC should move on from Lincoln Riley to avoid another season collapse. 

Deion Sanders touted as the “perfect replacement” for Lincoln Riley at USC

Lincoln Riley and Deion Sanders (Via Imago)

Even though Lincoln Riley isn’t on the hot seat while heading into this third season as head coach of USC Trojans, college football analyst Paul Finebaum thinks otherwise. He claimed the coming year will be Riley’s final year and even named his replacement. 

Throughout Riley’s tenure at USC, Finebaum has been skeptical about his coaching performance, and after the team’s poor performance last season, he condemned Riley saying “one of the worst coaching jobs.” As the USC head coach heads to his third season, he believes the school should move on from him to avoid another season collapse. 

YouTube video

While making a case for USC to fire head coach Riley, the ESPN analyst named Colorado Buffalo head coach Deion Sanders as the “perfect replacement” for Riley. 

FS Video
You have to win in L.A., otherwise, you lose badly, and I think [Riley's] losing badly. I believe the answer after this season is Deion Sanders. He's going to be tired of Colorado because, quite frankly, it's not prime time. He's done well, as well as he can, with his son and Travis Hunter and all the Stephen A. and Shannon Sharpe appearances. But that's gonna dry up this year because they're not going to be that great.
Paul Finebaum said in Monday’s episode of ESPN’s First Take

Finebaum argued that bringing Coach Prime to Tinseltown makes one of the greatest combinations in history while saying that he is the answer to all their problems, despite Sanders’ poor 4-8 season in 2023. 

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Analyst Finebaum making a case for Sanders in USC came a week after his controversial statement about the Buffaloes’ importance in college football, which he claimed was none. He emphasized Coach Prime’s importance while discarding Colorado saying they are “irrelevant in the big picture of college football.” 

Deion Sanders
Deion Sanders (via Imago)

He even denounced the team’s chances of making it to the College Football Playoff next year, after the 4-8 finish last season. Although he did praise Sanders by calling him a “charismatic head coach,” Sanders didn’t like the criticism of Colorado. 

However, instead of attacking Finebaum with harsh words, he took the high road and reposted Robert Griffin III’s post about defending his team against the criticism on social media.

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