Jedd Fisch and Lincoln Riley both under pressure ahead of Saturday's UW-USC matchup

Jedd Fisch and Lincoln Riley had plenty on the line last weekend, but neither head coach’s Saturday went according to plan. Both have a chance to rebound in Week 5, but only one can prevail. 

When the final whistle of Saturday’s game between the Washington Huskies and USC Trojans has sounded, one team will have lost two games in a row. And given where both coaches are at in their respective careers, an 0-2 start to conference play could mean losing more than just a chance at postseason glory. Let’s break down where the two head coaches stand ahead of this crucial West Coast showdown.

Jedd Fisch’s crucial 3rd season at UW is off to a rocky start

For coaches navigating the cutthroat world of college football, a strong third season is essential. By year three, a head coach has had time to fill out a roster, evaluate initial coaching hires, make corrections, and cultivate a program culture. By year three, fans expect their coach to be leading his strongest team yet.

Expectations were similarly high in Seattle, where the remainders of Fisch’s 11th-ranked 2024 transfer portal class and back-to-back years of top-25 recruiting had assembled some of his strongest position groups to date. Unfortunately, things haven’t gone to plan for the former Arizona head coach.

This offseason, Fisch lost his best wide receiver and running back to the draft, and multiple projected replacements to the transfer portal. His response, a transfer portal class that ranked just 59th among 138 FBS programs, failed to produce a clear replacement at either position, though that’s due in part to injuries suffered by running back Jayden Limar and receiver Christian Moss.

A deluge of injuries to other Washington’s running backs have limited the Huskies’ offensive flexibility, but almost everyone on the Fisch-led offense has struggled in 2026. 

The offensive line–the offense’s deepest and most experienced unit–allowed seven sacks on Saturday despite constant adjustments to the unit’s starting rotation. Quarterback Demond Williams Jr. has struggled at times with accuracy and decision-making inside the pocket, and the injuries at running back have forced him to shoulder the biggest workload of his collegiate career. 

The result? Through four games, Washington is averaging the Big Ten’s fifth-fewest yards per game (395.8), second-fewest rushing yards per game (107.3), and fifth-fewest points per game (28.0). Williams’ average quarterback rating against UW’s three FBS opponents is just 44.3, a mark which he surpassed in all but one game (35.7 against Michigan) a season ago. Most recently, Washington went 1/10 on third down and tallied just 40 rushing yards in Saturday’s 27-24 loss to Minnesota.

Those aren’t great numbers for a coach attempting to win without an offensive coordinator, nor do they complement a team whose defense places in the Big Ten’s better half for yards–rushing, passing, and total–and points allowed.

"We've got to play better," Fisch said following the loss. "I've got to coach better. I've got to do a better job of getting the team ready."

Fisch is under significant pressure as he tries to correct the course of a crucial third year with the Huskies. Time is running out to salvage a season which his Huskies began ranked No. 17. However, Fisch isn’t the only coach who will carry scrutiny into the Los Angeles Coliseum on Saturday. Things aren’t going to plan for Washington in 2026, but the situation in Los Angeles is much more dire. 

Against rival Ducks, Lincoln Riley lost more than a football game

We may only be seeing the early fallout from No. 12 USC’s 41-27 loss to No. 20 Oregon.

In some ways, the defeat felt like more of the same from Riley, whose Trojans are now 0-3 against the Ducks and 5-15 against ranked opponents. But this loss was different.

On Saturday, the college football world watched in disgust as USC linebacker Desman Stephens II openly celebrated the seemingly intentional hospitalization of Oregon quarterback Dante Moore. Stephens was seen smiling, shaking hands with teammates and coaches, and making obscene gestures at Oregon’s bench just moments after lowering his shoulder directly into the helmet of a clearly-sliding Moore.

Following the hit, USC allowed backup Ducks quarterback Dylan Raiola to complete 19 of 25 pass attempts for 289 yards and two touchdowns. And although Riley’s offense scored on its first three drives of the second half, his Trojans couldn’t capitalize on a third, best chance to defeat their rivals to the north. Oregon’s final two complete drives ended in touchdowns, whilst the Trojans’ ended in a turnover on downs and a last-minute interception, respectively.

It was bad enough for Riley and USC to lose to an Oregon team ranked eight spots below them. It was bad enough to lose at home in front of a rare sold-out crowd. This loss, a second-quarter mugging of the opponent’s best player followed by a fourth-quarter collapse to his backup, may have signalled the beginning of the end of Riley’s tenure as USC’s head coach.

Even before Saturday, pressure was building Riley. ESPN’s Pete Thamel stated on Friday’s edition of College Football Live that “if [the Trojans] lose Saturday, it is reasonable to say Lincoln Riley is on the hot seat.”

That talk only got louder following USC’s third two-score loss to Oregon in four years.

On Monday, CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reported that the Trojans could part ways with Riley if the results of his fifth season in Los Angeles did not meet expectations. Zenitz also discussed that possibility on Monday’s edition of the College Football Insiders podcast:

Riley’s USC has yet to reach a Big Ten Championship or College Football Playoff setting, and if he’s got to do so in 2026 to keep his job, then Riley’s days as a Trojan are numbered.

USC’s one conference loss may already be enough to disqualify them from a Big Ten Championship. In the two years since USC, Washington, UCLA, and Oregon joined the Big Ten, three of four participants in Big Ten title games entered with perfect records against conference opponents.

One loss, even a loss as disheartening as Saturday’s, isn’t enough to ruin USC’s playoff hopes. Winning out and finishing 11-1 would likely earn the Trojans a spot in the current 12-team playoff format. However, that’s an extremely tall task for a USC team whose remaining schedule features three ranked teams in No. 5 Ohio State, No. 6 Indiana, and No. 23 UCLA.

Even if the writing is on the wall for a Riley-USC breakup, the split won’t be pretty. Riley brought in the nation’s best high school recruiting class in 2026, and USC is likely to lose a number of those exciting freshmen if Riley is shown the door.

However, that may not be USC’s biggest concern. Riley’s initial 10-year, $110 million agreement with USC keeps him under contract through 2031, and buying out that contract this offseason would cost the school around $70 million. For context, that’s roughly the amount USC spends on the entire football program–NIL, staffing, travel, equipment, etc–each year, and about seven times the amount it would cost for the Huskies to do the same to Fisch.

Is it worth $70 million to reset your program, even if that means losing out on your investments from last season? ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, who on Monday blasted Riley’s meek response to the Stephens hit, thinks so.

Riley and Fisch are under different amounts of pressure, but both are in desperate need of a bounce-back victory. There’s turmoil brewing ahead of Saturday’s 4:30 p.m. clash between Washington and Southern California, and for one team, things are about to get even worse.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow