Granted, it is being framed as a bold take, but The Athletic's staff has gone out of its way to disrespect USC in its preseason predictions. Pete Sampson is somehow of the belief that a three-game skid with losses to Illinois, Michigan State, and Notre Dame will result in the Trojan HC being fired.
Forget that the financial aspect of coach Riley's contract would need to see USC have a particularly bad year to consider paying the money for the buyout; Sampson's reasoning fails to meet basic logic.
Part of his reasoning is that the current team is not at the same talent level when compared to the days of coach Pete Carroll.