The collaboration no one asked for but everyone needed.

Daily Trojan managing editor Stefano Fendrich and sports columnist Thomas Johnson are joining forces to debate one of the topics on the mind of every Trojan fan. Now that the honeymoon period is over, is USC football Head Coach Lincoln Riley walking on thin ice?

Stefano Fendrich: When Riley came to USC, expectations were through the roof for what the Trojans could accomplish, and justifiably so. This was a coach who had just two losses in every season at the helm of Oklahoma, whose lowest AP poll ranking to end a season was No. 10, who had the Heisman-winning quarterback in consecutive years and had three straight appearances in the four-team College Football Playoff.

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He came to a program at USC that has had anything but that type of consistent success in recent years. The Trojans haven’t had back-to-back seasons of two losses or less since the death of the Pete Caroll era just over a decade ago. The football team needed a change, but it hasn’t seemed like much has changed in terms of consistent success. Riley justifiably garnered his reputation, but he hasn’t lived up to the hype at USC so far.

Thomas Johnson: Where I agree with you is that Riley has not lived up to the hype at USC. Most Trojan fans would agree with that. But it’s certainly hard to say Riley is truly on the hot seat, no matter how disappointing his tenure has been. There have been problems with every Riley-led team at some point, and while that responsibility falls on the head coach to fix, he has shown the desire to make changes.

Even though it was one year too late, Riley pulled the plug on former Defensive Coordinator Alex Grinch in favor of D’Anton Lynn while also bringing along defensive line coach Eric Henderson. While the defensive improvement has not been as dramatic for Lynn so far as it was at UCLA, the Trojans still have the No. 29 scoring defense in the country at this point after giving up just under 35 points per game in 2023. Riley made a change, and it worked.

Fendrich: Oh, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas. You are too forgiving to Riley and this football team. Yes, this defense has vastly improved, and I’m a fan of Lynn and his system. But let’s get real. They were No. 117 in the nation in points allowed per game last season, and they really could only improve on that number. Plug just about any competent defensive coordinator in there, and there would be fans jumping for joy when the Trojans blitz — the bare minimum.

Again, I have faith in Lynn, but this defense is just not ready yet. In two straight conference road games, the defense got straight-up Big Ten-bullied at the one-yard line to lose games against Minnesota and Michigan in the final minute. This defense has shown it’s one year away from being able to compete with the rest of the conference in terms of hard-nosed Big Ten play. While the offense may be Riley’s bread and butter, he’s not putting his defense in a position to succeed.

Johnson: You’re right there, Stefano; the defense should not be the one to blame for the losses on the road, but neither should Riley.

The current problem is the offensive line. Redshirt junior quarterback Miller Moss has been running for his life out there and has looked good with his nine touchdown passes despite poor play from redshirt freshman left tackle Elijah Paige and redshirt junior right tackle Mason Murphy. Moss has been sacked eight times and hit countless more.

It might not be Riley on the hot seat but offensive line coach Josh Henson, who doubles as the Trojans’ offensive coordinator. USC quarterbacks suffered 34 sacks in 2023, and there have been few signs of improvement despite leaps and bounds from other units. The problem is not Riley, it’s Henson and the line.

Fendrich: I can agree with you there, the offensive line has definitely been horrible. It has inhibited a lot of the things the Trojans can successfully do on offense. But to absolve all blame from Riley is telling only a half-truth of the situation. Riley is the head coach; it’s his responsibility to make sure all units are firing. Especially when he’s supposed to be an offensive-minded guru, he can’t just be held responsible if his play-calling is off; he’s in charge of the whole offense.

And we should not forget Riley hired Henson. Last year Riley’s scapegoat was Grinch; let’s not fall into the same habit and give him another out with Henson. Riley has shown he’s an amazing coach, but he hasn’t yet shown that at USC. It’s more than fair to expect good things, and he hasn’t yet delivered on that. I — along with every USC fan — want this team to be one of the best in the Big Ten, but right now, they just aren’t at that top echelon of teams.

Johnson: At the end of the day, the 41-year-old Riley is still learning how to be a head coach. Sure, this is his eighth year at the helm of a program, but it’s his first time building up a staff from top to bottom. The former Oklahoma coach inherited a strong team from Bob Stoops after serving as the team’s offensive coordinator, meaning he already knew the staff at hand and did not need to bring many outside hires to Norman.

At USC, that’s all Riley has done. Once he gets the hang of outside hires — and he had a good start with Lynn — the Trojans will be just fine under Riley.

Fendrich: This is true. As I mentioned earlier, USC has been far from its glory days so Riley had no easy task by any means. I think we can agree that he shouldn’t be fired after this season — it would be premature. But I think it’s time to start holding Riley more accountable.

Stefano Fendrich is a senior writing about his opinions on some of sports’ biggest debates in his column, “The Great Debate,” — which typically runs every other Thursday —, while Thomas Johnson is a senior writing about USC’s arrival to a new conference and all of the implications surrounding the entrance in his column, “Big Ten Bites,” which runs every other Wednesday. Fendrich is also the managing editor at the Daily Trojan.