Deion Sanders to USC? Paul Finebaum thinks it could happen

Paul Finebaum suggests Deion Sanders could be the answer at USC if things don't work out with Lincoln Riley.

A long-time critic of Lincoln Riley, now Paul Finebaum believes the answer at USC could be none other than Prime Time Deion Sanders. / Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports

Paul Finebaum has never been shy about his criticism of head coach Lincoln Riley after he took the USC job, and now the long-time college football analyst thinks there might be a solution.

Swap Riley for Prime Time.

"Instead of harping on Lincoln Riley, I decided to come up with a solution," Finebaum said. "Okay, maybe [Riley] does well, maybe he doesn't. But the answer moving forward, and I believe the answer after this season, is Deion Sanders."

Finebaum added: "He's going to be tired of Colorado, because quite frankly, it's not prime time. He's done as well as he can with his son and Travis Hunter and all the Stephen A. and Shannon Sharpe appearances. But that's really going to dry up this year, because they're not going to be that great."

But in LA? That would be very different. "You put Prime in Tinseltown, and I think you have one of the great combinations in history... I think Deion Sanders as the coach at Southern Cal is the answer to the problems."

For his part, Sanders has maintained that he has no desire to leave Colorado at all, even after his son, star quarterback Shedeur Sanders, or two-way player Travis Hunter, leave the program.

USC won 11 games in Riley's debut season and quarterback Caleb Williams won the Heisman Trophy behind a stellar offense, but the Trojans' inability to stop opponents cost the program what appeared to be an inevitable College Football Playoff berth.

A bad loss to Utah in the Pac-12 title game put Southern Cal out of the semifinal and a loss to Tulane in the Cotton Bowl followed that.

Then, USC went just 8-5 last season behind another poor defensive effort. This offseason, Riley replaced Alex Grinch with D'Anton Lynn as coordinator after the latter coached UCLA's defense to a No. 10 national ranking a year ago.

This isn't the first time Finebaum has delivered some harsh criticism of Riley and his job at USC.

Weeks ago, Finebaum used his daily show to suggest that "It's over" for Riley at USC when looking ahead to the schedule the team will play in his Big Ten debut this fall.

And in comments to The Matt Barrie Show last season, the ESPN analyst and long-time college football commentator called the Trojans a "complete disaster" under Riley.

“I don’t know that I’ve seen a worse coaching job by anyone than Lincoln Riley this year,” Finebaum said after USC's loss to UCLA, the team's fifth defeat in six games.

“It’s a complete disaster, and quite frankly, he outta pack up. I don’t really see what his path is moving forward.”

“Maybe, Lincoln, you oughta look in the mirror,” he said. “Maybe you’re just a total fraud as a coach.” 

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