​Lincoln Riley had his back against the wall Saturday night. The embattled USC football coach faced an Ohio State team without its starting quarterback, at home and in the primetime television slot on NBC. This was a must-win for a man who has largely failed to do his job in nearly five full seasons in Los Angeles. Most USC fans wanted him gone entering this game. How much does this win change Riley’s outlook? We’re going to tell it straight, because that’s what we always aim to do. We’re not going to sell you false hope, but we’re also going to offer our own view of what USC should do. Let’s go:What will Jennifer Cohen do at USC?We have discussed in recent weeks what athletic director Jennifer Cohen would and should do at USC in light of Lincoln Riley’s struggles. Let’s be brutally honest here: This win over Ohio State will very probably make Cohen keep Riley for 2027. It’s not what fans want to hear, but again, giving people an accurate read of what’s going on is what we should strive to do, instead of selling false hope. I personally would not retain Riley just yet, but it’s likely that Riley will stay for a sixth season as USC coach due to this win over a big-name program. If we had to guess, Cohen is not going to abandon Riley after the coach took down the Big Ten’s most annually successful program (not in a three-year window, but over the course of the past 60 years of college football).Our view of Lincoln RileyWe just told you where we think Jennifer Cohen stands on Lincoln Riley. Our own view is that Riley and USC need to go into Indiana and beat Curt Cignetti in two weeks to earn retention for 2027. It’s just not enough to beat an Ohio State team playing without its starting quarterback at home. Beating Indiana on the road and taking down Curt Cignetti, the best coach in college football, would be a truly resounding statement about the condition of the USC program. A signature road win, something Riley hasn’t achieved at any point in his tenure in Los Angeles, would be significant enough to warrant attention. Unless or until he gets the job done, we personally don’t think Riley should be retained for next season… but again, we aren’t making the decisions here. Jen Cohen is.Lincoln Riley’s attitudeLincoln Riley released a statement after the Ohio State game saying how much he wants to be the USC head coach. Given how much he is being paid, why wouldn’t he? That point aside, we don’t think Riley wants to admit defeat. He wants to figure this thing out in LA and get USC over the hump. He won’t leave for Baylor or a Big 12 job. He wants to stay, in our view.Buyout politics The win over Ohio State makes it really hard from a negotiating standpoint to convince Riley and his representation that accepting a lower buyout figure is palatable. A loss to the Buckeyes might have boxed Riley into a corner and given USC and Cohen more leverage. Now? It’s a lot more difficult to get Riley to meet USC halfway on this sticky issue. No one wants to pay a