It was déjà vu for tunnel captain Sam Darnold — except for the fact that USC lost.
Trojan fans experienced the same, old Trojan football they’ve seen for the past few years: They gave the fans hope and then ripped their hearts out in the end. The only difference this time was that it wasn’t a back-and-forth game, at least for the first half. For the first 30 minutes, the Trojans dominated the Nittany Lions, heading into the second half up 20-6.
Everything had lined up perfectly for the Trojans, a squad known lately as a second-half team. It finally seemed like they — or perhaps just head coach Lincoln Riley — had figured it out. The defense was stifling the Nittany Lions and the offense was firing on all cylinders.
On USC’s second drive of the game, freshman running back Quinten Joyner made a house call with a 75-yard touchdown run. The freshman sensation didn’t stop there, scoring the second touchdown of the game on a nine-yard pass from Miller Moss. Overall, the Trojan running backs had an outstanding day, with redshirt senior Woody Marks racking up first downs and recording 111 rushing yards. The Trojans should have had this in the bag.
So, what happened? Simple. Tyler Warren happened.
For much of the season, USC’s defense was ground into a pulp by talented running backs, a big reason for their losses to Michigan and Minnesota. This time, it was Warren, Penn State’s ace in the hole.
The senior tight end made USC’s defense look like Alex Grinch was still coaching. Warren gave the Nittany Lions their first touchdown with a 32-yard pass from Drew Allar. By the way, Warren snapped the ball on that play. Somehow, that might be the most normal part of his day. After that, the momentum shifted toward Penn State — well, mostly toward Warren.
USC had no answer for him. He caught all but three of the 20 passes that went his way, breaking the record for most receptions against USC by a tight end. He didn’t stop after catching the ball either, totaling 136 yards after the catch — more than any of USC’s receivers’ total yards. Warren ended the game with 224 receiving yards — four more than Moss passed for — four rushing yards and nine passing yards.
Some may dispute my claim that one player always costs USC the game, but when someone quadruples any of his teammates’ receiving yards and receptions, I can’t really see a counterargument.
Even accounting for Warren’s star-making performance, this was still a winnable game. So, what happened? Did the Nittany Lion defense figure out the Trojan offense or did Riley lose control?
There were moments of hope with huge touchdown plays, but the Trojans struggled to move the chains on key drives. Not to mention, the offensive line began to fall apart again. They had looked better early, but Moss had to scramble repeatedly when the pressure mounted. He still managed to lead the team into a potential game-winning position, but then Riley made some questionable decisions.
On USC’s final drive of regulation, the Trojans were on Penn State’s 49-yard line with 1:50 left and three timeouts remaining. First, Riley called a run play. It lost two yards and no timeout was called, allowing 40 seconds to tick away. Moss then fired a five-yard pass to the slot. Once again, Lincoln Riley did not call a timeout. Time was quickly disappearing, and there were some questions From the Box why Riley wasn’t stopping the clock. Penn State called a timeout with 14 seconds left, but Moss threw an interception right after.
Why did Riley let the clock run down? Well, he trusted his kicker, Michael Lantz. Not to take anything away from Lantz — he was having a good game, having nailed two field goals from 45-plus yards — but I can’t help but wonder: If Riley had used those timeouts, would I be writing about how USC knocked off a top-five team?
The loss of momentum didn’t stop there, though. In overtime, USC failed to get a first down, and what happened with the kicker Riley trusted so much? He missed a 45-yard field goal.
In consecutive weeks, Riley has shown questionable play-calling, a failure to manage timeouts and a pattern of letting one player tear through the defense. It’s yet another disappointing showing for someone so highly regarded.
Fans bought into USC’s “second-half team” persona. Once again, they were let down. This time, they were the victims of an opposing second-half performance. And if anyone knows what that means, it’s Penn State head coach James Franklin.
“I think the word ‘resilient’ is probably the best word to define our team,” Franklin said. “It’s good to be able to say you are a second-half team. I prefer not to say that anymore, but I prefer to be a four-quarter team, a fast-start team, a fourth-quarter team — everything.”
What made the loss even more bitter was that the Coliseum had a Big Ten game energy. The fans were loud and it seemed like home-field advantage would finally help the Trojans prove they were one of the best teams in the country. But Riley let them down.
All in all, if you’re concerned about this team, you should be. But maybe you should be more concerned about Lincoln Riley’s ability as a head coach.