USC head coach Lincoln Riley is 11-10 in his last 21 games, 5-8 in his last 13, 4-6 in his last 10. The Trojans are struggling. But Riley says the record doesn’t tell the full story.
“They’re going to focus on the record and the fact that we lost three games on the last play, and I understand that’s part of it. We all knew this when we signed up for big boy football, so I get it,” Riley said.
“I have to do a better job within the games. I have to do a better job, our coaches, our players, because we’re doing too many good things… We gotta be able to finish and that falls on my shoulders at the end. That’s part of why they call me head coach.”
A 33-30 loss to No. 4 Penn State, especially one that went to overtime, may be more forgivable than losses to the currently unranked Minnesota and Michigan, but how the loss came about will sting all the same.
USC took an early lead and lost it. It fought hard to take it back, and did so. Then, the Trojans fell apart.
“I’ve had, obviously, a few games like this,” Riley said. “We’ve had chances to win right there at the end, and to not make the plays, not have some of the breaks bounce your way. It’s a gut punch, there’s no doubt about it.”
After opening the game with an ineffective drive, USC promptly allowed Penn State to drive to inside the five, but forced a field goal after an offensive pass interference penalty took a touchdown off the scoreboard on fourth down.
USC got the ball back and called a fake reverse that let redshirt freshman RB Quinten Joyner sail 75 yards to the end zone to take a 7-3 lead.
Another penalty on another fourth down attempt sent the Penn State special teams onto the field for the second straight drive, this time to punt. USC once again gained momentum off a trick play, with redshirt senior RB Woody Marks looking to lateral back to redshirt junior QB Miller Moss before tucking the ball and running for 21 yards. Two plays later, Joyner took a shallow pass into the end zone, stretching the lead to 11.
It continued from there — an interception on the third play of the drive gave USC excellent field position, which ended in a field goal from redshirt senior kicker Michael Lantz and a 17-3 lead. Even as Penn State gained momentum after that drive, USC matched its meager scoring to take a 20-6 lead into the half.
After the break, Penn State remembered its ranking and marched downfield to score its first touchdown of the game — a 32-yard bomb to senior tight end Tyler Warren, who snapped the ball to start the play before releasing into the endzone. A mix of good defense and bad penalties led USC to punt after facing third and 26. Once again, Penn State drove downfield, this time scoring on a run by junior running back Kaytron Allen. Suddenly, the game was tied.
On Penn State’s next possession, the Trojan defense showed up — a tip from redshirt sophomore safety Kamari Ramsey sent the ball into the arms of senior linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold. The offense still sputtered, going three and out and kicking a field goal to take a three point lead.
Back with the ball, the Nittany Lions put their offense on the back of Warren, who eclipsed 200 yards on the drive and tied former Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid for the most receptions against USC in program history — a record he broke by the end of the game.
“I’ve talked about him being the best tight end in college football,” Penn State head coach James Franklin told reporters after the game. “He is now part of the conversation of one of the best players in college football.”
“He’s a great player. We knew he was going to be a challenge coming in,” Riley concurred. “We had a couple coverage busts on him, and I think that’s the thing we’ll look back on.”
Even with Warren’s continued dominance, however, Penn State couldn’t break the plane of the end zone and once again stalled out inside the 10. They settled for a field goal to once again tie the Trojans.
A new drive for USC brought new life on offense. The first four plays all went to Marks, who gained 37 yards on them. After two plays went away from Marks, the Trojans faced a 3rd and 6, where sophomore wide receiver Duce Robinson made a catch through contact to bring up first and goal. A slant to redshirt junior wide receiver Kyron Hudson restored a USC lead, now up 30-23.
Suddenly, it was Penn State that struggled on offense. With less than five minutes left, the Nittany Lions had to be aggressive on the multiple fourth downs they faced. But while the Trojans defense could force stops on first, second and third, they allowed conversions on both fourths-and-long, letting Penn State tie the game on a 15-yard swing pass to junior running back Nicholas Singleton.
Tie game — three minutes left, three timeouts. What does Riley do?
A mix of quick passes and runs moved the ball to USC’s 49 with 50 seconds left and the clock still rolling…
And rolling…
And rolling until Penn State called a timeout with 14 seconds left.
With time to think, Riley dialed up a pass to Robinson which Penn State tipped and intercepted. A subsequent Hail Mary attempt by Penn State was also intercepted (by Robinson), sending the game to overtime.
USC had the first possession and Penn State woke up, knocking USC back three yards and forcing a field goal, which Lantz missed. Penn State gained three, kicked a field goal and drilled it.
Questions around Riley’s clock management are not new; they’ve mounted for years. After his refusal to call a late timeout, those questions are louder than ever. Riley, however, defended the decision after the game.
“We started talking [after losing two yards on first down] about ‘do we need to use timeouts and stop the clock?’” Riley said. “If you don’t get anything there, then it’s 3rd and 12 — you just potentially bought them another series and we weren’t in field goal range yet.”
With a rotten recent record, questions about his ability already swirling and mounting questions about his job security, Riley wanted to make one thing clear. This is on him and he sees that.
“There is nobody taking more responsibility than I am, so I don’t know where that line of questioning comes from,” Riley snapped. “The reality is we’ve played the toughest schedule in the country. The first six games — we’ve had a chance to win in every single game and that’s hard to do, like to put yourself in position to win these games, it’s freaking hard to do.”