LOS ANGELES – The joyful roars from the adjacent Penn State locker room echoed through the thin walls of the LA Coliseum Saturday night as a crowd of reporters waited for USC coach Lincoln Riley to address another painful loss.
“We own Los Angeles!” shouted one of the victorious Nittany Lions.
“Los Angeles is our city!” A Penn State teammate howled in response.
When Riley took the podium a few minutes later, he made no effort to hide his frustration at what he described as a “really tough loss.” USC fell to the nation’s fourth-ranked team 33-30 in overtime despite building a two-touchdown lead at halftime, opening a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter and entering Penn State territory with the opportunity to win the game in the final minutes of regulation.
The most recent second-half collapse hurt even more for USC because it marked the Trojans’ third one-score loss of the season. They previously suffered two excruciating setbacks on the Big Ten road, allowing a last-minute touchdown at Michigan on Sept. 21 and blowing a late seven-point lead at Minnesota two weeks later.
“The reality is we’ve played the toughest schedule in the country through the first six games and we’ve had a chance to win every single game,” Riley said. “That’s hard to do. Putting yourself in a position to win these games is really fucking difficult.
“I understand that the outside world is not going to see anything good right now because they are going to focus on our record and the fact that we have lost three games in the last play. I understand. That’s part of it. We all knew it when we signed up for big-time football. We have to do a better job at the end of games. I have to do a better job, our coaches, our players. Because we are doing too many good things to put ourselves in situations where we have the advantage and we can win.”
There’s no denying that USC is a few key plays or timely stops away from where it wants to be, but that doesn’t alter the harsh reality the Trojans face. At 3-3 overall, they are no longer a realistic contender to make the College Football Playoffs. They could win and most likely not even sniff the 12-team field.
Worse yet, there’s little reason to believe USC can put together that kind of run in the second half. This is a show that has lost all the momentum it had when Riley came aboard. USC has lost eight of its last 13 games in the last calendar year. That equals the worst 13-game streak Clay Helton has ever produced.
Those struggles have sapped much of the excitement that accompanied Riley’s arrival three years ago. Saturday’s crowd of 75,250 offered a lukewarm response each time the Coliseum’s in-house DJ demanded, “Come on, you gotta make some noise!” There were so many groups of Penn State blue and white in the crowd that several times the Nittany Lions bench gestured for more noise.
When asked how much responsibility he takes for the state of the program, Riley bristled at the question.
“It’s always up to me,” he said. When have I ever shied away from responsibility? I always take it. I’m the head coach. It’s all my work. Believe me, there is no one who takes more responsibility than me, so I don’t know where that line of questioning comes from.”
Since 2010, when Pete Carrol moved to the NFL amid an NCAA investigation, USC has searched in vain for a capable replacement. Lane Kiffin was fired on the LAX track after a poor start to his fourth season. Steve Sarkisian did not last two years due to personal problems. Interim coach Ed Orgeron wowed USC players and alumni, but didn’t get a vote of confidence from the administration. Then, with USC short of cash and desperate for stability, Clay Helton held the job for seven largely forgettable years.
When he fired Helton two games into a humiliating eight-loss 2021 season, then-USC athletic director Mike Bohn vowed to find a successor capable of “winning national championships and returning glory to USC football.” Enter Riley, seemingly the antidote to USC’s long, incestuous history of hiring head coaches with only Trojan ties.
Riley grew up in Muleshoe, Texas, a small town just 22 miles from the New Mexico border. He succeeded Bob Stoops at Oklahoma in 2017 and over the next five seasons produced a 55-10 record, four Big 12 championships, three College Football Playoff berths and two Heisman Trophy winners.
On a raucous night in late November 2022, Riley seemed to have USC on its way to regaining its brilliant past. The Trojans topped Notre Dame to improve to 11-1 in Riley’s debut season. Caleb Williams dazzled a packed, star-studded crowd at the Coliseum with every downfield dart he threw and every sure catch he escaped. USC only needed one more win to clinch its first berth in the College Football Playoff.
Then came Utah 47, USC 24.
And Tulane 46, USC 45.
And months of scrutiny surrounding Riley’s unwillingness to move on from embattled defensive coordinator Alex Grinch.
It’s never easy to say goodbye to a close friend, but Riley’s stubborn loyalty to the Grinch caused him to lose the trust of many USC fans. He didn’t part ways with Grinch until last November after USC fell to 119th of the 130 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision in yards allowed and 121st in points allowed.
This year’s defense has been respectable under new defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, but Riley’s offense has faltered in the absence of former Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams. Heir apparent Miller Moss has thrown five interceptions in his last four games, his performance hampered by USC’s inability to shut down opposing attackers.
Riley showed why he’s known as an offensive mastermind in the first half against Penn State on Saturday when he set up play after play exploiting USC’s superior skill position speed without exposing its pass protection issues. The most memorable was a clever putback fake in the first quarter that fooled half the Penn State defense, allowing freshman Quinten Joyner to go 75 yards virtually intact.
Penn State rallied in the second half behind tight end Tyler Warren’s school-record 17-catch, 224-yard night. Time and time again, Penn State moved Warren, lining him up in the backfield, at tight end or split. Time and time again, USC’s secondary lost track of him. Early in the third quarter, Warren even took the ball, ran downfield almost undetected and caught a 32-yard touchdown pass.
“We knew it was going to be a challenge coming in,” Riley said. “We had a couple of breakdowns in coverage and I think that’s what we’ll remember. “When you play against a really good player, all you want is for him to beat it.”
What Riley will also remember were a couple of fourth-and-longs in the fourth quarter that Penn State was able to convert. Those “crazy plays,” as Riley called them, set up a game-tying 14-yard touchdown pass from Drew Allar to running back Nicholas Singleton.
USC advanced into Penn State territory on its final drive of regulation, Riley bled the clock to set up a third-and-6 from the 45-yard line with 14 seconds remaining. Riley said he felt good about his kicker’s leg if USC had converted. Moss, on the other hand, overturned an ill-timed interception.
Overtime roulette followed and luck once again was not on USC’s side. Penn State fans behind the end zone celebrated when Michael Lantz pushed a 45-yard field goal left. Then it was the Nittany Lions bench that flooded the field with joy after their kicker, Ryan Barker, scored the game-winning goal from 36 yards out.
Moss called the loss “unbearable,” but also struck a hopeful tone by noting how close it was.
“That’s the No. 4 team in the country,” he said. “What does that make us?”
When Riley was asked after the game if there was a single moment he would focus on Penn State’s comeback, it offered a window into how hard he has taken USC’s recent struggles. He said he didn’t see his children for four nights this week because he was working long hours to prepare for the Penn State game.
“I think about this every second,” he said. “When I go to sleep, I dream about it. And I wake up thinking about it. So I’ll think about all of it.
“It’s just a really tough loss. There’s really no way to sugarcoat that.”
