ANN ARBOR, Mich. —
USC performed a workforce that handed for 32 yards.
Not on one play.
In your complete sport.
Coach Lincoln Riley described the 27-24 loss to Michigan on Saturday as a sport his workforce might have gained, saying, “We came up one play short.”
In fact, this was a sport the Trojans ought to have gained.
This was a sport by which the defending nationwide champion Wolverines had been booed in their very own stadium. This was a sport by which USC had the ball and a four-point lead within the final 5 minutes in opposition to an opponent that hadn’t scored in any of its final six drives.
Of their two earlier video games, the Trojans performed as if the times of them beating themselves had been behind them, however the notion ignored a crucial element.
They had been nonetheless coached by Riley.
As dynamic as his offenses may be, as a lot as new coordinator D’Anton Lynn has improved his once-porous protection, Riley hasn’t confirmed he can stay level-headed in video games of this magnitude.
USC’s first Massive Ten sport supplied one other instance.
Riley made some curious play calls, probably the most noteworthy of them on the possession that preceded Michigan’s profitable drive. The Trojans went three-and-out, twice stopping the clock on incomplete shovel passes tried by quarterback Miller Moss. The possession burned lower than a minute, leaving sufficient time for the Wolverines to maneuver again in entrance on Khalel Mullings’ one-yard run with 37 seconds remaining within the sport.
“I thought I could have been better,” Riley acknowledged. “I don’t think I called a very good drive there.”
Riley was significantly much less self-critical when requested about his workforce’s offensive philosophy to start out the sport, although the Trojans had been held to only three factors within the first two quarters. They went into halftime trailing, 14-3.
“I felt like we had a lot of opportunities there in the first half that we missed,” Riley mentioned. “Probably more about execution than calls.”
However USC clearly tried to beat Michigan at its personal sport, stubbornly operating the ball up the center, although the Wolverines’ defensive position included two future NFL tackles in Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant. When the Trojans weren’t operating the ball, they usually resorted to display screen passes.
The outcomes had been disastrous.
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The Wolverines had been extra bodily on either side of the ball. They held the Trojans to destructive speeding yardage by way of two quarters. They began a cell quarterback who couldn’t throw, and who the Trojans knew wouldn’t throw, however nonetheless managed to attain two touchdowns earlier than halftime.
The Trojans emerged from the break with a sport plan that extra intently resembled their very own. As a substitute of on the lookout for the run to open up the cross, they relied on the cross to open up the run.
Moss handed for his first landing on the opening drive of the second half. Moss had a cross intercepted and returned for a landing on USC’s subsequent drive, however he responded by passing for 2 extra scores to maneuver the Trojans in entrance 24-20.
The group of greater than 110,000 followers turned on the house workforce, booing the Wolverines when their run-only offense stagnated.
The sport was there for the taking. Someway, the Trojans blew it.
“I think it was a classic back-and-forth fight,” he mentioned.
The strategy was comprehensible. The Trojans nonetheless have 9 video games remaining on their regular-season schedule. They will nonetheless attain the Faculty Soccer Playoff.
Nonetheless, if USC is to turn into this system it envisioned when Riley was employed, it must determine the right way to shut out a sport like this. Riley wasn’t delivered to Los Angeles to be aggressive. He was delivered to win championships.
Proper now, the Trojans have a championship defensive coordinator. They’ve a championship quarterback. They want Riley to be a championship head coach.
