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With simply three weeks left within the faculty soccer season, Lincoln Riley finds himself in a spot he hasn’t been since his first yr at USC. His Trojans are nonetheless inside attain of the School Soccer Playoff in mid-November. Their destiny continues to be of their arms: Win out from right here, and USC needs to be within the CFP for the primary time.
The stakes are extremely excessive. And Riley isn’t hiding that truth from his workforce because it prepares to face No. 21 Iowa Saturday. In truth, he says, he needs them to “embrace” the chance at hand.
“This game coming up this weekend, it’s not the same. It’s just not,” Riley mentioned. “The more you win, the more important these become and the bigger the opportunities become. So our team is very well aware of that.”
Strain hasn’t all the time introduced out the most effective in Riley’s groups at USC. Final season, the Trojans blew 5 fourth-quarter leads and misplaced 5 of their final seven video games in devastating vogue down the stretch. In 2023, they dropped 4 of 5 to shut out the common season. Even the 2022 run ended on a bitter word within the Pac-12 title sport after USC misplaced a second time to Utah, this time with a playoff berth on the road.
USC quarterback Jayden Maiava throws the ball downfield towards Michigan on Oct. 11 on the Coliseum.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Instances)
The trail forward isn’t precisely clean this season, both. Iowa boasts one of many nation’s greatest defenses and a ball-control type completely different from any workforce USC has confronted up to now. Lane Kiffin was USC’s coach when the Trojans final received on the street at Oregon (in 2011) — they’ve misplaced 4 straight there since. Even UCLA, within the midst of a wierd season, is able to taking part in spoiler of their rivalry matchup.
It’s a fragile steadiness for any coach to strike at such a vital time of the season, emphasizing the bigger stakes at hand whereas additionally holding his workforce centered on the duty forward. Nevertheless it’s a tightrope that Riley walked this week.
“I think the biggest thing is just being where your feet are, being in the moment, not getting too far down the road,” quarterback Jayden Maiava mentioned this week. “Just focus on what’s happening right now.”
Right here’s what it’s best to watch when No. 17 USC takes on No. 21 Iowa on Saturday:
