USC’s Playoff hopes in jeopardy after suffering second Big Ten loss
USC Coach Lincoln Riley has a discussion with his players and staff after a Minnesota touchdown in the fourth quarter Saturday October 5, 2024 at Huntington Bank Stadium. (Lynn Harrington/stayaliveinpower5)
MINNEAPOLIS — The Trojans took their second trip of the season to the heart of Big Ten country Saturday night, but it didn’t end well for many reasons.
After all, Minnesota beat USC 24-17 in dramatic fashion, and there was a controversial call towards the end by the officials that changed the outcome of the game. It was physical, and a defensive slugfest that came down to a couple of plays.
Coach Lincoln Riley had his players ready for the 50,913 fans in attendance, and the Trojans tried to establish themselves early in the trenches. However, the Golden Gophers adjusted on the fly and made keys plays in the clutch, which humbled Riley and his team.
“Obviously disappointing ending to the game, it was a hard-fought game and we knew this would be, coming into a really good atmosphere, against a motivated team,” Riley said. “I thought we would play really good football, and the reality is we did a lot of good things on all sides, but we just didn’t play good enough to win at the end of the day.”
For the third time this season, Riley’s offense got off to a slow start, and USC was scoreless in the first quarter. Quarterback Miller Moss did get into a rhythm in the second quarter, and threw a three-yard touchdown pass to wideout Duce Robinson to put USC on the scoreboard. Moss also led the Trojans on another scoring drive, in which kicker Michael Lantz connected on a 54-yard field goal, to tie the game up at halftime.
The Trojans clearly had the momentum, and came out inspired in the second half. Moss led the offense on a 12-play, 91-yard touchdown drive, which took over seven minutes off the clock. Running back Woody Marks put USC up by a touchdown midway through the third quarter, and Riley thought his team was in a good position approaching the fourth quarter.
Minnesota (3-3) came alive down the stretch though. Quarterback Max Brosmer led the Golden Gophers on two touchdown drives in the final eight minutes of the contest. It’s mind-boggling that Minnesota scored 14 unanswered points in the clutch.
The game got sketchy at the end, when the Golden Gophers were at the Trojans’ one-yard line. Instead of kicking a field goal, Coach P.J. Fleck decided to go for it on fourth down. With under a minute to play, Brosmer attempted a quarterback sneak, but the officials ruled it a turnover on downs, and USC’s ball. After replay review, the officials overturned the ruling on the field, and gave Minnesota the touchdown.
Riley and his players were livid, and rightfully so. Regardless, USC (3-2) still had a chance at the end with one final drive. Moss drove the offense all the way down to Minnesota’s 28-yard line. He threw a pass towards the end zone on the next play, but it was intercepted by defensive back Koi Perich. It was a gut-wrenching loss for Riley, and he couldn’t believe his eyes.
“We put ourselves in great position there at the end of the game, but didn’t get it done,” he said. “Give credit to Minnesota, those guys played well, hard, it was a really close game that came down to inches at the end, we’ve had a couple of those, and that’s really frustrating for our team right now.”
Riley feels his team should be 5-0 on the season. Which is why he’s trying to pick up the pieces as USC continues to navigate through the Big Ten gauntlet. The positives were the fact that the Trojans led in plays, total offense and time of possession. Not to mention USC was very efficient on third downs.
Moss completed 23 of his 38 passes for 200 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He was also sacked once. Marks rushed for 134 yards and a touchdown. It was the third time this season that Marks eclipsed the century mark in rushing yards. USC’s aerial attack wasn’t much of a factor. Robinson had the Trojans’ only touchdown reception of the evening.
Defensively, Riley thought his team did enough to win. Linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold finished with a game-high, 14 tackles, including one for loss. Fellow linebacker Mason Cobb added 11 stops, and safety Akili Arnold recorded eight. Defensive tackle Devan Thompkins recorded USC’s only sack of the game.
Despite the Trojans’ best effort, Riley understands there’s still a lot of work to do. He wants his players to close out games, and finish strong.
“We’ve had opportunities to win those games, we put ourselves in those positions, which is hard to do on the road against quality teams,” the 41-year old coach said. “Obviously we’re frustrated that we haven’t finished them off, we got to close the gap a little bit better.”
Minnesota held USC to its’ lowest point output in its’ past 28 games. So Riley is holding himself, his players and the coaching staff accountable for this loss. Now he’s going to need leaders to emerge during this time of adversity.
The Trojans also dropped from 11 to completely out of the AP Poll that was released Sunday afternoon. USC is no longer looking like Big Ten or Playoff contenders at this point, and Riley must figure out what to do, and fast.
