UCLA<\/a> next weekend as expected, the Trojans will finish with a 9-3 record and a nice vacation in some anonymous bowl game.<\/p>\nAnd that will not be enough. That cannot be enough.<\/p>\n
One wonders how long the deep-pocketed USC people will endure such failed expectations, such fruitless autumns, such … mediocrity.<\/p>\n
Heck, if UCLA can buy its way out of the Rose Bowl, one imagines that USC could buy its way out of a football coach.<\/p>\n
Just saying. Just saying, because at this point, there really isn\u2019t anything more to say.<\/p>\n
![\"USC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763882846_739_\")
<\/p>\n
USC coach Lincoln Riley could smile early Saturday as the Trojans forged a tie, but by the end of a 42-27 loss to Oregon there was little to feel good about.<\/p>\n
(Lydia Ely \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re right there,\u201d Riley said afterward. \u201cThis has been an inspiring team to watch all year. It\u2019s just gonna keep getting better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n
It indeed has been inspiring watching the Trojans battle back from countless injuries to field a battling team Saturday that was gutted at several positions.<\/p>\n
But that still didn\u2019t make it much fun to watch Oregon gain more than three times as many rushing yards while the Trojans hurt themselves with an unacceptable 103 yards of penalties.<\/p>\n
When it came time to make a big stop, the Trojans couldn\u2019t. When it came time to complete a big play, they often were flagged.<\/p>\n
Oregon is good, but Oregon shouldn\u2019t be able to control the game against a deep and gifted USC team … and yet for long stretches, the Ducks did.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey made more plays than us,\u201d Riley acknowledged.<\/p>\n
The rest of the time, the Trojans just tripped over themselves.<\/p>\n
USC began Saturday\u2019s game with strength and style, forging a 14-all tie on the first play of the second quarter on a trick play that didn\u2019t work against Notre Dame, receiver Makai Lemon throwing 24 yards to Tanook Hines to tie the game.<\/p>\n
If only the swaggering Trojans weren\u2019t also so sloppy.<\/p>\n
On their next possession, a line-drive punt was returned 85 yards for a touchdown by Malik Benson to give Oregon a 21-14 lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously a huge, huge play in the game,\u201d Riley said.<\/p>\n
Then at the end of the first half, everything fell apart for USC, just like everything always seems to fall apart in big games.<\/p>\n
The breakdown began when USC seemed to regain momentum on a missed 44-yard field goal by the Ducks\u2019 Atticus Sappington. But on the play, the Trojans\u2019 Desman Stephens II leaped over the line for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. <\/p>\n
\u201cPanicked a little bit,\u201d Riley said. \u201cDid something that we don\u2019t teach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given new life, the Ducks quickly took advantage with a one-yard touchdown run by linebacker Bryce Boettcher to give them a 28-14 lead with 1:52 remaining in the half.<\/p>\n
Then USC looked even worse on its ensuing drive when, on first and goal from the Oregon eight-yard line, Riley inexplicably called two running plays by Lemon that were stuffed. The Trojans eventually were forced to attempt a field goal, but, in the final ticks of the half, Ryon Sayeri bounced it off the right upright and the Trojans ended up with zilch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defining sequence in a lot of ways,\u201d Riley said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/vbRwriQPPFE\/hqdefault.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
At halftime, the Ducks\u2019 14-point lead seemed a lot larger, and it turned out to be insurmountable.<\/p>\n
At the start of the second half, the Trojans held Oregon on fourth and one from around midfield, stole the Ducks\u2019 next possession on an interception by Kennedy Urlacher, converted their own fourth down and eventually scored on a four-yard pass from Jayden Maiava to Lemon to make it 28-21.<\/p>\n
But then Oregon used several bruising runs to set up a 28-yard touchdown pass to Kenyon Sadiq to make it 35-21 late in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
The Trojans made it a one-possession game again on a nine-yard touchdown pass to Lake McRee early in the fourth quarter, but Oregon drove 79 yards and scored on another bruising run by Noah Whittington to clinch it.<\/p>\n
End of game. End of season.<\/p>\n
Still waiting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another big game, another big stink. Another loaded season, another lost season. Four years after Lincoln Riley arrived…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[39442,6264,6223,39443,48,52,51,32698,47,50,49,39444,545,25094,278,39445,3373,23138,3533,1539,72],"class_list":["post-66207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-big-game","tag-ducks","tag-end","tag-first-play","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lincoln-riley","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-national-prominence","tag-oregon","tag-possession","tag-season","tag-seventh-ranked-duck","tag-touchdown-pass","tag-trojans","tag-usc","tag-yard","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}