Lincoln Riley should be on the hot seat after USC’s flop against Oregon

Another big game, another big stinker.

Another loaded season, another lost season.

Four years after Lincoln Riley arrived at USC as the football program would return to national prominence, well, two points.

Still waiting.

Needing a win at Oregon’s Autzen Stadium on Saturday to have a chance at their first College Football Playoff berth, the Trojans once again fell short, fell deep and basically fell on their faces.

Still waiting.

In front of their cheering fans, screaming like USC fans, Oregon used an 85-yard punt return, a terrible Trojans penalty and a terrible USC play call to cruise to a 42-27 victory.

Still waiting.

With the win, the seventh-seeded Ducks almost certainly clinched a playoff spot.

With the loss, the 15th-ranked Trojans were surely eliminated from the Riley for the fourth time in four seasons while hanging on to an equally embattled coach.

Under Riley, the Trojans are 0-5 against top 10 teams.

Almost as bad, in four years the Trojans won just three road games against teams that finished the season with records better than .500. Before losing to Nebraska this year, the Raleigh Trojans hadn’t recorded a quality road win since their first season.

If USC beats UCLA next weekend as expected, the Trojans will finish with a 9-3 record and a nice vacation in some unknown bowl game.

And that won’t be enough. It is not enough.

One wonders how long the deep-pocketed people at USC will put up with such failed ambitions, such fruitless acceptance, such… mediocrity.

Heck, if UCLA can take its way out of the Rose Bowl, one imagines USC can take its way out of the football coach.

just saying Just saying, because at this point, there’s really nothing more to say.

USC coach Lincoln Riley could smile Saturday morning because the Trojans tied the score, but then there was little to feel good about in a 42-27 loss to Oregon.

(Lydia Alley/Associated Press)

“We’re there,” Riley said afterward. “This has been an inspiring team to watch all year. It will continue to get better and better.”

It was truly inspiring to see the Trojans battle back from countless injuries on Saturday to field a struggling team that was decimated at several positions.

But it still wasn’t very pleasant to watch Oregon gain more than three times as many rushing yards while the Trojans hurt themselves with an incredible 103 yard penalty.

When it came time to make the big shutout, the Trojans couldn’t. When it came time to complete the big game, they often flagged.

Oregon is good, but Oregon shouldn’t be able to control the game against a deep and talented USC team…and yet, for a long time, the Ducks did.

“They made more plays than we did,” Riley admitted.

The rest of the time, the Trojans just passed themselves off.

USC opened Saturday’s game with vigor and style, on the first play of the second quarter in a 14-all tie on a trick play that didn’t work against Notre Dame, receiver Mackay Lemon threw 24 yards to Tanovk Haynes to tie the game.

If only the swimming Trojans weren’t so lazy.

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.

“Obviously there’s a big, big game in the game,” Riley said.

Then at the end of the first half, everything fell apart for USC, like everything always falls apart in big games.

The breakdown began when USC appeared to regain momentum on a missed 44-yard field goal by Bats’ Atticus Sappington. But on the play, the Trojans’ Desman Stephens II was pulled over the line for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

“It got a little scary,” Riley said. “He did what we don’t learn.”

Breathing new life, the Ducks quickly capitalized on a one-yard touchdown run by linebacker Bryce Boettcher to give them a 28-14 lead with 1:52 left in the half.

Then USC looked even worse on its next drive when, on first-and-goal from the Oregon eight-yard line, Riley inexplicably called a two-run play by Lemon that was stuffed. The Trojans were eventually forced to attempt a field goal, but, in the final moments of the half, Raven Seery kicked it wide and the Trojans ended up with zilch.

“Defining setting in many ways,” Riley said.

At halftime, the Ducks’ 14-point lead looked huge, and it turned out to be insurmountable.

Early in the second half, the Trojans held an Oregon fourth-and-one from around midfield, stole the Ducks’ next possession with an interception by Kennedy Urlacher, converted their fourth down and eventually scored on a four-yard pass from Jaden Maiwa to Lemmon to make it 28-21.

But then Oregon used several hard runs to make a 28-yard touchdown pass to Kenyon Sadiq to make it 35-21 late in the third quarter.

The Trojans made it one more possession early in the fourth quarter on a nine-yard touchdown pass to Lake McCree, but Oregon drove 79 yards and scored on another damaging run by Noah Whittington to get it.

game over. The end of the season.

Still waiting.