Lincoln Riley Baffled By Gap Between Offensive Execution and Final Score

The USC Trojans suffered a disappointing 24-17 loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Despite the loss, USC head coach Lincoln Riley expressed optimism about the team’s performance, but that play didn’t translate to points on the scoreboard.

Lincoln Riley: It’s kind of strange looking at the scoreboard

Riley was asked in the post-game press conference about the offensive line’s performance.

“Well we averaged seven yards per carry. And honestly I felt like offensively — it’s kind of strange looking at the scoreboard — but I thought our guys played a really good game up front. We gave up a couple of pressures in untimely moments but we took some steps…We controlled the ball a lot. We ran the ball extremely well. We just didn’t make enough plays to win.”

The Trojans offense put up 173 yards on the ground on 28 carries led by Woody Marks 20 carriers for 134 yards. The offensive line allowed just five pressures.

Given the success Marks was having, a play-calling question should have been asked. Moss attempted 38 passes but struggled to find a rhythm connecting on just 59 percent of those passes. Marks’s 6.7 yards was 1.6 yards better than Moss’s yards per passing attempt.

The truth of the matter is Lincoln Riley and the USC offense struggled once they got into Minnesota territory. They got into plus ground on all but two drive, they settled for field goal attempts twice, but it was the turnovers that stopped the team from scoring more. Quiten Joyner fumbled at the Minnesota 47 and Miller Moss threw interceptions at the 35 and 20. The last coming on the loss-sealing drive.

“All three of our turnovers tonight were in plus territory when we had good drives going. Those are times, especially when you’ve got a kicker like we do, those are points every single time when you get over there…Three drives ended in plus territory in a game like this where there weren’t many possessions, it was massive.”

More must-reads:

• USC Trojans Plummet In Latest AP Top 25 Poll
• USC Football’s 3 Worst Stats From Loss to Gophers
• What We Learned From The USC Trojans Painful Loss To Minnesota