Lincoln Riley & USC Not Man Enough for B1G

By Rock Westfall

USC’s unnecessary, giveaway loss at Michigan is not about what happened in Ann Arbor. Instead, it is a revelation that is cause for concern for the next two months of play.

If the USC Trojans were ever going to make a statement, it was in their historic first Big Ten Conference game at the Big House against a beatable Michigan Wolverines team. Michigan is a team going through a massive transition with new head coach Sherrone Moore , a new struggling quarterback, Alex Orji, who can't effectively pass and almost all of its 2023 national championship stars long gone. USC had victory in hand but was not man enough to finish, losing 27-24.

The loss at Michigan is a peek into USC’s future, and it still won’t work. The Trojans remain a Pac-12 finesse team as new members of a Big Ten Conference where brute force and iron will are mandatory for success. Michigan ground the USC defense into hamburger with a final drive that should be cause for concern in the games going forward. USC knew Michigan could not pass effectively yet could still not stop the rushes they knew were coming. That is an alarming tell.

On the cusp of national glory, USC folded like a house of cards when it mattered most. Leading 24-20 with 2:21 left to play, the Trojans allowed Kalel Mullings to ramble 63 yards on 3 ^rd and 1 to USC's 17-yard line. A few plays later, Mullings easily scored on a 4 ^th and one off-tackle left play to win the game. Michigan’s ability to win the game on the ground is a stinging indictment of USC’s lack of physicality. And that is worrisome for the next two months of Big Ten football.

Championship Teams Don’t Allow Late Losses on the Ground

After two years of being virtually defenseless, the USC Trojans defense had nowhere to go but up. D’Anton Lynn was an impressive heist from UCLA to replace Alex Grinch as the new defensive coordinator. Lynn has led a modest improvement to the unit. But the fact remains that the USC defensive line is not up to par for consistent success in the Big Ten, especially against its top programs. USC ranks 91 ^st against the rush heading into this week’s home matchup with the Wisconsin Badgers.

From the first drive, Michigan controlled the line of scrimmage and ripped off touchdown runs of 53 and 41 yards, respectively, on their way to 199 rushing yards. Most demoralizing was the fact that with the game on the line and Michigan needing to travel 89 yards with four minutes to play, the Trojans were rendered helpless at stopping the run despite knowing it was coming.

Dating back to his days at Oklahoma, Lincoln Riley-coached teams have always been soft and had some of the worst national metrics based on interior line play. Those trends have continued in 2024, with USC ranking an abysmal 89 ^th for rushing offense.

As the 2024 season progresses, Riley and Lynn may engineer marginal defensive improvement, but not enough to make a championship difference. Equally problematic is USC’s inability to generate a ground game to complement the defense and help eat up the clock in close games.

Riley’s Finesse Mindset Offers No Support to Defense

As is often the case, Lincoln Riley’s play calling continues to offer no complimentary support to his defense. While there is nothing new about this problem, it is indicative of Riley’s stubbornness and refusal to learn, adapt, and change. At Michigan, Riley helped snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Indeed, Riley made some poor play calls, the most critical being on the possession that preceded Michigan’s winning drive. The Trojans went three-and-out by twice stopping the clock on incomplete passes by quarterback Miller Moss . As a result, the possession burned less than a minute, leaving enough precious time for the Wolverines to move back in front with 37 seconds remaining in the game.

“I thought I could have been better,” Riley conceded. “I don’t think I called a very good drive there.”

Looking ahead, there is no confidence or track record that Riley will do things differently, especially with a poor interior line that can’t sustain drives with the run.

USC is a blueblood power brand but is not up to the marquee. Riley must recruit more aggressively than ever to field personnel capable of dominating both sides of the line.

Riley remains an incomplete coach and USC is nowhere near ready for a Big Ten or national championship run.