Lincoln Riley: ‘No magic remedy’ for USC issues

USC suffered their third-straight defeat last Saturday after falling to Maryland in a 29-28 road loss that was once again highlighted by coming up short in crunch time. Dropping the Trojans’ record to 3-4 on the season with fourth quarter leads in all four of their losses.

Late game shortcomings make losses sting even more, and are apparently not as easy to solve as one may imagine. Which USC head coach Lincoln Riley discussed after the team’s most recent loss.

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“We’ve kind of taken our turns, I mean closing out games is hard number one. We’ve been a good enough team to have a chance to win every game, but we haven’t been quite good enough to separate,” Riley said. “And when you put yourself in these moments, you are going to have to make some plays to beat somebody, especially on the road.”

USC has lost all of their road games this season as new members of the Big Ten. Not adjusting very well to their new trips to the East Coast and failing to make the biggest plays when they matter most according to Riley.

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“You’re going to have to make that field goal, or make that fourth down tackle, or make that catch, or make that throw, or block, or whatever it is because it’s just not going to be handed to you,” Riley explained. “And we’ve been good enough to have the lead to win them all, we just haven’t been good enough to separate. We put ourselves in that position”

USC’s defense is much improved from last season and their offense is a top-five scoring unit in the Big Ten. But closing out games takes a combination of preparation and execution coming together when it matters most in the clutch. As Riley will look to continue leaning into what his team does well and get better between the margins.

“We’re going to continue to hammer at it because it’s some of the same things that aren’t happening, they are happening in a positive way in other parts of the game or we wouldn’t be in those positions. So just gotta stay at it, there’s not a magic remedy, right? You just go back to work, you keep identifying the things that we’re not doing well, keep trying to emphasize and maximize the things that we are, and try to be 1-0 next week,” Riley concluded.

USC will look to bounce back on a short week, hosting Rutgers on Friday in a game kicking off late at 11 p.m. ET on FOX and streaming on Fubo.

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