A long, cold night for USC had been leading here, to the doorstep of the Washington goal line, just a few familiar feet away from redemption.
For much of Saturday’s 26-21 loss to Washington, as rain fell in sheets and a freezing wind blew off Lake Washington, Lincoln Riley stuck stubbornly with his gut, testing the nation’s No. 1 pass defense by throwing into a downpour with a struggling quarterback. Riley has held tightly to his instincts in the face of criticism throughout USC’s nightmare season, defiant to suggestions the Trojans weren’t heading in the right direction, even as one close loss turned to another, and another, and another.
But after climbing back against Washington, taking a lead, then giving it away again, it was the ground game that carried the Trojans to that pivotal goal-line moment. And it was Riley who had dialed up 11 runs in 12 plays, grinding clock all the way to the one-yard-line, within just a few feet of exorcizing USC’s fourth-quarter demons.
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The failure to bridge that oh-so-narrow gap had, to this point, been the story of USC’s season, and Riley had distinctly chosen one side of that Rorschach test, pointing repeatedly to how close the Trojans had come. But here, just as Woody Marks was handed the ball on fourth down and a few feet, the protection around him collapsed, and the walls closed in once again on USC.
“Just a blown assignment up front at the wrong time,” Riley said.
It was just the latest missed opportunity at the least opportune time for the Trojans, who would get another chance with 1:36 left in the game. But after driving most of the field in less than a minute, USC was forced into another decisive fourth-down.
Miller Moss, in the midst of another uneven performance, found himself immediately under pressure, as the Washington front broke through the USC line once again, wrapping up the Trojan quarterback, who could barely get off his final pass.
The two failed red zone trips would lead to a fourth loss in five weeks, leaving USC in an even more precarious position as it pertains to a possible bowl bid. But to Riley, the narrow margin was again evidence of how close USC is to the team he thought it could be.
“It’s still the truth,” Riley said. “We’ve been a good enough team to win every game. We’ve been a good enough team to put ourselves in position to win.”
That message had worn thin weeks ago with frustrated USC faithful, but Riley went back to it Saturday. In spite of the losses, Riley said he sees “massive progress that will pay dividends” later.
“You go change five, six plays this season, and everyone is like, oh my god, they’re friggin unbelievable,” Riley said.
Several of those plays Saturday belonged to Moss, who struggled even as Riley continued to go back to him. Moss threw 50 passes — the third time he’s met that threshold this season — but only managed to tally 293 yards (5.6 yards per attempt), along with three interceptions.
Still, Riley complimented the quarterback’s performance. When asked if USC would consider getting some snaps for his backup down the stretch this season, Riley made clear that wasn’t in the plans.
“For us right now,” Riley said, “what we’re looking at is what’s the best lineup, the best people to help us win every week, and we’re going to keep our focus there.”
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USC didn’t focus on establishing the run despite facing one of the worst run defenses in the Big Ten. But USC’s issues through the air didn’t compel Riley to lean on USC’s rushing attack until well into the second half.
At halftime, Marks had only eight carries for 17 yards. He finished with 22 for 123 yards and a touchdown after Riley finally turned to him.
Riley, after the game, rejected the notion that USC ignored the run early. Though, the box score clearly insisted otherwise.
“We did try,” Riley said. “We didn’t run it great. It’s always easy to say when you’re not running it very good, and you feel the need to run the ball. But we needed to do it better. I needed to do a better job.”
The pass-happy approach seemed destined to doom the Trojans until midway through the third quarter, when Moss dropped back on fourth and nine, in desperate need of a spark.
He found it in a streaking Makai Lemon, who caught a perfect pass in stride for a 37-yard score.
The touchdown would turn the game on its head, as USC’s defense forced an immediate punt, giving the ball back to Moss, who needed just three plays to move the length of the field before finding a wide-open Kyle Ford for a go-ahead score.
But that lead wouldn’t last. Not as Washington turned a Moss interception into the go-ahead scoring drive.
USC would still get two prime chances to close that gap. Both would fall short. But in the aftermath, the coach saw no reason to “go back to the drawing board,” even with USC’s expectations for the season falling further and further out of reach.
“It’s not like we’re getting our ass kicked,” Riley said. “It’s not that. This team has shown capability to do all the things you need to do. We just have to continue to keep our nose to the grindstone.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.