Lincoln Rileys familiar reaction to Rutgers debacle should worry USC fans
PISCATAWAY, N.J.– As reporters waited down a narrow corridor from an open USC locker room, they caught glimpses of Lincoln Riley delivering his postgame speech.Fragments of the coach’s fiery address could be heard.When it ended, a team spokesperson scurried over to the handful of media.
Asserting that what Riley had said was private, the spokesperson demanded that reporters not disclose any of it.The sad truth was that nothing Riley said Saturday evening was nearly as embarrassing as the statement his team made on the field.His quarterback? Struggled to complete passes against Rutgers’ soft zone coverage.His special teams? Gave up a 40-yard pass on a fake punt when the Scarlet Knights were backed up at their own 16-yard line.His defense? Oh, boy.It was beyond bad.The 12th-ranked Trojans delivered the wrong kind of throwback performance during their not-so-great-escape of a 42-35 victory at SHI Stadium, raising questions about anything having changed under new defensive coordinator Gary Patterson.They couldn’t stop the run with any reliability.
They repeatedly gave up big plays to a quarterback who looked better suited to the Football Championship Subdivision level.They surrendered 460 yards and two more touchdowns than Rutgers had managed against UMass – UMass! – on this same field just two weeks earlier.A team supposedly ready for prime time appeared unprepared for a midafternoon game against possibly the worst Power Four opponent in the nation.Who could have imagined that the highlight of the trip would be the USC band performing Friday in Times Square?The showing left Trojans fans in a rightful frenzy over the state of a team that was supposed to be peaking in Year 5 under Riley.Instead, this looked like more of the same from a program whose flaws have been annually revealed by midseason.Riley’s moment of truth was supposed to come later this season against top teams like Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State and Indiana.
Maybe it came on a cloudy Septe...