His defiance gone, Lincoln Riley struggles to explain USC’s latest devastating loss

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His defiance gone, Lincoln Riley struggles to explain USC’s latest devastating loss
USC quarterback Miller Moss throws under pressure from Maryland linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II.
USC quarterback Miller Moss throws under pressure from Maryland linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II during the second half of the Trojans’ 29-28 loss Saturday night. (Alyssa Howell / Associated Press)
Ryan Kartje.
By Ryan Kartje
Staff Writer
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Oct. 19, 2024 Updated 8:24 PM PT
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. — In another far-flung college town, at the end of a nightmarish month spent crisscrossing the country finding new ways to unravel, Lincoln Riley sat behind a plastic folding table with his arms crossed, searching for a new explanation to the same familiar questions.
His defiance had since dissolved, lost in the wake of a fourth loss in five weeks. His confidence, never wavering through an uneven six weeks, had given way to confusion after USC fell 29-28 to Maryland, its most inexplicable defeat to date.

This time, even Riley knew there was no sense in trying to explain away how close his Trojans had come. That same refrain would no longer suffice

“It just simply hasn’t been enough,” Riley said, shaking his head. “I have to get this team to play better at the end of games. I’ve obviously not done a good enough job of that. Clearly.”

Never before had he experienced anything comparable in his years as a head coach, Riley said. And surely, it’s not often that a college football team, of any stature, squanders away four fourth-quarter leads in five weeks, losing all four in devastating fashion.

That sort of futility had to be seen to be believed, let alone for a team that had visions of the College Football Playoff when this season, Riley’s third at USC, started. But USC (3-4) defied those odds Saturday, blowing a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter to a team that hadn’t won in the Big Ten since last November.

What’s made this unique,” Riley said, “is how emotional all of them are and how heartbreaking the losses are. And it’s like that, over and over and over again.”