What Lincoln Riley Said About USC Trojans' Tough Road Loss to Oregon

EUGENE - Several costly penalties and mental mistakes plagued the USC Trojans to put the Ducks back on top and they never trailed again.

USC entered the game in a tight race for the College Football Playoff, but a third loss has eliminated them from the dance. Makai Lemon accounted for three touchdowns, two receiving and one passing. Jayden Maiava threw three in total, but his two interceptions were costly.

"Hell of a battle. Our guys fought like crazy," said USC coach Lincoln Riley to reporters postgame. "Obviously did it a very shorthanded and just continued to go and gave ourselves some pretty cool opportunities. Just quite weren't able to get over the hump there. We're disappointed, didn't play our best. Some of the penalties that we haven't been having obviously showed up and hurt us. We were gusty, made a lot of plays but in the end just a couple of plays short."

Game Recap

The two teams traded haymakers in the first half. Lemon continued to strengthen his case for the Biletnikoff Award with a receiving touchdown and a touchdown pass to Tanook Hines. While Oregon, had no problem moving the ball on its first two possession, thanks to a balanced attack and the game was tied 14-14 early in the second quarter.

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"It was probably our worst coverage of the game on top of the punt being a low line drive," Riley said. "It's one as a punter you try to avoid because it gets down fast and there's gonna be a lot of room and we got held up in a couple of spots and we did not do a good job leveraging the ball. A huge play in the game. They're a good offense, good team, definitely don't want to give up something like that ... that sequence to me was the one where the real separation of the game occurred."

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EUGENE - Several costly penalties and mental mistakes plagued the

And late in the half, Atticus Sappington's field goal hit the upright and fell no good, but USC linebacker Desman Stephens was flagged for leaping, giving Oregon a fresh set of downs and Bryce Boettcher's 1-yard score put Oregon up 28-14 at the half.

Riley said Stephens "panicked and did something that we do not teach and obviously it hurt us" after the game.

In the third quarter, USC safety Kennedy Urlacher recorded his first career interception and Lemon's second receiving touchdown made it a seven-point game. But Oregon quickly responded when Moore threw a dart up the seam to Sadiq for his second score of the game and made it a two-possession game again heading into the fourth.

USC continued to fight and hang around down the stretch. Lake McRee's 9-yard receiving touchdown cut into the Oregon lead but as they did all game, Oregon moved the ball with ease and Noah Whittington's 9-yard touchdown run with under six minutes remaining sealed the Trojans fate.

Run Game Struggles

King Miller has stepped in for the last month and a half and kept the Trojans run game at a high level but on Saturday the ground game never got going. The Trojans had a season-low 52 rushing yards.

"We missed a couple of assignments in the run game when we had some opportunities," Riley said. "They're good upfront, we knew that. Their d-line is good, their d-tackles did a nice job against us and we didn't help the fact by missing a couple of assignments that hurt us. We didn't run the ball nearly as well as we had and nearly as much as we expect to."

The Trojans had thrived on offense this season with a balanced attack but against the Ducks they became one dimensional and there were long stretches when they sputtered on that side of the ball.

Looking Ahead

USC will end the regular season next Saturday when they host UCLA at the Coliseum in the latest edition of the crosstown rivalry.

"Seasons not over, we got a game next week," Riley said. "We're gonna get ready for UCLA. We won a bunch a games this year, the ones we haven't won, we been right there. We got a great opportunity to win No. 9 this week, that's what we're gonna put our focus towards."

The College Football Playoff is out of the question for the Trojans. but they still have an opportunity to finish the season on a high note and reach double-digit wins with a bowl game as well.

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