USC football beat Rutgers by 22 points on Friday night. The Trojans won a game comfortably and did not allow an inferior opponent to hang around and make the game dramatic or tense in the fourth quarter. Yet, Lincoln Riley still made decisions which could have and should have been better. Big Ten football analyst and national college football writer and podcaster Tom Fornelli had this to offer about Lincoln Riley’s fourth-quarter decision making against Rutgers:
USC scored a touchdown to go ahead 42-20 in the final seconds of the third quarter. Rutgers got the ball back and then went 62 yards in 15 plays before turning the ball over on downs. It was a grind of a drive — one in which you could see USC’s defense breathing heavily. When the Trojans got the ball back, up 22 points with under 10 minutes to play, they didn’t look to churn the clock.
The first snap saw Woody Marks break off a 19-yard run. Then, Miller Moss threw an incomplete pass on the ensuing first down. It was followed by a run for no gain and a short pass on third down. USC did not run the clock. They kept the same tempo they had all game. The result was having to send their defense back out after a 15-play drive two minutes of game time later.
Rutgers then put together another slow, 13-play drive.
After watching his team blow late leads and seeing his defense lose key starters to season-ending injuries in recent weeks, I was blown away by Riley’s decision-making in the fourth quarter. By the time the final whistle sounded, USC’s defense had been on the field for 89 plays and over 36 minutes. That includes 27 plays and 10:22 in the fourth quarter of a game the team already led by 22 points.
There’s no question that with USC’s defense being shorthanded, Riley needed to reduce the number of plays USC’s defense had to handle. Keeping the defense off the field for as much time as possible should have been the priority in the fourth quarter. Riley did not coach accordingly. We will see if this catches up with the USC defense against Washington. Fortunately, USC played on a Friday night and will have a full week of rest. Still: Riley could have and should have done better. Fornelli’s criticism is more than fair.
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