Where does one begin when cataloging the many embarrassments, failures and humiliations suffered by Lincoln Riley and USC football this season?
There is a bowl game to be played, but it will not be significant in any profound sense. It will be a chance for 2024 players to get needed work and practice, particularly with a new defensive coordinator looking into the operation and gathering information for next year. In essence, USC’s season ended on Saturday. It could not have gone much worse.
Itemizing a number of specific failures might seem like piling on and just being mean, but no — we need to mention all of these failures so everyone at USC absorbs them and gains clarity on how to avoid them in the future. The enormity of failure has to be confronted, piece by piece, for fresh accountability and meaningful change to emerge next season.
Here is a list of some of the failures of Lincoln Riley and USC this season. We mention them not to repeat refrains or mantras, but to make the program aware of how badly it failed and how fully it must rethink its methods in the pursuit of transformation next season in the Big Ten.
Here we go: