What a magnificent disaster it was for the USC Trojans in their regular-season finale against the UCLA Bruins. In what will likely be Caleb Williams’ last game as a Trojan and a college football player, USC showed no heart, no fight, no backbone and no toughness in a tissue-soft blowout loss to UCLA.
The Trojans bent the knee. They meekly submitted to UCLA’s physicality, aggression and toughness.
Time after time in this game, a UCLA player — it didn’t matter who — won a one-on-one matchup. Whether it was a lineman against another lineman, or a defensive back against a USC receiver, or a USC linebacker against a UCLA ball carrier, or a USC defensive back against a UCLA pass catcher, the Bruin won the battle. The Trojan lost the battle.
A full game of these accumulated one-on-one losses led to a decisive UCLA conquest of USC, sending the Trojans to a 7-5 record and an offseason filled with questions.
There is no shortage of talking points after a loss such as this one. Let’s deal with some of the fallout and some of the tough conversations Lincoln Riley needs to have. We will obviously have a lot more to say about this in the coming days … and weeks … and months, until the 2024 season opener.
Let’s examine this mess instead of ignoring it: