USC Trojans Football: Lincoln Riley Reveals Plummeting Team Morale After 2 Straight Losses

USC must find a way to salvage the season moving forward.

The USC Trojans dropped their second straight game this weekend, losing once again to the Utah Utes. It marks the fourth straight time that Utah has taken down the Trojans, and the third since head coach Lincoln Riley took over the team.

It was supposed to be a bounceback game for USC after they lost to Notre Dame a week ago, but USC couldn't muster up any consistency in the game. Now the Trojans' dreams of a National Championship are all but dead, and they will need to find a way to salvage the rest of the season. Even quarterback Caleb Williams struggled in this matchup.

Riley spoke to Lincoln Riley of the Associated Press after the game and gave some insight into how his team was feeling following another loss.

“It was a good heavyweight battle,” said Riley, who is 17-5 at USC with three losses to Whittingham’s Utes. “Two good football teams going at it, and it came down to the last play. Locker room is pretty torn up right now, as it should be. Had two tough losses in a row, and not how any of us scripted this. But you can’t script it. It’s college football. Comes down to little things here and there, and we haven’t played clean enough in the last couple of weeks.”

Per Lincoln Riley via AP

USC entered the year with title aspirations and the dream of going undefeated, so the rest of the season may be hard to find motivation for. The best they can hope for is the Pac-12 title, which is a great accomplishment, but not what they had hoped for. 

"Williams passed for 256 yards and no TDs in a second straight difficult game for the star and his Trojans, whose national title hopes are all but dead after back-to-back losses to Notre Dame and Utah. USC refused to make any players available to the media afterward."

Per Greg Beacham of AP

It is another wasted year for the Trojans and a disappointing one at that. They will need to figure something out, as their schedule doesn't let up down the stretch of the year. 

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