USC Football: Trojans Have Yet To Achieve This In Their 2023 Season
Entering the season, the USC Trojans felt good about their chances to make a run to the College Football Playoff, and possibly more. But with one regular season game left to go, that dream came crashing down weeks ago for them.
It's been a tough year all around for USC, and it has seen them drop multiple games that they could have won. The Trojans didn't expect to be here, but the reality of the situation is already setting in.
Head coach Lincoln Riley pointed to the ups and downs that the Trojans have seen this season, and he iterated that the team hasn’t played a clean game this season so far.
“You know, we’ve had our ups and downs. I mean, obviously, we made a change defensively because that wasn’t headed where we need it to head. You can point to all sides. We kind of put pressure on each other. And we haven’t been able to surge too often together. Sometimes it’s a bounce of the ball. Sometimes it’s a call. Sometimes it’s officiating. Sometimes it’s a player error. Sometimes it’s a coaching error. It’s just been, I don’t know that I can point to one thing and say it’s only been that. That’s what makes it so tough is because the flip side of it is there is a lot of good to put yourself in position to beat a good team like Utah, to put yourself in position to beat a really good team like Washington or a good team like tonight.”
Maybe this grim fact can change this weekend when the Trojans take on the cross-town UCLA Bruins. But the fact remains that they took a step back this season from where they were in Riley’s first year as head coach.
The Trojans best win of the year likely came from their matchup against Colorado earlier this season, but they still almost choked that game away as well. USC had the talent to be successful this year, but couldn’t live up to the hype.
“You have to do a lot of good things to have a chance to win those games, too. We have and that’s the tough part to swallow is we haven’t gotten over the hump. That’s, that’s obviously what you’re defined on and we haven’t done a good enough job.”
Going forward, the Trojans are going to have to find a way to get better defensively. It was their biggest program this season, and as they get ready for the Big-10 next year, things will only become worse if they don’t improve.
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