JaKobi Lane of the USC Trojans catches a touchdown in the second quarter against Perry Fisher #20 of the Maryland Terrapins at SECU Stadium on October 19, 2024 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
Jaylin Smith of the USC Trojans intercepts a pass in the third quarter against Kaden Prather of the Maryland Terrapins at SECU Stadium on October 19, 2024 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
Head coach Lincoln Riley of the USC Trojans argues a call with an official in the fourth quarter against at Maryland Terrapins at SECU Stadium on October 19, 2024 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
USC place kicker Michael Lantz (96) kicks an extra point against Maryland during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in College Park, Md. (AP Photo/Alyssa Howell)
Maryland Terrapins fans storm the field after a 29-28 victory against the USC Trojans at SECU Stadium on October 19, 2024 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
Octavian Smith Jr. of the Maryland Terrapins celebrates with Tai Felton after scoring a touchdown in the second quarter against the USC Trojans at SECU Stadium on October 19, 2024 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
Maryland quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. (9) looks to make a pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against USC, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in College Park, Md. (AP Photo/Alyssa Howell)
Maryland wide receiver Kaden Prather (1) celebrates a first down during the first half of an NCAA college football game against USC, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in College Park, Md. (AP Photo/Alyssa Howell)
USC quarterback Miller Moss (7) looks to throw against Maryland during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in College Park, Md. (AP Photo/Alyssa Howell)
USC safety Akili Arnold (0) tackles Maryland quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. (9) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in College Park, Md. (AP Photo/Alyssa Howell)
USC quarterback Miller Moss (7) is pressured by Maryland linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II (4) during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in College Park, Md. (AP Photo/Alyssa Howell)
Maryland running back Roman Hemby (24) carries the ball past USC safety Kamari Ramsey (7) during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in College Park, Md. (AP Photo/Alyssa Howell)
Woody Marks of the USC Trojans celebrates after scoring a touchdown in the second quarter against the Maryland Terrapins at SECU Stadium on October 19, 2024 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
Head coach Lincoln Riley of the USC Trojans watches his team warm up before the game against at Maryland Terrapins at SECU Stadium on October 19, 2024 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
Show Caption1 of 14JaKobi Lane of the USC Trojans catches a touchdown in the second quarter against Perry Fisher #20 of the Maryland Terrapins at SECU Stadium on October 19, 2024 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
ExpandCOLLEGE PARK, Md. — Bryson Shaws father, he said, raised him to fight. So he hunched over at a plastic postgame table Saturday and fought out words, even as there seemed none available to properly describe what had just taken place on this warm night in Maryland.
Bryson Shaws father raised him to fight, and so did the role models for many on this USC football team. That has never been in doubt. This 2024 program fights, through increasingly more improbable outcomes, through gut-wrenching introductions to new Big Ten territories. They fought on, to the bitter end Saturday, before a storm of Terrapin red overtook the turf as fans charged the field at SECU Stadium.
I mean, it comes down to pride, senior safety Shaw said postgame, asked what he hoped to get out of this season.
Theres not much else for USC to get out of this season, now sitting at 3-4 and 1-4 in the Big Ten after a 29-28 loss to Maryland Saturday. The College Football Playoff is gone. A prime bowl game is likely gone. Pride is what remains.
And yet pride has come tough to cling onto, as written in quarterback Miller Moss drooped shoulders and hollow gaze across from Shaw postgame, as this USC program continues to let games under their control slip away in the most excruciating fashion possible.
We’ve been a good enough team to have a chance to win every game, USC coach Lincoln Riley said postgame, after responding I dont know a few minutes earlier when asked why USC was struggling to close games.
But we haven’t been quite good enough to separate, he continued. And when you put yourself in these moments, like, you are going to have to make some plays to beat somebody.
They made plays, on Saturday. Plenty. This team always has. There was sophomore receiver JaKobi Lane defying Isaac Newton himself on a second-quarter touchdown from Moss that put USC up 14-7, somehow pirouetting mid-air and pulling down a 15-yard fade with solely his left hand. There was cornerback Jaylin Smith, saving the day with a one-handed fourth-down pick in the end zone as Maryland threatened to tie, down 21-14 in the third quarter. There was born playmaker Kamari Ramsey, screaming off the edge to sack Maryland quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. on a late fourth-down and seemingly tuck the game away, USC up 28-22 with three minutes left.
But the same inopportune mistakes, the ones that seem to just slowly sap this teams spirit, crushed them. First came an ill-advised back-foot pick from Moss as USC was driving in the third quarter, leading directly to a Maryland score the next play to cut the lead to seven, a play that Riley said gave them some life. In the fourth quarter, after Moss eventually came back with a 26-yard touchdown to a charging Duce Robinson, USCs defense failed to get Maryland off the field on two fourth-down tries before an eventual score.
And the cherry on top came as Michael Lantz readied for a 41-yard field goal with two minutes left, USC up 28-22, a kick that could finally close a game for USC. Sitting at a fourth-and-1 from the 24-yard line, Riley said USC was close to going for it. But he chose to play it conservative, wipe his hands, and send out the field-goal team by all accounts, the right decision.
Except USC had a protection bust, as Riley put it postgame, and suddenly Marylands Donnell Brown came bursting in to smack away Lantzs kick. The Terrapins recovered. They scored six plays later, and had somehow managed to take the lead.
Those are mistakes, Riley said postgame, you can’t make on the road.”
A late USC drive fell short, as a short fourth-down pass from Moss to Woody Marks was knocked away, and Moss put his hands on his helmet in apparent disbelief.
None of it, empirically, quite makes sense any way its sliced. USC has a point differential of plus-58 this season, and yet sits at 3-4. USC has led in the fourth quarter of all seven of its games this season, and yet sits at 3-4 – one of only two teams in college football history with such parameters through seven games, according to ESPN.
It’s like, we’re confident every game, it’s like we’re confident in all these games, and coming down to the wire, like, How did that just happen? Shaw said postgame.
The programs inability to finish, ultimately, falls on Riley, a burden hes publicly shouldered after USCs last two losses. He owned it, he said. It was his responsibility, he said.
I gotta get this team to play better at the end of games, Riley said postgame, part of his opening address to media. And Ive obviously not done a good enough job of that, clearly.
How exactly he does that, now, is unclear. Theres no magic remedy, as Riley put it postgame. They go back to work. They fix what hasnt been working. They maximize what has.
But what-ifs and a handful of plays gone wrong, at this point, are moot. Several weeks ago, after a season-opening win over LSU, USC carried the identity of a team that – yes – fought.
Now, with no way else to slice it, theyre carrying the identity of a team that folds.
Obviously the inability to finish em off, is, uh, Riley said postgame, tailing off, it just, it eats at you.
Moss was 34 of 50 for 336 yards, three TDs, and an interception, while Edwards Jr. was 39 of 50 for 373, two touchdowns and a pick as USC stifled Marylands ground game for much of the night. Marks, steady as ever and again underutilized in the second half, ran for 82 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown. Sophomore Makai Lemon continued to break out with a career-best eight catches for 89 yards.