Lincoln Riley is pushing to lead the Trojans to the biggest road win of his tenure at ORE Saturday. (Gina Ferazzi/LAT)
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USC travels to No. 8 Oregon seeking its biggest road win of coach Lincoln Riley’s tenure.
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The Trojans have thrived at the Coliseum, but there has been a significant dip production on the road.
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A win would keep USC’s College Football Playoff hopes alive, but the Trojans will be without some key injured players.
Ryan Kartje (LA Times) — Before he took the reins at USC, Lincoln Riley had a reputation as something of a road warrior. It wasn’t until his third season at Oklahoma that Riley’s team had lost a true road game with him as head coach. During five years with the Sooners, he won 17 of 21 on the road.
But four years into his tenure as the Trojans’ coach, Riley’s once-sterling road reputation feels like a relic of a past life. Until USC won at Nebraska earlier this month, Riley hadn’t beaten a team on the road that finished better than .500 since November 2022, when his Trojans toppled UCLA at the Rose Bowl. Otherwise, outside of L.A., USC’s only road victory against a quality team under Riley came against Oregon State … in his fourth game leading the Trojans.
Never have the stakes been so high for Riley than they are this week, as No. 15 USC heads to No. 8 Oregon with its College Football Playoff hopes hinging on a huge road victory. Still, it’s hard to ignore how starkly different Riley’s Trojans have looked when challenged away from home.
USC has been the best offense in college football when inside the Coliseum. But in four road games, USC is averaging 18 fewer points and two fewer yards per attempt on offense. Its red zone touchdown rate plummets 25%, while its third-down conversion rate drops 16% on the road. Simply put, by any measure, Riley’s offense has been much worse away from home this season.
That disparity starts at quarterback. At home, Jayden Maiava has been one of the best quarterbacks in all of college football this season. The junior has completed 74% of his passes at home and averaged 10.7 yards per attempt at the Coliseum, both of which rank top 10 in the nation. He’s accounted for 18 total touchdowns to just two turnovers at home, while his quarterback rating puts him in the rarefied air of Heisman contenders such as Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin.
That version of Maiava, however, has yet to take his show on the road. In five true road games as the Trojans’ starting quarterback, Maiava has completed fewer than 57% of his passes. His average yards per attempt tumbles nearly three yards. He’s committed more turnovers and been sacked more often.
USC can’t afford for that to be the case Saturday, if it hopes to hold onto its Playoff hopes. But while recent history might be against his Trojans, Riley reminded this week that he’s not new to contending like this late in November.
“This is what I’m used to, man,” RIley said. “It’s good to be right there again, no question.”… This is the time of year that I enjoy most.”
Here’s what to watch as USC clashes with Oregon on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PST (CBS, Paramount+):
Battle of backfields
ORE RB Noah Whittington (6) stiff arms IOWA LB Karson Sharar (43) on Nov. 8 in Iowa City. (Charlie Neibergall / AP)
Both of these high-powered offenses are at their best when their rushing attacks are rolling. And no team in the Big Ten has gotten rolling on the ground this season quite like Oregon. Each of the Ducks’ trio of backs — Noah Whittington, Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill Jr. — is averaging at least seven yards per carry. Altogether, they’ve busted 28 rushes of 20 yards or more, second-most in the nation
“It doesn’t matter what back they put back there,” defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn said. “All their backs have the ability to make a big play. They can all create. They all break tackles. They’re good in space. They use them in the passing game as well. They really just make you defend the entire field.”
USC’s defense hasn’t exactly been reliable in that regard this season. It’s giving up 200 rushing yards per game over the past four weeks, and outside of the trip to Notre Dame, USC hasn’t faced a backfield like Oregon’s this season. Notre Dame, for what it’s worth, tallied for more than 300 yards on the Trojans front.
It’ll be just as critical for USC to establish the run — if only to keep Oregon’s offense off the field. The Trojans won’t have Waymond Jordan back as hoped, but walk-on King Miller continues to be a revelation. He’s averaging 7.26 rush yards per attempt this season, good for third in the Big Ten.
First, second and fourth in that category? All Oregon running backs.
Explosive plays
USC WR Makai Lemon catches a 12-yd TD pass in front of MICH DB Jayden Sanders at the Coliseum on Oct. 11. (Gina Ferazzi/LAT)
Riley’s offenses have always lived on big, explosive plays. Oregon’s defense just happens to thrive at stopping them.
No team in college football has given up fewer plays of 20-plus yards this season than Oregon. The Ducks defense has yielded just 17 such plays in 10 games. USC, meanwhile, had 17 20-plus yard plays … after two.
Oregon has been especially good at limiting those plays on the ground. The Ducks have given up just three explosive runs all year.
“We’re going to have to do what we’ve done all year,” Riley said. “It’s a strength of ours. It’s a strength of theirs. All that is typical of games like this.”
Safety net
USC’s Christian Pierce (24) and Desman Stephens II (23) hit NW ball carrier Caleb Komolafe at the Coliseum on Nov. 7. (Harry How / Getty Images)
USC could be without two critical pieces of its secondary, just as its set to face one of the best pass games in the Big Ten.
Starting safeties Bishop Fitzgerald and Kamari Ramsey left last Saturday’s game win over Iowa with injuries. Ramsey dressed for practice and was limited this week, while Fitzgerald appears unlikely to play.
Christian Pierce is expected to play a larger role with at least one out of the lineup, while sophomore Kennedy Urlacher is certain to receive an extended opportunity at safety. Urlacher made the decisive pass break-up in the fourth quarter of last week’s win over Iowa.
Prediction: ORE 35, USC 27
latimes.com
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Thanksgiving weekend: Usually this rivalry game is played one week BEFORE Thanksgiving. The student Ruins are “out of town”; same can be said for the Trojans, BUT the underdog pastel blues need it more so…they need a HUGE rallying cry from the students, who are too busy eating turkey tomorrow, and Saturday.
I hope Washington rolls on UCLA tonight
Trojans played very well; they are steadily improving. Hopefully we will get a little more help next year on the Defense; Riley is making progress…he called a good game except for a 2-point conversion decision and a 4th and 10 gamble.
Well … 1st half was embarrassing, to win big games you need to play sharp and smart
SC was anything but that. That leaping crap was a 14 pt swing.
I liked the calls, thought they showed balls and confidence in the offense. Had it worked it would have been called genius. But I can see your point, the old rule, when you are the visitor you play to tie, win in OT.
Oh well……a 9-3 year with another Alamo bowl appearance.
Everybody knows how I feel. Until Riley leaves……love San Antonio…..see the Alamo!….just about every year.
The offensive genius put up 27 points on Oregon.
Our grand defense let them score 42 with 2/3 of their OL missing for most of the game and their top 3 best receivers being out.
We had several boneheaded undisciplined penalties which cost us.
and…..what is it with the dirty face mask grabs during the game. We must have had at least 12 that were called and uncalled that I caught.
Lincoln Riley needs to go. Period. He is not worthy of USC Football tradition. And in order to win championships, you need a great defense.
Get your check book out, and who are you going to hire? Every time we lose a game, there are people on this board that insist we fire our head coach. It’s a little more complicated than that
Exactly! Firing a coach will not always solve the problems.
Such great candidates out there … the guy we already canned is supposedly the best on out there lol
LR just has to fix this D and clean up the little things
You always have to ask, then what. Inevitably the new guy starts fresh all over again. USC now has strong So. Cal ties and is bringing in talent from all over California, not to mention the Texas and Georgia kids. New coach comes in and a lot of guys will leave. Whats the constructive point in firing Riley, it just gets redundant every week.
Urlacher…..big time hitter. Hines……looks like he has a real future at SC. Hard to find much to praise in a loss but this game is an exception.Oregon is one of the best teams in the country. Take away that punt return and the missed FG and they win 32-27. Take away the KO return against ND and the final score is 27-24. SC is definitely making progress towards becoming a team that can at least challenge for an NC.
Also, take away the TD they got after the dumb play where #23 got penalized for trying to go over the top of the center on their missed FG and we win 27-25.
we are just not able to consistently compete with the playoff caliber teams. Let’s hope we can keep our recruiting class together and win out.
I think that most all of the 26 class will stick around. There are a couple of guys that Texas and A&M are courting to flip, but overall they sound loyal and up to their commitment. We can give a lot of credit to the GM and his staff. It sounds like they are going to be very selective on who they take in the 27 class, it will be much smaller in size. If we finish the year at 10-3 I am okay, I think that fits for this 2025 team. I will remain supportive of the staff, support… Read more »
I am leaving to watch the GT game. Beat the bruins.
Stupid penalties QB who won’t run the ball on the RPO, arm tackling, whiff tackling. You can’t possibly beat a team as good as Oregon. Tighten up your team Riley. If we wanted undisciplined players, we could have kept Uncle Huggs for 20% of what we are paying our head coach intern. 😡
We are decent team and are making strides from last year but have a way to go to be a playoff team.
Let’s go beat UCLA next week and get to 9-3
The way we play defense, we don’t deserve to be in the playoffs. Riley cannot explain any reasonable excuse for the team playing the way it has in this game. Oregon might score again if they get another pick. If only this was at Arizona and on the tarmac!
Why would you fire Riley? Really?
My feeling is under his direction USC will more times than not have to outscore the opponent to win. His teams have never been heavily defensive.
His 4-teams while at USC have always been defensively weak. He has the Sir Raid mentality recruiting the best players playing offense while most championship teams have their best recruits playing defensive.
I think we have plateaued with Riley. He will never build a team from the trenches out. This is what we need to succeed in the B1G.
You realize they let Riley go, it is starting all over again. I am not good with that. We have come this far, lets stick it out and see what they can develop with these young players. We need two linebackers from the portal anyway you look at it no matter who is coach.
Stick with him. Win next week it’s 9-3 with a brutal road schedule. Obviously to compete with top teams on the road had better clean it up
Good night Betty. Defense—has it regressed? When we play quality teams we just aren’t there. If Oregon didn’t have the turnovers and dropped passes it would not be close at all. We would probably be down at least 4 scores.
I think Oregon has shown they are not top caliber playoff team today.
They play fast and are good up front .., tough out
This shows we are getting close but not playoff caliber quite yet. Got to keep recruiting.
We are making progress but have to keep building
And that might be the game.
Another TD and the games over.
18 not really in the game. all day We need linebackers.
Toast—that’s us.
D’Anton Lynn has the front 6 (not even 7) thinking this is NFL football? Against 5-O-linemen and runner?
Ya lets get rid of him
Cannot stop the run. Need a turn over miracle
What is it about our D-line that can’t hold anybody at the LOS?
Backs have to tighten up now
Our D-line needs to stop their runners at the LOS.
Got to get another stop now.
USC has shown they can pass on this Oregon defense, so pass the ball and score again. Now we need another stop.
Why are we going for 2?
Playing to win.
They will go for 2 again next time.
We need to score, get another stop and score. Then hope there isn’t any time left for the ducks to hit a FG the last seconds of the game.
Oregon has given us several chances to get back into the game, we need to score on this drive.
Bad series for the duck offense
Our D-line can’t make any running play stops at the LOS giving the ducks 4-5-6 yard gains before our LBs can tackle anyone. Oregon can just run up the middle as we have not stop their running game. I think that’s what we will see from them test of the way.
Maieva is crappy on the road.
Our running game really isn’t a factor anymore
The duck punt return for a TD has given them enough of a comfort zone to play advantageous football test of the game. For us to catch the ducks the defense will have to stop their offense two/three consecutive series in order to catch the ducks. We need another pick or fumble badly!
Highly unlikely. With age I have developed a sense of reality. Nuts.
F reality, lets go win this sucker.
We can’t help ourselves. Urlacher got spun in coverage, no chance to stop their running game TE
So much for the defense stopping them
Picking on our safeties all day.
Safeties play way off, easy to beat.
Oregon won’t throw another pass. We can’t stop their running game. A familiar issue for our defense.
Gentry missed another tackle.
Well we are hanging around…is victory still possible?
Okay we’re back within one score. Now defense please step up
We still have a shot. Go D, tighten up and shut them down.
Major mistake on Riley going for it 10 yards away and past mid-field. He & Maiava are sabotaging this game right now. Why taking this big of risk so early in the 2nd half? I don’t get it.
What if they made it? Pure genius.
So much for Maiava
Stupid decision to go for it on 4th down
If they had made it it would have been genius. I know how ya feel
This game is on Maiava’s shoulders now.
Wow, GREAT STOP right when we needed it. Good job defense
Sure seems Gentry isn’t in the game.
Another dumb mistake
I think ducks will try ball control now.
You saw Riley’s reaction to the missed FG at the end. For some reason he was really wanting 3-points. This isn’t going to make much difference trading FGs with TDs with the ducks. But agin here we are behind by 14 points and hoping to get back in the game the 2nd half. In an away game I am not feeling confident this will be possible unless Oregon helps us with a fumble or pick or penalties keeping them out of the end zone. Seeing how our D-line plays at the start of the 2nd half might very well tell… Read more »
Sure would have been nice to have had the ball first in the second half. If only we’d won the opening toss. Oh yeah, … we did.