It is safe to say that the USC Trojans season has not gone as planned. Sitting at 3-4, their season is all but over, and there are questions looming about the overall state of the program and whether Lincoln Riley is still making progress, or if the program is regressing.
One of the most respected pundits in all of College Football, Joel Klatt, came to the defense of Riley and the USC Trojans on his podcast, The Joel Klatt Show.
Joel Klatt Defends Lincoln Riley And USC Trojans
The Trojans have lost their 4 games by a combined 14 points. In every game they have played this year, they have held a 4th quarter lead.
There are two ways to look at that stat. The negative outlook would lean toward the narrative that they are not mentally tough enough to win close games, which comes from the top down.
The positive outlook, which Klatt takes here, would be that they are close, so close in fact, and once they turn the corner, losing close games will dissipate.
Whether you agree or not, Klatt does make a really good point. If you look at last season, the USC Trojans lost big in a few games, notably Notre Dame and UCLA, and the Washington and Oregon scores were probably closer than they should have been.
So they lost big.
Now this year, they are losing small, extremely small.
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Could they turn a corner soon and start winning small?
They will have an opportunity Friday night against Rutgers in the Coliseum. Rutgers has also lost three straight games, two of those being one-score contests.
So who will be the team to close out a close game? If the Trojans and Riley hope to truly turn the corner, it has to be them.