USC football, which entered Week 8 still in contention for the Big Ten title and the College Football Playoff, saw its dreams crumble with a loss to the Wisconsin Badgers. When each loss, year after year, continues to have the same traits, it is clear something has to change. My USC take of the week following the Trojans' loss to Wisconsin on Saturday is that it is time to move on from Lincoln Riley.
Under Lincoln Riley, the Trojans will be relevant, but as of late, they have been relevant more for all the wrong reasons. The USC Trojans have consistently been good enough to be in the middle of the pack the last few seasons. Since joining the Big Ten, when it is time to face an opponent with some physicality and the traditional traits of a sound Big Ten team, that opponent usually handles USC convincingly. In Week 8, that notion came back to life.
The Trojans had their worst offensive performance under Lincoln Riley against the Badgers. USC's run game managed a whopping -17 yards on the ground. King Miller was taken out of the game by Wisconsin. Jayden Maiava and the passing game were not much better, as he was sacked 5 times and threw 2 interceptions. He got outplayed by a quarterback who threw for 58 yards. An offensive performance like this goes deeper than the players not showing up; Lincoln Riley has to get the most blame. The offense clearly was not set up for success, and Riley got outcoached for the duration of the game.
USC had the No. 1 recruiting class coming into the offseason, talent on both sides of the ball, and a quarterback who has been playing like the best quarterback in the conference. Yet they got embarrassed by a Wisconsin Badgers team that is nowhere near the team USC made them out to be in this disastrous loss. None of the reasons to be excited about this team to start the year could have prevented this blunder performance against Wisconsin.
The Trojans' weaknesses came to the surface, as did their road-game woes. They did not look prepared for this game. With a great opportunity and a clear path to a spectacular end to the season, the Trojans fell flat on their faces. That tends to be the same trend every season under Lincoln Riley.
The Trojans will not reach the heights they seek as a program with Lincoln Riley as their head coach. The final nail in the coffin was Saturday's game. Now, instead of the Trojans having their next three games become a catapult to take them to the top of the Big Ten, it looks like they will be headed for a 7-5 finish this season.
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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC's Lincoln Riley decision isn't difficult - it's clear | Opinion