Lincoln Riley’s USC team has been through the wringer. There’s no getting around after the Trojans let another 4th-quarter lead slip through their fingers on the road vs. Maryland.

Early in the final quarter, USC held a 14-point lead before watching the Terrapins storm back. Even after falling behind 29-28, there was plenty of time left for the Trojans to fight into field-goal range, but a pivotal 4th-and-2 pass was broken up to end the game.

“Heartbreaking way to end it. I know it’s been kind of the tale of the last several weeks for us,” said Riley at his postgame press conference. “We’ve done some good things, got a lead and obviously just have not been able to finish these games. This one was symptomatic of all 3 sides.”

Riley believes the team had its chances to find a game-changing play in every phase of the game — and for good reason. The Trojans lined up for a field goal inside 2 minutes that would have iced the game, but that kick was blocked.

“All 3 sides had opportunities. Thought we played a pretty good first half, put ourselves in position,” Riley explained. “All 3 sides had opportunities whether it was getting stops, to score, make field goals, all of that and didn’t make enough plays… Heartbroken for the guys in the locker room. It’s been a really tough stretch emotionally. It’s tough, man… It simply hasn’t been enough.”

As for why his teams are incapable of finishing things off, Riley was at a loss for words. However, he admits this appears to be something his team cannot get over.

“I don’t know,” said Riley when it comes to finishing games.

“We’ve had so many games that have come right down to it in a row… I just think the thing that has made this unique is how emotional all of them are and how heartbreaking the losses are.”

But is this a problem unique to the 2024 Trojans, or is this a problem unique to Lincoln Riley’s USC program? Saturday marked his 12th loss as the head coach at USC, and his teams have blown leads of 14 points in 5 of those defeats.

As it relates to this season, USC is now 3-4 overall with 3 of those losses coming as a road favorite. In fact, the Trojans had leads in the 4th quarter of every loss, and all 4 losses have come by a total of 14 points.

That certainly fits the description of “heartbreaking.” Unfortunately, it’s looking more and more likely that this just who Riley is as a coach and who the Trojans are under his leadership.