USC can’t finish a drive, let alone a full four quarters. 

The Trojans (4-5, 2-5 Big Ten) traveled to rainy Seattle Saturday afternoon to play Washington (5-4, 3-3) at Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium. USC conceded another miserable defeat, losing its fourth consecutive road game 26-21. The Trojans would trail the Huskies for most of the game, leading by a singular point for a brief moment in time before blowing their lead once again. 

USC’s performance in this game, and really this season, is best encapsulated by its failure to score on four separate plays, with only 4-yards until they reached Washington’s endzone. The Trojans were down 26-21, and with a touchdown, they could have tied the game up, even potentially securing the win if they completed the extra point. 

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In its first down, with almost seven minutes left in the game, USC only needed to move the ball 4 yards to tie up the game. In the first play, redshirt junior quarterback Miller Moss handed the ball off to redshirt senior running back Woody Marks, who gained 2 yards for the Trojans. With one down done and three to go, the Trojans switched up their strategy. Moss attempted to find sophomore wide receiver Duce Robinson in the endzone, but the pass hit the turf. Unhappy with its second down, USC would once again attempt to rush the ball, with Marks putting USC on the one-yard line. 

During USC’s fourth down on Washington’s 1-yard line, all the Trojans had to do was move the ball three measly feet into the endzone, but they couldn’t get it done. Moss handed the ball off to Marks, who was taken out by Washington’s freshman linebacker Khmori House. In a trend for their season, the Trojans failed to clench in their moment of need. This marked the closest the Trojans would get to the endzone for the entirety of the fourth quarter. 

“We’ve been a good enough team to win every game. We’ve been a good enough team to put ourselves in a position to win,” said Head Coach Lincoln Riley in a post-game press conference after the Washington loss. “We’ve consistently been in these games that come down to one play and we just have not done a good enough job making those plays.”

Despite what Riley may think, games are not lost in a single play; they are lost through a consistent failure to keep the ball and achieve first downs. Moss threw three interceptions, allowing Washington to gain a total of 66 yards with his mistakes. USC also consistently failed to run the ball in the first half, only managing 22 rushing yards in the entirety of the first half. 

“We didn’t run it great,” Riley said. “You feel the need to run the ball, but we needed to do it better. I needed to do a better job. I mean, none of it was good enough.” 

After their last road game loss against Maryland, Riley made similar hollow platitudes about needing to do better. 

“So we’re emphasizing it. We’re working on it. We’re getting done,” Riley said after a devastating loss to the Terrapins on Oct. 19. “We got to do a better job.”

But when will Riley and his Trojans “do a better job?” The Trojans almost did “do better,” when they took a narrow lead in the third quarter. 

With 5:51 minutes remaining in the third quarter, Moss set up within striking distance of the Washington endzone. On the 9-yard line, Moss sent a perfect ball to redshirt senior wide receiver Kyle Ford, completing the touchdown pass. 

This play appeared to mark a turning of the tides for USC. The Trojans’ rushing yards in the third quarter had more than doubled the total rushing yards for the entirety of the half. USC looked to have finally figured out a strategy to beat the Huskies, but that plan quickly fell apart. 

At the end of the third quarter, Moss threw an interception caught by Husky senior linebacker Carson Bruener. The Huskies would capitalize on this turnover, beginning the fourth quarter of the Trojan’s 21-yard line. The Huskies would continue to drive the ball forward, eventually getting the ball within a few yards of the endzone. USC could not quell Washington’s offense and would concede the touchdown.

USC had one final moment to tie the game up in the final minute of the game. It was fourth down, and Moss was on Washington’s 14-yard line. With only 26 seconds left on the clock, it was now or never for the Trojans. Moss attempted a pass to sophomore wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane, but the ball sailed over his head, forcing a USC turnover. 

Trojan fans’ hopes of their first road game were brutally crushed as the final whistle blew. The Trojan fanbase hopes that Riley will deliver on his promise of “doing better” before the Trojans grace the gridiron next week.

The Trojans will return home to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday for their homecoming matchup against the Nebraska Cornhuskers.