USC Knows How to Answer. Now the Trojans Have to Learn How to Finish.

By Jason Burrell | South Bay Black Journal

LOS ANGELES — USC won a football game Saturday night.

That isn’t what concerns me.

The Trojans scored 49 points. Jayden Maiava threw five touchdown passes. USC ran for more than 200 yards. Trent Mosley changed the game on special teams. Mark Bowman looked like a matchup problem Louisiana never completely solved.

USC’s offense looks ready for the Big Ten.

Its defense still has some explaining to do.

Because after watching USC beat Louisiana 49-30 at the Coliseum, one question kept following me around:

Can the Trojans finish?

Not win.

Finish.

There is a difference.

Winning means looking at the scoreboard when the clock reaches zero.

Finishing means putting an opponent away when you’ve earned the opportunity to do it.

USC had those opportunities Saturday night.

Louisiana just kept hanging around.

That might work in September against a nonconference opponent when Maiava and this offense can keep reaching into the bag for another answer.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN--USC speedy wide receiver Trent Mosley takes it to the house at the Coliseum against Louisiana in another home non-conference opponent en route to a 49-30 victory on Sept. 12. (JACKSON BURRELL/PHOTO)

I’m not convinced it works when the big boys show up.

And they’re coming.

USC opens Big Ten play at Rutgers next Saturday. Then Oregon comes to the Coliseum. Washington follows. Then comes a trip to Penn State. Later, Ohio State walks into the Coliseum.

Those teams aren’t interested in how talented USC is.

They aren’t going to care how many freshmen are playing, how many transfers are learning a new system, or how much potential somebody has.

Eventually, potential has to become production.

Eventually, young players have to become dependable players.

Eventually, somebody has to finish.

And that’s why USC’s 49-30 victory over Louisiana left me impressed and uncomfortable at the same time.

The Offense Looks Different

Let me give USC its flowers first.

Maiava looks like a pro to me.

I’m not talking about draft projections in September. I’m talking about the traits you can see developing in front of you: command, composure and the ability to answer when the game changes.

He finished 19 of 29 for 261 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. USC accumulated 483 yards of offense, including 214 on the ground.

But the numbers aren’t what convinced me.

It was his response.

Maiava threw an interception on USC’s opening possession. Louisiana turned it into three points.

 He answered with a 13-play, 79-yard touchdown drive.

Louisiana returned the favor, went 75 yards in seven plays and pulled within four points.

Maiava answered again, going Twelve plays. Eighty-seven yards and a Touchdown.

Then Mosley took a punt 86 yards to the house, changed the game, and had it rocking inside the Coliseum.

That’s what good teams do; They respond, and USC has some dudes.

Mosley looks like a Sunday player to me.

So does Bowman.

Bowman caught six passes for 83 yards and two touchdowns before halftime alone. He became Maiava’s security blanket when USC needed somebody to settle things down.

Mosley provided something different.

Electricity!

Some players make plays. Trent Mosley makes an entire stadium hold its breath.

Offensively,  Lincoln Riley has plenty to work with.

King Miller finished with 128 yards on 18 carries and scored a touchdown.

That’s never really been my concern with a Lincoln Riley football team.

The other side of the ball is where he has consistently come up short.

CAN THE TROJANS FINISH?

At halftime, USC led 28-10.

The Trojans had outgained Louisiana 294-121. They ran 44 plays to Louisiana’s 21 and controlled the football for almost 20 minutes more than the Cajuns.

Lincoln Riley and the Trojans should have put this game away.

They came out of halftime and did what Riley wanted. They stretched the lead to 35-10.

Then something changed.

USC appeared to have stopped one third-quarter possession when the Ragin’ Cajuns missed a 33-yard field goal.

Get off the field.

Except USC didn’t.

A roughing-the-kicker penalty gave Louisiana another opportunity. The Ragin’ Cajuns eventually scored a touchdown.

A defensive victory became seven points because USC couldn’t get off the field and get out of its own way.

That’s not finishing!

Offensively, the Trojans were unstoppable. Maiava hit Zachariah Williams for a 44-yard touchdown. Miller would later score from 12 yards out.

The Trojans eventually reached 49 points, but Louisiana still reached 30.

Read that again.

USC led 28-10 at halftime and won 49-30.

That means Louisiana essentially played USC even in the second half, 20-21.

USC physically controlled much of the first half, and this is what I’m referring to. 

Riley saw it, too.

He called it an “up and down win” afterward and said the team’s intensity dipped after its strong start to the third quarter. More importantly, Riley identified USC’s penalties as the most alarming part of the night.

“We’ve got to coach that better. We’ve got to play better on that. We’ve got to play smarter,” Riley said. “That can’t happen going forward.”

He’s right.

But this is what the big boys do. The teams that compete for championships.

 They put it on film!

Saying you’re going to fix something isn’t fixing it.

Talking about discipline isn’t discipline; talking about finishing isn’t finishing.

At some point, it has to show up between the white lines, Coach.

Riley also talked afterward about the value of getting young players onto the field throughout USC’s three nonconference games. He believes those repetitions will help develop a roster that is going to need those players later.

I agree with him.

Young players need to play.

They need snaps when the outcome isn’t hanging in the balance so they’re prepared for the night when it is.

But the Big Ten will not grade USC on a developmental curve.

Rutgers won’t.

Oregon damn sure won’t.

Penn State can’t afford to.

Ohio State most certainly won’t, not after losing to Texas last night on prime-time television!

The Trojans’ schedule gets tough immediately; they travel to Rutgers and then into a stretch featuring Oregon, Washington, and Penn State before eventually bringing Ohio State to the Coliseum on Oct. 31. USC can lose all 5 of those games if the defense can’t finish! 

That’s where Saturday night’s lesson becomes bigger than Louisiana.

Because the difference between competing for a Big Ten championship and watching somebody else play for it can be one possession.

One third-down stop.

One missed tackle.

One unnecessary penalty after you’ve already gotten the stop.

USC is 3- 0, but that’s Lincoln Riley; he’s gone 3-0 before.

The offense looks dangerous. Maiava looks increasingly comfortable. Bowman is becoming a weapon. Mosley can change a football game in seconds. Miller gave USC another dimension Saturday night.

There is plenty to like about these Trojans.

But championship football eventually asks every team the same question.

What happens when talent isn’t enough?

What happens when the other sideline has NFL players, too?

What happens when USC goes up 10 against Oregon, Penn State, or Ohio State and the opponent doesn’t panic?

That’s when finishing stops being a talking point and becomes a requirement.

Louisiana made USC’s defense uncomfortable Saturday night, and almost every time it happened, the Trojans found an answer.

That’s encouraging, but the deeper USC travels into Big Ten play, the questions are going to get harder, and the teams waiting for the Trojans won’t always give them another opportunity to answer.

USC knows how to score.

Maiava knows how to respond.

Now Lincoln Riley and his defense have to show us something else.

They have to learn how to finish.