The Times of Troy: Here are some questions Lincoln Riley should be asking himself

Hi, everyone, and welcome back for another week of the Times of Troy newsletter. I’m Ryan Kartje, your USC beat writer and humble guide on this journey toward Delta SkyMiles status in the new Big Ten. I’m coming to you, fittingly, from seat 29D on my morning flight back to Los Angeles, where a 1st birthday party awaits me in Alhambra when this plane lands. So, before I convince myself to indulge in an in-flight beer at 9 a.m., let’s jump right into it.
Some of you may need something a bit stronger after Saturday night’s loss to Minnesota. Lincoln Riley sure looked like he could use a glass of bourbon — or two — at the postgame podium.
After two losses in three weeks — first, to a flawed Michigan team and now to a middling Minnesota squad — there are a lot of fair questions being asked about the Trojans coach, who’s now lost seven of his last 12 at USC. But the biggest concern I have with Riley is that it’s not clear he’s asking any of those same questions of himself.
Even the untrained eye, to use Riley’s own parlance, could see he was outmaneuvered by Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck on Saturday. Minnesota set out with a plan to limit possessions and lean on the run, and on defense, Fleck flooded the Gopher secondary with defenders in soft coverage, sapping the electricity from USC’s offense.
Fleck dared Riley to run the ball and stay patient. And for a while, USC was moving the ball effectively. Woody Marks was in the midst of one of the best games of his college career, with 20 carries and 134 yards at the start of the fourth quarter.
Then, for the final 11 minutes, Marks didn’t touch the ball at all.
“You could just tell,” Fleck said after, “they were running the ball, but they still wanted to throw the ball.”
On a third and four, with 10:17 remaining, all Riley had to do was pound away with his lead back. But Riley opted to pass. Miller Moss was hit as he threw and intercepted. Minnesota tied the score three minutes later.
Riley started the next drive with play-action, and Moss, under immediate pressure again, was called for intentional grounding as he threw a pass away. USC managed to climb back to third and four, only to throw downfield again. The pass, to Ja’Kobi Lane, fell incomplete. The drive lasted all of 56 seconds.
After the loss, Riley was asked if he lamented any of his decisions from that final stretch. “Not off the top of my head,” he said.
By Riley’s tone, you might have thought none of the problems reporters brought up postgame existed at all. When multiple reporters asked about USC’s offensive line struggles, Riley denied there had been struggles at all.
“Our guys played a really good game up front,” Riley said. “We took some steps.”
When he was asked about USC’s third straight slow start, Riley questioned my definition of “a start.”
Then, he got defensive, snapping at a reporter for asking about Jamil Muhammad’s perspective of Minnesota’s final touchdown run.
The frustration was understandable. But the questions aren’t going anywhere. Maybe, for once, it wouldn’t hurt to consider them.
I asked last week for you to share your thoughts on Reggie Bush suing the USC, the Pac-12 and the NCAA for allegedly conspiring to limit his ability to make money via NIL, and I really appreciate how many of you sent thoughtful responses. Turns out, Bush still inspires a lot of strong feelings around these parts.
But before we get to your emails, a quick note on the lawsuit itself. Antitrust claims usually have a four-year statute of limitations, which, you might figure, would be a problem for Bush, who last played at USC in 2005. The defendants will most argue, first and foremost, that he waited too long to sue them. And as such, his case likely rides on whether his attorneys can overcome that hurdle by successfully arguing that the antitrust violations are “continuing.”
Sam Ehrlich, a legal studies professor at Boise State, offered me a quick primer on the “continued harm doctrine.”
“You’re arguing it’s not one isolated incident,” Ehrlich said, “but you’re continuing to be harmed over and over. I think Reggie would argue that the most recent time he’s been harmed is whenever USC last used his name, image and likeness. That’s probably quite a bit sooner than four years ago.”
Most legal scholars seem to believe the continued harm doctrine is a long shot in this case. But Bush is one of several players now suing over their unpaid NIL. All it takes is one judge.
If the case isn’t thrown out on those grounds, many of you brought up fascinating points about what a player would or should be owed in Bush’s situation.
Chris Bisgaard of Eagle, Idaho: “I have to say I have thought to myself, ‘How much money did SC get from its sales of No. 5 jerseys when Bush was playing there?’ I venture to say a lot. … But with that said, it opens up the question: what if Bush were to win? Wouldn’t that open up a ton of other athletes making claims who didn’t receive NIL money?”
Dan Sagoon of Las Vegas: “How far back do you want to go back in time? Should athletes like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton or Gail Goodrich or their estates be compensated?”
Drew Taylor of Huntington Beach: “How does Reggie determine how much of the team’s ticket, TV, radio, and advertising revenue are related to him and not other individual players or the team as a whole? I was a season-ticket holder for many years before and after Reggie Bush. Zero percent of my ticket spending was directly related to him being on the team.”
John Pings of Oregon: “Reggie Bush is absolutely entitled to something… they even now continue to use his image and likeness and promotional and advertising for football. Networks do it, conferences do it, universities do it, it is time for Mr. Bush to get paid.”
—Of course, not everyone was so supportive of that idea.
John Ogle of Portland: “Reggie’s impatience and selfishness cost my alma mater’s football program 10 years. The reputational and economic impact was massive. He’s never apologized. Now he’s suing us. What a despicable guy. I’d be happy to volunteer to come down and personally roll up and remove the No. 5 from the Coliseum end zone. We should cut it into pieces and sell the chunks to help fund the defense of his lawsuit.”
Lorraine Parsons: “If anything, Reggie and his family actually cost the university a lot of money, so I would encourage USC to counter-sue for lost revenues due to Reggie and his family’s colossal mistake. … Reggie, remember why we were in this mess in the first place.”
—There’s no excuse anymore at offensive tackle, where Elijah Paige and Mason Murphy continue to be a liability in pass protection. Even on a night when the interior protected relatively well, the two tackles allowed five more pressures against Minnesota, including one that forced a crippling fourth-quarter interception. That’s 22 pressures coming off the edge over a three-week span and 27 total. Last season, the Trojans’ two starting tackles had allowed just seven pressures over the first five games. It took nine weeks in 2023 to reach the same mark that this year’s pair have reached in the last three. And by that point, last season, Riley had already made a change at right tackle. Riley says he’s confident in how the line is currently constructed. But it’s hard to see how that’s possible.
—It’s time to give Woody Marks his flowers as one of the best all-purpose backs in college football. He’s not only been one of the most prolific receiving backs in the nation, as expected, but Marks has also surprisingly forced 15 broken tackles, four of which came against Minnesota. That’s almost equal to his season total for broken tackles from 2023. Meanwhile, USC ranks 120th in the nation in rush attempts. Face, meet palm.
—No, it’s not time to bench Miller Moss. The narrative has been floating around social media that USC should try Jayden Maiava at quarterback, since he’s more of a natural running threat. But there’s no world in which a switch makes sense right now … Don’t get me wrong: Moss was not sharp on Saturday. But he was under constant pressure. Not to mention that Minnesota’s defense schemed specifically to take away passes downfield, daring USC to either run or throw it short. Moss took what he was given for the most part — until the fourth quarter, when he forced the issue. Moss is at his best when functioning within a system. Which is why the system, in this case, is what’s to blame.
—Cross-country travel has not been kind to USC — or any other Big Ten team traversing America to play a conference game. Big Ten teams are now 1-8 this season when traveling more than two time zones, with the only win coming courtesy of Indiana at the Rose Bowl. USC actually hasn’t won a game east of the Rockies since 2012. It has one more matchup (Maryland) out east this season.
–USC missed a season-high 15 tackles. Which might be enough to give fans Alex Grinch flashbacks. But I’d venture to say this was a bit out of character — and because of, in some part, a dominant performance from Minnesota running back Darius Taylor.
Ohio State (-4.5) over Oregon
We’re 3-0 with Best Bets this season, and it’s tempting, with that in mind, to lay the points here with Penn State. But our readers have been through enough. So give me Ohio State, the best team in the Big Ten by far, to comfortably beat up on Oregon.
Lincoln Riley still thinks USC can be ‘a really good team’ despite loss to Minnesota
Is Miller Moss taking too many hits? Lincoln Riley isn’t too concerned
Plaschke: USC can reach the playoff thanks to a quarterback who never stops swinging
Reggie Bush’s attorney says the Heisman winner expects USC to pay his legal fees
Need a little levity after a heavy weekend? Try “Nobody Wants This,” a surprisingly smart, 30-minute Netflix show about a podcaster dating a rabbi in Los Angeles. Sure, that might sound pumpkin-spice-latte levels of basic, but Adam Brody and Kristen Bell are delightfully charming, and sometimes that’s all you really need from a TV show.