In all his years playing the sport, Miller Moss had never traveled so far for a football game. But the past month had seen USC and its quarterback crisscross the country, its College Football Playoff hopes unraveling over three Big Ten trips across multiple time zones. And here, at the tail end of that travel nightmare, was the farthest trip of all, with USC in its most vulnerable place of the season, reeling after three losses in four weeks, in desperate need of a get-right game against Maryland.
That stretch had done a number on Moss and the Trojans, his strong start to the season descending into sudden inconsistency that the rest of the team seemed to mirror. The defense was suddenly more fallible than usual. The coaching, suddenly questionable.
All of those issues seemed to swirl up in the same nightmarish moment Saturday night, not long after USC looked primed to put away Maryland, a team that was without a single Big Ten win this season. But once again, a two-score, second-half lead slipped away. Once again, the defense descended into late chaos. Once again, the quarterback couldn’t get it done. And once again, the coach’s late decisions were being questioned.
Here, in their third road trip to the other side of the country, was the nadir of an already disastrous stretch for the Trojans, as Maryland capped a mad comeback to beat USC, 29-28, handing the Trojans their third straight loss and fourth in five weeks.
For Lincoln Riley, it was the first time in any season that he’d fallen below .500 as a head coach. He could only watch afterward as the field flooded with Maryland fans — and the Trojans’ season officially went up in flames.
The decisive, disastrous moment came with USC still leading by a touchdown, with two minutes remaining. There was still time for the Trojans to erase all the back-breaking mistakes they’d made in the third and fourth quarters.
USC had just one yard left to go for a first down that might’ve put the game away. But instead, Riley opted for a field goal, and Maryland turned the Trojans away, blocking the kick and returning it 41 yards.
A pass-interference penalty on USC corner John Humphrey brought Maryland even closer to taking a lead, after it had converted a two-point conversion on its previous drive. Maryland punched it in three plays later, taking a one-point lead that it had to protect for only one final minute.
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USC still had 53 seconds left to respond. But Moss, who threw for 336 yards and three touchdowns, could get the Trojans only so far. A fourth-down pass to Woody Marks bounced off his chest and hit the turf, closing the door on a USC comeback.
There had been so many chances for USC to do the same, in the lead-up to that moment. A pick from Jaylin Smith in the end zone seemed to put it away. Then a Duce Robinson touchdown, early in the fourth quarter.
But Maryland kept climbing back, while USC slunk away in the second half. Now, with their season in tatters, the Trojans and their coach faced a long flight back to pick up the pieces.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
