Time management and poor officiating led to USC losing in overtime to No. 4 Penn State

USC’s recent loss will be painful for a while. That’s because almost anything could go wrong for the Trojans in the second half of their 33-30 loss to No. 4 Penn State.

The Trojans led 20-6 at halftime and were outscored 27-10 in the final 30 minutes of the game. Now head coach Lincoln Riley’s team is just 3-3 on the season and 1-3 in Big Ten play.

Let’s look at some quick reactions to a wild game at the Colosseum. And we’ll start with something that was completely out of USC’s control.

There is no way around it. USC was completely robbed in overtime by the Big Ten’s reigning team. Maybe one missed call can be excused, but two glaring mistakes by officials are inexcusable.

On both the first-down and third-down plays of the Trojans’ OT possession, Penn State’s defensive backs got away with apparent illegal contact, but no flags were thrown. It was overwhelming to see that none of these plays resulted in a call.

Some may say this officiating team was hesitant to raise flags on Saturday. They only committed eight penalties the entire game (five of them against USC).

However, there were three controversial refereeing decisions in the game, all of which were against USC. Aside from the two missed pass interference penalties in overtime, USC was also penalized for a suspect rough-handling the passer in the fourth quarter, which helped set up a Nittany Lion field goal.

After last week’s controversial reversal of the decision on Minnesota’s game-winning TD and a series of glaring refereeing errors against USC in Michigan, it’s hard to blame any Trojan fan with the way USC’s games have been played in the Big Ten has been led so far is dissatisfied. And on Saturday, a poor performance could have cost USC a much-needed win.

For much of this game, USC head coach Lincoln Riley called it a brilliant game while directing the Trojans’ offense. However, all of that will be forgotten because of how he handled his team’s final possession in the fourth quarter.

With the score tied at 30-30, USC moved the ball to the Penn State 49 with 1:27 to play. From that point on, USC would only play three more games, although all timeouts could be used.

After a first-down run, Riley allowed 39 seconds to expire. Then, after the second down, he let 34 more pass.

What Riley was thinking is anyone’s guess. It wasn’t like USC was already within field goal range.

Because of his poor time management, Riley put his team in scramble mode, and if Penn State hadn’t called a timeout with 14 seconds left, USC might not have had a chance to make the third-down play that led to the interception that ended the drive.

Riley already had a perception problem as a head coach. Now that he has handled the latest regulatory effort, his critics will have even more ammunition pointing out his shortcomings.

In October 2022, then-Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid had 16 catches, 224 yards and a touchdown against USC as the Utes beat the Trojans in Salt Lake City. Unfortunately, another tight end almost repeated that performance on Saturday.

Penn State tight end Tyler Warren was unstoppable with 17 catches for 224 yards and a touchdown, helping his team to a comeback victory. In other words, he accounted for 56% of Penn State’s receiving yards.

Entering the game, he led Penn State in receptions, yards and TD catches, so it’s hard to understand why defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn and his staff didn’t have a better plan to neutralize him. Perhaps the absence of versatile linebacker Eric Gentry was part of the problem. Gentry could have been a player with enough size and athleticism to keep up with Warren, but whatever the plan was to stop Penn State’s top receiver, it didn’t work.

Going into this game, most USC fans had to be worried about Penn State’s rushing attack, which ranked 18th nationally with over 217 yards per game. However, it was Penn State’s pedestrian attack that carried the day.

The Nittany Lions ranked just 58th nationally in passing offense. They averaged just 244 yards per game through the air.

Was that because they were able to avoid major deficits so far this season? Perhaps. Regardless, the fact that USC allowed Penn State to throw for 400 yards while rushing for just 118 yards is surprising.

If we had been told before the game that USC would give up as few yards as they did, we all would have thought the Trojans would be in great shape. However, credit goes to Penn State QB Drew Allar, who was 30 of 43 passing for 391 yards and two touchdowns.

Despite having three picks that day, he was able to secure the USC secondary. One of the reasons for this was that the Trojans had no pass rush and recorded no sacks on the day. Gentry’s absence was felt here too, as he is one of USC’s best pass rushers from the edge.

Finally, if you’re trying to figure out how this game got away from the Trojans, take a look at two possessions USC had after beating Allar (the third INT came on a Hail Mary on the final play of regulation).

In the second quarter, Desman Stephens II beat Allar and returned the ball to the PSU 26. However, USC had to settle for a field goal on the ensuing possession to take a 17-3 lead.

Then, in the third quarter, USC took over at the Penn State 24 following Easton Mascarenas-Arnold’s interception. The Trojans scored a field goal again, this time making it 23:20.

On those two possessions, USC would record a total net loss of one yard. Starting inside the Penn State 30 twice and coming away with just six points after going nowhere is not the way to upset the No. 4 team in the nation, and these two opportunities almost should be the same for the Trojans very tracking like the bad referees and missed OT field goal should.