Sputtering Rutgers and Southern California meet for the first time ever on Friday in Los Angeles, each looking to pull out of a midseason tailspin.
USC (3-4, 1-4 Big Ten) has endured a rough introduction in its inaugural season in its new conference, losing four of its past five games — all in either the closing minutes of regulation or overtime. Most recently, the Trojans squandered a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter en route to a 29-28 loss at Maryland.
“The obvious thing everybody’s going to say (is), ‘Well, you’ve got to finish games better,'” USC coach Lincoln Riley said following the Trojans’ Monday practice. “We’ve had some opportunities to separate in these games and we haven’t. … I don’t see one central issue, like this (one) position group or this player or this scheme or this coach.”
Riley’s assessment that no one issue has contributed to the Trojans’ late-game woes coincided with the coach reasserting that Miller Moss remains the starting quarterback. Moss has thrown for 1,954 yards with 14 touchdowns on the season, but he has been intercepted at least once in each of the past five games (six times overall).
USC struggled to establish a consistent rushing attack at Maryland, however, and its pass defense surrendered 373 yards to the Terrapins.
Rutgers (4-3, 1-3) ran out to a 4-0 start, including taking down USC’s fellow Big Ten newcomer and 2023 national runner-up Washington on Sept. 27. The Scarlet Knights have since dropped their past three, bookending a 42-7 blowout loss to Wisconsin with one-score setbacks, 14-7 at Nebraska and 35-32 last Saturday vs. UCLA.
Now Rutgers heads to the West Coast for the first time in the newly expanded coast-to-coast Big Ten. With the game coming on a short week and having a kickoff time of 11 p.m. ET, the Scarlet Knights plan to travel earlier than normal and arrive in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
“We generally never go out a day early. We stay on Rutgers time,” coach Greg Schiano said during his Monday press conference. “But when you have an 8 o’clock start Pacific (time), I don’t think it’s prudent to stay on Rutgers time.
“At 2:30 in the morning (Eastern time), hopefully the game is on the line,” he added. “And I don’t like my decision-making at 2:30, and I don’t like our players’ decision-making at 2:30.”
Among the decisions Rutgers faces on Friday is how best to solve its defensive struggles. The Scarlet Knights followed giving up more than 300 rushing yards in the loss to Wisconsin by allowing 32-of-38 passing for 383 yards against UCLA.
The Bruins ranked among the nation’s worst passing offenses heading into last week’s matchup.
