Joel Klatt evaluates current state of USC football program

Joel Klatt described the current state of USC football as “maddening” Tuesday on his show, however, he also illustrated the glass half full view of the Trojans after their 3-4 start.

“If I’m a USC fan, I am pulling my hair out because it’s a razor-thin margin,” the FOX Sports analyst said. “They’ve lost 4-of-5 games and blown fourth quarter leads in every one of them. Four fourth quarter blown leads, tied with Kansas this year for the most in the country.

“They’re right there. They’re right there. Four losses by a combined 14 points in their last five games. It’s got to be maddening.”

The Trojans were up 24-20 on Michigan in the fourth quarter but lost. Two weeks later, they were up 17-10 on Minnesota in the fourth quarter but lost. A week after that, they were up 23-20 and 30-23 on Penn State in the fourth quarter — and, before that, 20-6 at halftime — but lost in overtime. And, this past weekend, USC staked itself to a 28-14 lead over Maryland in the final frame, only to let another lead slip.

“When you’re rebuilding a college football program, you will lose big before you lose small, and you will lose small before you win small, and you will win small before you win big,” Klatt said. “Joe Paterno used to talk about that. Bobby Bowden used to talk about that. Everybody talks about that.

“There is a progression. It doesn’t happen overnight. Even though we see it happen overnight now through the transfer portal and NIL with teams like Indiana, that’s still the anomaly. So for USC, what is this year? Let’s categorize it.”

Klatt pointed out that, while USC is in the third year of the Lincoln Riley era, the Trojans are also in the first year of a reset without transcendent quarterback Caleb Williams — and they’re in the first year under defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn.

USC starting quarterback Miller Moss is a first-year starter. The Trojans’ offense is inexperienced in some places and/or young in others. It’s a unit that includes a redshirt freshman left tackle, Elijah Paige, and sophomore right guard Alani Noa.

The Trojans are doing enough right to get in position to win games, but they’re not finishing those games. Klatt called it a “mental” hurdle that USC has to find its way over.

“They’re stuck right now on this hurdle,” he said. “And it just seems to me like if I’m evaluating the current state, I’m like, ‘Man, if they get any one of these games to just flip, and they get the outcome that they want, don’t you think that they could create a little momentum?’

“Well, yes, obviously. Why? Because they’re in every game.”

Klatt proposed that this could be “the bottom of USC football under Lincoln Riley,” meaning that it could be only up from here.

He compared 2024 USC to 2022 Texas, which went 2-5 in one-score games under head coach Steve Sarkisian. In 2023, Texas won the Big 12, made its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance and was one play away from reaching the national championship.

“For Lincoln Riley, I think the biggest job he’s going to have in the offseason is what I’ve talked about previously on this show, which is player retention,” Klatt said. “I think the players are there, in particular on the offensive side. You know, they could return nine starters on offense if he can retain them.

“What he’s got to prevent is some sort of mass exodus away from USC.”

Winning makes player retention easier, naturally. The Trojans have five regular season games remaining, and Klatt believes USC can build momentum if gets over its mental hurdle and starts to finish in the fourth quarter.