Joel Klatt defends Lincoln Riley, says USC is a few plays away from being undefeated

USC fell to 3-3, including 1-3 in the Big Ten, to all but end what they hoped to do by the end of this season. Even so, Joel Klatt knows the Trojans are closer than many think that they currently are.

Klatt defended Lincoln Riley and USC during his show on Monday. He agreed with Riley in the opinion that their team is a handful of plays away from being undefeated rather than dead-even record-wise through six games of their year.

“Nobody is going to want to hear this but Lincoln Riley is right. They are literally three or four snaps from being 6-0,” said Klatt.

Klatt thinks much of this goes back to their opening win in Las Vegas. After beating the Tigers to start, he felt like projections exceeded what they could accomplish this year at USC. That has made the three losses over their last four hurt that much worse, especially since they’ve been in all of the games and are still playing far better than they had been in years past.

“This is a young team. This is a team that everyone was going to say to kind of wait and see. Then the expectations went through the roof after that win against LSU. Now they’ve played three other games where it came down to a play here or there and they came up short,” said Klatt. “It’s got to be maddening for Lincoln Riley because this team is battling and doing really good things, really good things – defensively in particular based on what they were a year ago and in previous seasons. What the maddening part is is that it’s just now repetitive. It’s like, well, now every time we get in this situation, it’s not going our way.”

“They’ve had a seven-point fourth-quarter lead now in every one of their losses. They could easily be 5-1, 6-0 and we’d be singing a very different tune,” Klatt said. “You’ve got a missed tackle here, an interception there, two fourth-down conversions for Drew Allar, which is insane and great for Penn State and equally heartbreaking for USC. That is the reality of it.”

Considering Riley’s circumstances at 22-11 now in Los Angeles, though, Klatt understands what’s to come for him with where their season and his tenure currently stand.

“No one wants to hear it from Lincoln Riley. I get it,” Klatt said. “He makes 100 million dollars over the lifetime of his contract and no one wants to hear it. Trojan fans don’t want to hear it. They think it’s a bad contract. It’s not a bad contract.”

“Now, are their playoff hopes dashed? Probably, probably,” said Klatt. “That’s unfortunate because that’s a really good team.”

Still, Klatt hopes there’s a realization of what the Trojans were to what they are now. That’s progression enough for him to see they’re headed the right way – even if this season is no longer what it could have been anymore.

“That team is very close, man. They will come through this,” said Klatt. “I’m a big believer that you still, like, win small or you lose small then you win small and then you win big. They’re on their way.”

“Like, that is a far better (team),” Klatt stated.