Musings from Arledge: The good and bad of USC's Las Vegas Bowl win

A lot of things went wrong for USC last night. 

Special teams were a circus: a missed field goal, an injury to the best punter in the country, and some bad mistakes by the usually dependable Makai Lemon.

For three quarters Jaydan Maiava put on an Oscar-worthy impersonation of Max Wittek in the Sun Bowl.

An already thin and inexperienced offensive line lost its left tackle in the first quarter.

And Lincoln Riley turned in a game-management performance for the ages. He’s actually been upping his game just a little bit every week, pushing the envelope to see just how casually he can let critical seconds bleed away at the end of every half. Yesterday’s delay-of-game penalty at the two-yard line despite still having a timeout was his masterpiece, the Mona Lisa of bad clock mismanagement. At this point, if I heard USC was hiring Matt Eberflus, the fired Bears head coach, to be Riley’s clock-management advisor, I’d feel encouraged. 

And yet.

Despite all of that nonsense, USC did not quit. So many times this season they could have packed it in. It would have been really easy to do so last night, down 24-7 in a bowl game that doesn’t really matter all that much, playing with a makeshift offensive line behind a quarterback who was struggling to do much of anything right.

But they didn’t. They fought the whole way, just as they have all year.

This was a flawed team and a very disappointing season. Years of half-hearted participation in the NIL game has left this roster with massive holes. I have real concerns about Lincoln Riley as a head coach. I did not think USC would look like this in year three of his tenure. So I don’t want to make more of this game than we should. A depleted USC’s win over a depleted Texas A&M in a second-tier bowl doesn’t exactly make USC a leading candidate for the 2025 playoff.

But playing hard and never quitting matters. It’s something we should recognize and celebrate. Not every team does it. Plenty of recent USC teams did not. It’s a feather in Lincoln Riley’s cap and a credit to his staff and players that these guys played hard no matter what the circumstances; they fought, even when they didn’t play well. And, for now, that’s enough. Good job, guys.

Just a couple of other notes:

Bryan Jackson looked good. He’s going to be a solid Thunder option over the next two years. 

Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane are a pretty good one-two punch. Lemon has been the more consistent of the two, and Lane isn’t exactly known as the Kobe Bryant of the program when it comes to effort and devotion. But if he can get motivated, those two can be one of the top receiving duos in the country next year.

I don’t know how good last night’s offensive line group is. They weren’t perfect, and Texas A&M’s front was missing some of its best guys. Still, I expected disaster after Paige went down. Playing a walk-on and two freshmen offensive linemen is generally not a recipe for success. But there were far fewer missed assignments than expected, there were no false starts or holding penalties, they opened holes for the backs, and in a make-or-break drive at the end they gave Maiava plenty of time to win the game. That was a really nice performance.

Great pick by Kamari Ramsey. I’m thrilled that guy is returning. He’s a big key to what I expect will be a vastly improved defense next season.

I follow USC football pretty closely, but I didn’t know the name of the backup punter. Ryon Sayeri, if you’re still wondering. The clutch Ryon Sayeri, I should have said. He gets thrown in there after the Ray Guy award winner gets hurt and responds with a 57-yard punt that pins the Aggies inside their own 20 while getting hit?! Nice. 

Umm, the current roster lists five place kickers. And USC still can’t make chip shot field goals with consistency. Maybe they should carry 12 or 13 place kickers on next year’s roster. It could be the biggest position group on the roster.

I feel great for Kyle Ford, who played a nice game. He had to do something to atone for the one-year stint in Westwood. But catching the winning touchdown with eight seconds left is enough to wash the powder-blue stink off our Prodigal Son. Good job, kid.