USC football was in a battle against Notre Dame, but they were not able to walk away with the victory, losing 32-24. Head coach Lincoln Riley was heavily criticized for his playcalling down the stretch of the game, including one play that resulted in a turnover.

USC was trailing by three points in the fourth quarter, and Jayden Maiava had just completed a deep pass to Makai Lemon. They then tried a trick play for Lemon to throw the ball, but Notre Dame's Christian Gray forced a fumble, which led to USC losing any type of momentum they may have had.

After the game, Riley was asked about the trick play, and he kept it short and simple on how he felt about it.

“It's a stupid call,” Riley said. “Stupid call.”

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Later in the quarter, USC didn't convert on a fourth and inches after Maiava couldn't complete a pass.

“We had an option right there to sneak it or to pop it out and we got to make decisions right there at the end. . . . They defended it well,” Riley said via Charlie Viehl of Sports Illustrated. “I had the reverse pass and two fourth down calls that weren’t very good calls and didn’t put our guys in very good positions.”

USC is now 5-2, and there's a good chance that they could fall in the AP Poll rankings with the loss. They'll have some more opportunities to get back on track, and it starts when they face off against Nebraska at the beginning of November. Things don't get easier as they continue the season, but they've already shown that they have the talent to win games.

For Riley, he'll have to make better decisions when it comes to calling plays late in the game, and after his recent blunder, there's a chance that he'll improve in those situations.