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It was a disappointing loss for the USC football team as they fell to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Saturday evening, 49-35, in what was the regular season finale. As the topic of conversation will now be on the USC football team's future, former Trojans quarterback and analyst Matt Leinart gave his opinion on the matter.
Leinart would take to social media, specifically on X, formerly Twitter, where he would keep it real and say that he doesn't see a positive trajectory for the program.
“Finish 6-6 and just really have no clue what we are? Who we are? There’s no identity,” Leinart wrote in a post Sunday. “We have good players. Need to recruit harder. As frustrated as anyone. Want to see USC back to being a contender. Don’t think we are close at the moment.”
If there is one person who fans of USC football care about their opinion, it's Leinart, who won a Heisman Trophy and two national championships under head coach Pete Carroll.
USC football's Lincoln Riley on the future of the program
There is no doubt that fans of the product believe the team has been underwhelming ever since they hired the big name in Riley as he finishes his third season with the school. Riley himself would be asked right after the game by the media about the future of the Trojans, though wouldn't oblige since the loss to Notre Dame was too fresh, according to On3 Sports.
“Yeah, this game finished what 20 minutes ago. So we’ve got time to go here,” Riley said. “I know there’s time for that and I get to answer all those, that’s part of being the head coach and I don’t shy away from it, but this is about this team and this moment, these guys that played their last game here at the Coliseum. I could sit up here for an hour and talk about the things I know are happening within this program, I could rattle off all the stats, I could show you facilities, I could show you recruiting, I could show you the staff, I could go on about that for an hour, I just don’t think it’s the appropriate time right now.”
USC football's Lincoln Riley on the loss to Notre Dame
The loss for the Trojans against the Fighting Irish was a close one as the game was tied at 14 a piece at halftime, but the opponent would open it up in the third quarter, scoring 21 points. USC football quarterback Jayden Maiava and the rest of the offense couldn't catch up, leading to what Riley called an “excruciating loss.”
“Just an excruciating loss,” Riley said in his opening statement via On3 Sports. “Really tough there at the end, just standing in here as all the guys came through, watching great Trojans like this guy right here (Jaylin Smith) come up that tunnel for the last time. There’s been so many guys here that have I think paved the way. They have invested in this program, they’ve shared in our journey to continue to build this thing, and I’m proud to have coached them, proud to have had these guys throughout this journey.”
USC finishes with a 6-6 and has the ability to make it a winning season with a bowl win.
