For the third consecutive week, USC football coach Lincoln Riley watched his team let a win slip through its proverbial fingertips — and former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Matt Leinart, like another ex-quarterback, is fed up.

Despite leading 28-14 in the fourth quarter, the Trojans surrendered 15 unanswered points, including a last-minute touchdown, in a 29-28 loss to Maryland. The defeat drops USC, once the 11th-ranked team in the country, to 3-4 on the season and 1-4 in Big Ten play.

Leinart, who led USC to a 37-2 record in three years as the quarterback from 2003 to 2005, let his thoughts be known on the current state of the football program.

“I mean, this is unbelievable,” Leinart said [h/t On3]. “Every game we’ve lost, we’ve been up in the second half and we can’t figure out a way to win. We can’t finish. That is a mindset. There’s nothing else. It is a mindset.

“I’m frustrated, disappointed, embarrassed, you name it. I know every fan feels the same way. You try not to overthink [things] and trust the process — and I get all that — but it just feels like we’re just taking steps backwards. I don’t know what the solution is, I’m not the coach, but I think the fans deserve better. This is just not what we expected this year, [our] first year in the Big Ten. By the way, it doesn’t get any easier. Take a look at the schedule. It doesn’t get any easier. This is bad. This is really bad.”

USC football late-game woes continue in loss to Maryland

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Two weeks ago, the Trojans allowed Minnesota to score 14 fourth-quarter points, including the go-ahead touchdown with 56 seconds left in a 24-17 road loss. Last week, USC, which led 20-6 at halftime, was outscored 24-10 in the second half and fell in overtime 33-30 at home to Penn State.

Although the losses stung, there was hope that the Trojans would be able to get settled in Big Ten play vs. Maryland, which collapsed in the fourth quarter a week earlier vs. Northwestern. But the hope is what gets you.

Instead, USC again blew another lead; this time, the Trojans led 21-7 at halftime and 28-14 early in the fourth quarter. The Terrapins, unlike last week, when they were outscored 20-3 in the fourth, mounted a comeback by blocking a game-icing field goal and scoring 15 points in the final 10 minutes, including a rushing touchdown with 53 seconds remaining in the game.

The loss is not only USC's fourth of the season, but it is also the fourth game in which the Trojans have lost despite leading in the final minute. USC is now 1-4 in one-score games — the one win being in the season opener vs. LSU — and has lost those four games by a combined 14 points.

While USC now turns its attention to Rutgers, which has lost its last three, the Trojans will not have a full week to rebound from the Maryland loss and prepare for the Scarlet Knights. USC will host Rutgers at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for a Friday night game before heading to Seattle next week to play Washington.