USC football suffered a historic collapse against Tulane football in the Cotton Bowl on Monday, though fans who have closely followed Lincoln Riley may not be surprised about it.
With 4:30 remaining in the game, the Trojans were up 45-30 and appeared to be on their way to an easy victory. Everything seemed to be going in their favor, with Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams already setting a Cotton Bowl record of five touchdowns at that point.
However, in a rather shocking turn of events, USC allowed Tulane to score 16 unanswered points. Michael Pratt's six-yard touchdown pass to Alex Bauman with less than 10 seconds to go doomed the Trojans, with the ensuing extra point allowing the Green Wave to seal the deal.
While it's definitely a surprising and painful development for USC football fans, it is actually not the first or second time that a Lincoln Riley team suffered such collapse. Ever since he became a head coach in 2017, he has now lost six games when his team was ahead by at least 14 points. Making matters worse, that is the most in the FBS during that span, per ESPN Stats and Info.
Riley has certainly exceeded expectations in his first year with the Trojans, but it sure looks like he still has a lot of work to do to improve how he and his team close games. He just can't seem to go over the hump on the big stage, and that's something the veteran coach needs to solve if he wants to lead USC football to the national title.
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