Can USC football recover from this? Four takeaways from the Trojans’ loss to Utah

USC coach Lincoln Riley speaks with quarterback Caleb Williams during the team’s loss to Utah Saturday in Salt Lake City.

(Rick Bowmer / Associated Press)

USC’s defense struggled, in part, because penalties extended drives. Stanley Ta’ufo’ou’s roughing the passer penalty negated a USC interception in the first quarter and kept Utah on the field on the next drive that ended with a touchdown. A second roughing flag on Nick Figueroa in the fourth quarter negated a third-down stop, one of three accepted USC penalties during Utah’s first drive of the fourth quarter.

USC was flagged 12 times for a loss of 93 yards compared to five penalties for 42 yards for Utah. USC’s miscues helped Utah convert six of 14 (43%) third-down attempts, including four of five in the fourth quarter. The Trojans were holding opponents to 37.7% on third down entering the game.

When asked of the imbalance in penalties, Riley said he thought the officiating was “really poor tonight, but we still should have won the game.”

“Does it make the job harder? Sure it does,” Riley said. “Yeah, you’d love to get every call every time, that’s not football though. … We’re a no-excuse program. Wish we wouldn’t had to overcome it, but it is what it is. It’s still out there to go get.”