USC and Penn State were tied 17-17 at halftime in front of 114,419 people, the largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history. Lincoln Riley opened the third quarter by calling an onside kick. Penn State recovered it.
The internet did what the internet does. Riley got compared to Scott Frost, people asked why a coach would gamble in a tied game, and the clip ran all night. Then USC won 31-23, which is the part most of the posting skipped.
What The Kick Actually Cost
Penn State took the short field and turned it into three points, a 35-yard Ryan Barker field goal that produced the Nittany Lions’ only lead of the game. That was the full extent of the damage. USC’s defense did not allow a touchdown on the possession the mistake created.
From there the Trojans scored the next seven points on a 13-yard King Miller run and never trailed again. They outgained Penn State 430 to 357 and won the second half 14-6 on the scoreboard.
So the honest accounting is three points of harm in a game decided by eight. Calling the decision bad is fair. Calling it costly is not.
Riley Was Aggressive All Night, And It Worked
The onside kick was not an isolated act of weirdness. Riley also kept his offense on the field for a fourth-and-4 from his own 13, a choice unusual enough that Penn State coach Matt Campbell spent his last timeout on it.
Jayden Maiava went 21 of 33 for 301 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions, finding Trent Mosley, Tanook Hines, and Kayden Dixon-Wyatt in the end zone. Mosley caught nine passes for 111 yards. Rocco Becht answered with 289 yards and a touchdown for Penn State and it was not enough.
Riley’s postgame line was about the doubters. “Everybody in the country counted us out and said we weren’t going to win a tough road game,” he said. He has a case. USC is 6-1 and 3-1 in the Big Ten, and this is the signature road win his critics have spent two years saying he could not get.
What It Means
USC stayed at No. 19 in Sunday’s AP poll, which is the real verdict on the performance. Voters watched a 6-1 team win at Penn State and gave it nothing, mostly because Penn State is 3-3 and 0-3 in the Big Ten in Campbell’s first year and nobody is frightened of that building at the moment.
That is the trap USC is in. Beating a 3-3 team on the road does not move the playoff needle, and a failed onside kick becomes the memorable part of a win because the win itself was expected. Wisconsin is next on October 24 at 4-1 and 2-0 in conference play, and that is the game that decides whether this road win meant anything.
Riley will keep getting mocked for the kick, and he should. He will also keep the 6-1 record, which matters a great deal more.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.