Hernández: USC players stepped up during a Las Vegas Bowl win. Now Lincoln Riley must do the same

Lincoln Riley was beaming.

The USC coach said he saw it when his team came back from an 17-point deficit against Texas A&M to claim a 35-31 victory in the Las Vegas Bowl.

He said he could feel it in the locker room.

“There’s a toughness and a hardness that’s developing within this program right now,” Riley said.

But how much should be made of this?

As much as Riley raved about the resilience of the Trojans, the reality is they were a 7-6 team this season.

Read more: USC makes season-ending statement in thrilling Las Vegas Bowl comeback over Texas A&M

Mental fortitude is important, but so is physical talent and USC looks as if it could be short on that in various parts of the field again next year.

On the offensive line. On the defensive line. In the secondary. At quarterback.

Sophomore receivers Ja’Kobi Lane and Makai Lemon had showcase games against Texas A&M, but don’t forget that Miller Moss threw six touchdown passes in the Holiday Bowl last year. Moss was supplanted as USC’s starting quarterback last month and has since transferred to Louisville.

Moss’ replacement, Jayden Maiava, was inconsistent in his three regular-season starts, and he was inconsistent again on Friday night, as three of his passes were intercepted before he led the Trojans’ comeback.

Riley can be applauded for his developing a never-give-up culture, but he doesn’t have many believers outside of his own locker room.

The 400 sections, which are made up of the upper-most seats at Allegiant Stadium, were totally empty on Friday night. The 300 sections were, too.

There were rows and rows of vacant seats elsewhere in the 65,000-seat venue, serving as a visual representation of what happened to USC in its third season under Riley.

The fans lost hope.

At this point, Riley remaining on this downward trajectory feels considerably more likely than him guiding the Trojans back to national prominence — or even respectability.

They were 8-5 last year and 11-2 before that, and why would anyone believe their slide won’t continue?

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The Trojans are 20 years removed from their since-vacated national championship in 2004. With every passing season, the more the Pete Carroll era looks like an aberration instead of a realistic standard to which the program should be held.

Redshirt sophomore safety Kamari Ramsey said he decided to return to USC next season rather than declare for the NFL draft, in part, because he believed in the direction the Trojans are headed.

“Obviously, this season didn’t go the way we wanted, but the fight we showed every game, in the wins and the losses, just showed me the type of program we are,” Ramsey said.

Ramsey isn’t necessarily an outlier, but his view isn’t shared by everyone either. USC just lost 19 players to the transfer portal.

Riley’s first two recruiting classes included a dozen top-100 players. Nine of them are gone.

Riley has done what he could to characterize this season as a step forward, and he argued the Las Vegas Bowl victory was evidence of that.

“We didn’t flinch,” he said. “We’re a pretty battle-tested group. We’ve been through a lot this year. We’ve been in a lot of big games.”

To his point, the five of the Trojans’ six losses were by a touchdown or less.

“There wasn’t anything in this game that could happen where I thought we would totally flinch,” Riley said.

Rather than lament the erratic play of Maiava during the first three quarters, Riley praised him for how he performed in the fourth.

“He stuck with it,” said Riley, who added that he was “very confident” with Maiava as his quarterback moving forward.

Riley will have to practice what he is teaching.

The excitement that was produced by his first season at USC feels like something from the distant past. Anticipation has been gradually replaced by dread.

The Trojans can’t sustain any momentum. They’re losing players in the transfer portal. They’re lacking in talent compared to the top teams in their new conference.

Riley can’t waver.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.