Program legend crushes Trojans after giving up crazy TD

ByNBAUSA



The USC Trojans’ 2025 season ended in familiar frustration, as Lincoln Riley’s team surrendered a late lead and suffered a heartbreaking 30-27 overtime loss to TCU in the Valero Alamo Bowl.

The loss marked USC’s fourth loss of the year and ended another campaign defined by defensive breakdowns at the worst possible times. TCU’s comeback repeated its historic rally against the Oregon Ducks in the 2016 Alamo Bowl.

This time, the Horned Frogs erased a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 unanswered points to force overtime before scoring a touchdown that stunned the Trojans.

As the deciding game unfolded, frustration boiled over among USC fans and alumni alike. Program legend LenDale White reacted almost immediately after the game-winning touchdown, taking to social media to question the Trojans’ fundamentals.

“Have you ever practiced attacking or is it always about attacking?” White posted on X, formerly Twitter.

The comment echoed a broader sentiment after TCU backup quarterback Ken Seals fumbled a third-and-long in overtime. Running back Jeremy Payne caught a pass, slipped past two USC defenders, stayed in the game and ran for 35 yards for the winning score in the game.

The performance was special amazing considering Seals took a 10 yard sack on the previous snap, seemingly pushing TCU out of realistic scoring range.

USC head coach Lincoln Riley acknowledged the breakdown later in the postgame press conference, explaining that the defensive call worked as intended, but the execution failed at the finish line.

“Yeah, we got off to a good start obviously in overtime. We backed them up to third and extra long and it’s going to be a pretty tough field goal even at that point. But we missed a couple of plays. I mean, at a very inopportune time. So give the TCU guy credit, we made a hell of a run, but you know this was missed a lot of times, but you know how to play and it just happened at the worst possible time.” Riley said, adding that USC “forced him to check” but “just didn’t finish the play.”

The collapse capped a rough final stretch in which USC was outscored 16-6 in the fourth quarter and overtime. Despite leading 24-14 with less than 10 minutes remaining, the Trojans allowed TCU to come back behind Payne’s rushing touchdown and game-tying field goal as time expired.

Still, like USC is turning the page on next seasonthe Alamo Bowl finish and White’s blunt response highlight a lingering question — whether the Trojans can finally match their offensive firepower with defensive consistency when it matters most.





2025-12-31 10:03:00

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