Three days and one phone call with the Big Ten later and Lincoln Riley still doesn’t understand how officials reversed USC’s decisive fourth-down, goal-line stop and instead gave Minnesota the go-ahead touchdown that changed the complexion of the conference title race.
The USC coach said Tuesday that there “were a number of misses there at the end” by officials during the Trojans’ 24-17 loss that he sought clarification about with the Big Ten, including two pass interference calls and the intentional grounding that killed a critical fourth-quarter drive for USC. But none was more consequential than the final keeper from Minnesota’s Max Brosmer, which was initially deemed short of the goal line on the field.
The call, upon further review, was overturned by officials. Which, per NCAA rules, would require “indisputable video evidence.”
Yet when Riley inquired further about that review this week, he says the Big Ten only told him they “believed” Minnesota had scored — but not that the evidence of that score was indisputable.
“They agree that it’s not indisputable,” Riley said. “I mean, they agree, which is unfortunate because that’s part of the rules. But listen — I get it’s a close play. I get it. Did he score? Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. I don’t know. But that’s the problem, nobody knows, and you’re going to have to go back with what the officials call on the field.”
Except, in this case, after a lengthy video review, officials gave the Gophers the benefit of the doubt.
Read more: Lincoln Riley still thinks USC can be ‘a really good team’ despite loss to Minnesota
“They thought the runner had scored,” Riley said. “And they felt like that was enough to overturn it. I have not been given any explanation why we ignored the part of the rule that obviously states that to overturn something, it has to be absolutely, completely clear-cut. There can be no doubt about what happens. That part was ignored, which is unfortunate for us.”
Riley said he wouldn’t have even asked the conference about it, had officials called a touchdown on the field. The confusion arose after the review itself, none of which was cleared up in Riley’s call with the conference.
The Big Ten did not immediately respond to questions from The Times about why the decision was made to overturn the call — or why the conference, according to Riley, was satisfied with that decision, despite agreeing there was no indisputable evidence.
But after making his frustration with the Big Ten known Tuesday, Riley said he was hoping to move past the consequential call, despite how much it might feel USC lost because of it.
“It’s not the reason we lost the game,” Riley said. “We had plenty of other opportunities, and I’m not sitting here blaming the officials, saying well, they did a bad job, and that’s why we didn’t win the game. That had nothing to do with it.”
Another redshirt?
Finally in a defense that fit his unusual skillset, Eric Gentry seemed headed for a breakout senior season until an undisclosed injury forced him to leave USC’s win over Wisconsin early.
Now it’s no longer clear if USC’s leader in tackles, tackles for loss and sacks will suit up again this season.
Gentry sat out all of last week and didn’t travel with the team to Minneapolis. He was present at practice on Tuesday, but once again wearing street clothes. As for when he might be back, Riley agreed that the linebacker will be out “indefinitely.”
With that in mind, Riley was asked if Gentry, who has played in only four games, might be a candidate to redshirt the rest of this season in order to retain a year of college eligibility.
Given how the last month has gone, he wouldn’t rule out the possibility.
“You look across the country right now, you never know,” Riley said. “No final decision has been made. We’re going to keep evaluating just how he’s feeling and how he’s progressing. He’s back with us, doing everything right now but the full practice. But he’s already able to ramp up some of the physical activities. Ongoing. But in this day and age, I don’t know if you can say one way or the other [about a redshirt] right now. It’s just the way the rules are right now.”
Just last week, another USC linebacker, Raesjon Davis, opted to sit out the rest of this season to retain his redshirt, despite being healthy and able to play. The week before that, defensive tackle Bear Alexander sprung the same decision on USC’s staff. Yet while Davis has continued practicing with the scout team, Alexander left the team entirely.
It’s not clear yet if Gentry will join them. But for now, Riley said, “he’s progressing quickly”.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
