found at his program’s postgame news conference.

“Obviously, didn’t make the plays in the end to do it,” Riley said, “and came up one play short.”

The pattern repeats. The clock resets. USC didn’t close. One play short. A few plays away. There has been no different story in this USC season, a maddening similarity tying nearly every single loss together, a maddening similarity tying Riley’s postgame comments together as his ship continues to sink.

“I watch a team, like – it’s not like we’re getting our ass kicked, you know?” Riley said. “So, it’s not like I go back to the drawing board and it’s just, like, ‘Gah, we’re just doing this terrible, and people are just wearing us out on this or that.’ I mean, like, it’s not, it’s not that.”

What it is, at the moment, is a losing season. USC is 4-5, and 2-4 in the Big Ten. Yes, they were one play short on Saturday — but one play short several times.

There was a back-breaking Moss interception in the third quarter, stalling all momentum he’d built in piloting USC to a third-quarter lead and two touchdown drives, firing a ball over the middle into the hands of Washington’s Carson Bruener and clapping his hands in disgust on the sidelines.

There was a fourth-and-1 play from the goal line down a score with 5 minutes remaining, Riley entrusting his offense in the hands of Marks and Quinten Joyner and suddenly running the ball 10 times in 11 plays, only for Marks to be stuffed for a 3-yard loss and emerge with no points.

There was Moss’ final spinning heave to nowhere as he was dragged down by an avalanche of Huskies, no Hollywood magic he could summon on this frigid night in Seattle.

There was a USC team that could not escape the narrative, again, of a team that could not separate, an identity that only heightens scrutiny on Riley as his third season wearing a Trojans visor crumples.

“I don’t handle losing very well,” he said. “Hasn’t happened much in my career. Our team – that part of it is unacceptable. Now, through that, when you really look at it – is there progress, is there push, have we had a chance to win every game? The answer to all those is undoubtedly yes.”

“But at the end of the day, whether you separate, or whether it comes down to the end, we expect to win,” he continued. “And we haven’t done that enough.”