USC played against a team that threw for 32 yards.

Not in one play.

Throughout the game.

Coach Lincoln Riley described Saturday’s 27-24 loss to Michigan as a game his team could have won, saying, “We came up one play short.”

Actually, the Trojans should have won this game.

This was a game where the reigning national champion Wolverines were booed in their own stadium. This was a game where USC had the ball and a four-point lead going into the final five minutes against an opponent that had failed to score on any of its last six drives.

In their previous two games, the Trojans played as if they could no longer beat themselves, but they kept one important detail in mind.

Riley was still their coach.

As dynamic as his offense is and as much as new coordinator D’Anton Lynn has improved his once-porous defense, Riley has yet to show an ability to remain calm in games of this magnitude.

USC’s first Big Ten game was another example.

Riley made a number of curious playmaking decisions, the most notable of which came during the possession preceding Michigan’s winning drive. The Trojans went three-and-out, stopping the clock twice on incomplete shovel passes by quarterback Miller Moss. The possession lasted less than a minute, giving the Wolverines enough time to regain the lead on Khalel Mullings’ one-yard run with 37 seconds left in the game.

“I thought I could have been better,” Riley admitted. “I don’t think I made a very good drive there.”

Riley was considerably less self-critical when asked about his team’s offensive philosophy to start the game, even though the Trojans were limited to just three points in the first two quarters and went into halftime trailing 14-3.

“I felt like we had a lot of opportunities in the first half that we missed,” Riley said. “Probably more about execution than call.”

But USC clearly tried to beat Michigan at its own game, doggedly running the ball up the middle, even though the Wolverines’ defensive line included two future NFL tackles in Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant. When the Trojans weren’t running the ball, they often resorted to screen passes.

The consequences were disastrous.

The Wolverines were more physical on both sides of the ball. They held the Trojans to negative rushing yardage for two quarters. They started with a mobile quarterback who couldn’t throw, and who the Trojans knew wouldn’t throw, but who still managed to score two touchdowns before halftime.

The Trojans came out of the break with a game plan that more closely resembled their own. Instead of looking for the run to open the pass, they relied on the pass to open the run.

Moss passed for his first touchdown on the opening drive of the second half. Moss had a pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown on USC’s next drive, but he responded by passing for two more scores to put the Trojans ahead 24-20.

The crowd of more than 110,000 fans turned on the home team, booing the Wolverines as their run-only offense faltered.

The game was there for the taking. Somehow the Trojans blew it.

During the post-match press conference, Riley chose to praise his team’s resilience rather than lament the missed opportunities.

“I think it was a classic fight, back and forth,” he said.

The approach was understandable. The Trojans have nine games left in their regular-season schedule. They can still reach the College Football Playoff.

But if USC wants to become the program it envisioned when it hired Riley, it’s going to have to figure out how to close out a game like this. Riley wasn’t brought to Los Angeles to compete. He was brought to win championships.

Right now, the Trojans have a championship defensive coordinator. They have a championship quarterback. They need Riley to be a championship head coach.