LOS ANGELES — A peculiar choice after winning the coin toss. A lack of sportsmanship after a brutal hit. Allowing four methodical second-half touchdown drives to a backup quarterback and keeping the offense on the field for a game-sealing turnover on downs.

Lincoln Riley’s USC football program, everybody.

What’s new?

Riley ensured his fifth year in Southern California would be different. That after matching its rivals’ name, image, and likeness war chest, USC’s ‘Time Is: Now’ — a message displayed on billboards across Los Angeles. With Riley at the helm, USC’s glitz and glamor hasn’t faded. Its Hollywood mystique remains intact. But the results, the College Football Playoff aspirations, were left somewhere on a plane ride from Norman, Okla., to a tarmac at LAX in the winter of 2021.

No. 12 USC’s 41-27 loss to No. 20 Oregon on Saturday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum matched so many of the letdown performances USC (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten) has endured throughout the last five seasons, in which the Trojans are the less physical team and Riley the less savvy coach.

“Came down to a couple of plays like games with two really good teams typically come down to, and we made a few too many errors there in the end,” Riley said in the postgame press conference.

While Riley lamented the loss, mimicking a number of the 19 defeats he’s authored at USC, including an 0-3 record against the Ducks, his counterpart Dan Lanning relished another Southern California coup for an Oregon program that has stolen both football games and recruits out of USC’s backyard.

“Three wins against these guys,” Lanning said, concluding a press conference full of gloating. “I guess if you’re interested in winning football games, and you’re from this area, you should go to Oregon. If you want to go to a Chris Brown concert, you should go here.”

Coaching with his season on the line and his superstar quarterback Dante Moore exiting with an injury early in the second quarter, Lanning galvanized Oregon (3-1, 1-0). Backup quarterback Dylan Raiola stepped in, dicing apart Gary Patterson’s defense for 289 yards and two touchdowns.

To his credit, Riley’s been the quarterback whisperer that he was advertised as Jayden Maiava threw for 326 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Kayden Dixon-Wyatt continued to step up in fellow freshman Trent Mosley’s absence with a team-high 114 receiving yards and a touchdown.

Unlike Mosley, Oregon tight end Jamari Johnson emerged off the injury report to lead the Ducks with seven catches for 119 yards, and running back Dierre Hill Jr. combined 105 receiving yards with 63 rushing yards and two touchdowns, providing a safety valve for Raiola.

“Dylan Raiola came out and had an excellent game, every guy on the sideline had faith in him,” Lanning said of the Nebraska transfer.

Despite the anticipation of Saturday’s matchup, neither side seemed worthy of taking the first punch as the game sputtered throughout the first quarter.

Enter, Desman Stephens II.

With 10:06 remaining in the second quarter, on a second-and-9 from the USC 23-yard line, Moore raced beyond the first-down marker before giving himself up. As he slid to the ground, defenseless, Stephens lowered his shoulder, delivering a blow to Moore’s head and neck area.

Moore’s slide was abrupt, but Stephens had adequate time to adjust the power of his hit. More so, his response in the aftermath was problematic. After the hit, Oregon’s players pushed Stephens in protection of their quarterback, and as the gravity of the moment settled with Moore laying motionless on the ground, Stephens was seen celebrating.

He continued to cheer his teammates on from the sideline throughout the second half after being disqualified.

Neither Lanning or Riley caught Stephens’ reaction, and Lanning confirmed that Riley checked on Moore following the game. Moore ultimately exited the stadium after being transferred from a stretcher into an ambulance. The NBC broadcast confirmed he had movement in all his extremities while he was tended to at nearby Los Angeles General Medical Hospital.

Oregon emerged inspired.

“It’s disappointing that would happen, but I thought our players did a great job of resetting,” Lanning said. “We had a lot of guys that were emotional in that moment, including myself. These guys went out and played for him.”

Two plays after Moore exited, Raiola connected with Evan Stewart for a 3-yard touchdown. Raiola continued to settle in, leading Oregon 75 yards for a score on its first drive out of halftime. He got help from Hill, who took a screen 62 yards before rushing in for an 8-yard score on the following play.

Hill’s touchdown capped a drive that was essentially free for Oregon because Riley opted to receive the ball after USC won the coin toss — a drive that resulted in a missed field goal — allowing the Ducks to end the first half and begin the second with the ball.

Maiava completed his next four passes and capped off a 65-yard march by keeping the ball for a 1-yard rushing touchdown. After Hill continued to gash USC, turning another short completion into a 28-yard touchdown, Maiava led the Trojans on a game-tying drive, rolling out of the pocket to find Tanook Hines in the end zone.

Raiola remained unfazed, leading the Ducks on a 10-play drive. The Ducks benefited from USC committing a roughing-the-passer penalty on a third-and-15 at the 40-yard line. They capitalized when wide receiver Dakorien Moore broke free on a chair route and Raiola hit him near the pylon to restore a 7-point lead.

“The penalty there,” Riley said, “we had all the momentum in the world, but you can’t do that against good teams.”

The next costly call came from Riley, himself, in response to that Oregon score.

Trailing by seven with 7:19 left and both offenses firing, Riley kept USC’s offense on the field as it faced a fourth-and-7 from its own 49-yard line. Maiava targeted Zacharyus Williams across the middle and Oregon’s Brandon Finney Jr. stepped in front to break up the pass.

“You’re playing to win at that point,” Riley said. “This one honestly wasn’t that close in terms of analytics. It was a pretty strong recommendation to go for it, and I felt very strongly about it as well. You got to try to extend the game.”

Oregon took advantage of the short field, rushing the ball into the gut of USC’s defense on five of the next seven plays until Jordon Davison broke the plane on a 2-yard touchdown.

With Davison’s score sealing USC’s fate, Trojans filed out of the Coliseum, providing another reminder of a staple of Riley’s tenure.

Empty seats and empty promises.

“I’ve watched three of their TV games, I haven’t seen a game packed yet, but we were here, it was packed tonight,” Lanning said. “So I guess the Ducks show up, right? That’s how you fill up the Coliseum.”