USC dropped to 4-5 overall and 3-4 in the Pac-12 with its 31-16 loss at Arizona State on Saturday night.

The Trojans now must win two of their final three games -- at Cal this week, home vs. UCLA and home vs. No. 14 BYU -- to become bowl eligible, which interim head coach Donte Williams made clear he still hopes is the outcome of this season.

But it's hard to find that same optimism from outside the program, as fans and observers have watched the Trojans lose by at least two touchdowns in each of their five toughest games. Meanwhile, they've beaten only one team with a winning record -- Washington State -- and that was when the Cougars were forced to play a walk-on QB for most of that game.

The point being, it would seem this Trojans team is what it is at this point.

Williams did acknowledge some of the same frustration the fans feel at this point, as the same themes -- backbreaking penalties, woeful tackling, dropped passes, etc. -- define each of this team's mounting losses.

"That's why it sucks with some of that, the same bad habits appear week in and week out and especially when you do everything in practice to try to correct it," Williams said Sunday night in his Zoom call with reporters. "So obviously we need to all together try a little harder to make sure we make corrections to those mistakes."

It's hard to see how anything is going to change nine games into a lost season.

For his part, though, Williams was adamant that the Trojans' morale remains strong despite the struggles.

"That's the greatest thing about a team sport. You've got to be willing to give your all week in and week out without any guarantee of success," he said Sunday night. "Like I say, I fell in love with the process. If you fall in love with the wins and losses and that's all you care about and that's what you fall in love with, you're going to be really disappointed. It's almost like a player falling in love with only scoring touchdowns, but if he runs for 200 yards or catches for 200 yards and didn't score a touchdown and we won the game by 21 he's going to be disappointed because he fell in love with just touchdowns.

"So I fell in love with the process and that locker room after the game, you could hear a pin drop of guys holding onto every word that I was saying, their eyes how they were staring at me. There wasn't no guys messing around, looking around, so I do feel this team is very bought in. I don't feel the morale has dipped down. That's for everyone else to write about or talk about or give up on us. But that's why it matters about the guys that are in that room that are playing in these games, their morale isn't shaken at all."

Williams spoke with reporters for more than 15 minutes, answering yet more questions about the team's quarterback rotation and decisions, injury updates, the aforementioned tackling issues, the new depth challenges along the offensive line, what he saw from the young receivers on Saturday and more.

Read Williams' full comments on our premium Trojan Talk board.