COLLEGE PARK, Maryland -- For the fourth time in the last five games, USC blew a fourth quarter lead. For the fourth time in the last five games, the Trojans found a new way to lose in the final minute.

And for the fourth time in five games, USC fans and critics alike were left trying to make sense of what just happened Saturday.

Leading by 14 points early in the fourth quarter, the Trojans let Maryland reel off its longest drive of the game (10 plays, 75 yards) for a touchdown, gave up the ensuing two-point conversion, had a 41-yard field goal try blocked, let the Terrapins score again in less than a minute to take the lead on the extra point and then had their own final drive -- and the game -- end on a fourth-and-2 incompletion as linebacker Caleb Wheatland blasted the ball out of the hands of running back Woody Marks.

It was the same story yet again with a few new wrinkles mixed in, as USC tumbled to a 29-28 defeat at Maryland for its third straight loss and, as noted, fourth in the last five games.

The Trojans now sit 3-4 overall and 1-4 in the Big Ten after losing to a Maryland team (4-3, 1-3) that was previously winless in the conference and got beat by 27 points at home against Northwestern last week.

It's almost hard to make sense of -- for coach Lincoln Riley as much as anyone.

"It's a tough one to swallow. I told the guys in the game, the game doesn't care that you've had some real close heartbreaking losses before. These weeks are their own weeks, their own nights. It's kind of strange stuff that we've been in. I don't know really that I could compare it to anything that I've experienced in my career," Riley said. "But you know, we've got two choices going forward and those two choices are pretty obvious.

"So we've got a quick turnaround game here against Rutgers on Friday night on a short week that we've got to come back and be ready to go, and that will be our challenge as team to get over this one and get onto the next one and the rest of the season."

RELATED: Watch the postgame press conference with Lincoln Riley, Miller Moss and Bryson Shaw | Join the postgame discussion on our Trojan Talk board

Let's just review the last five weeks before going any further ...

-27-24 loss at Michigan: USC pulls ahead 24-20 with 7:01 left in the fourth quarter, then forces a three-and-out to stop the Wolverines for a sixth straight series. But with a chance to potentially ice the game, the Trojans go three-and-out with a false start and Michigan running back Kalel Mullings soon rips off a 63-yard run that sets up his own go-ahead touchdown on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with 37 seconds left.

-24-17 loss at Minnesota: Two weeks later, after a bounce-back win at home over Wisconsin, the Trojans are up 17-10 midway through the fourth quarter against a middling Minnesota team that has only managed those 10 points through three-plus quarters. But in crunch time, the Gophers reel off a 6-play, 65-yard touchdown drive, register a sack/intentional grounding on quarterback Miller Moss to start the ensuing USC possession and force a three-and-out, and then go 75 yards in 12 plays and score the go-ahead touchdown on a fourth-and-goal Max Brosmer QB keeper from the 1 with 56 seconds left that is initially ruled a stop but overturned on review.

-33-30 loss to Penn State in overtime: With a chance to maybe reset their season at home against a top-5 Nittany Lions team, the Trojans build a 20-6 halftime lead only to squander it quickly in the second half as Penn State scores touchdowns on its first two drives of the third quarter to tie it. USC later retakes a 30-23 lead with 5:56 remaining, only to give up a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive -- with conversions on fourth-and-7 and fourth-and-10 -- and lets running back Nicholas Singleton get wide-open in the right flat for an easy 14-yard touchdown. Moss then misses an open Duce Robinson on third-and-6 on a slant that would have put USC in position for a game-tying field goal in the final seconds of regulation. Instead, Michael Lantz misses a 45-yard field goal to start overtime and Penn State wins it with a field goal of its own.

And then this ...

USC led 21-7 at halftime Saturday and got a defensive stop on fourth-and-2 to start the third quarter. One might have mistaken that as the Trojans having great momentum, but this team has shown repeatedly that momentum is at all times tenuous and fleeting.

Sure enough, Moss, under pressure and throwing flat-footed, threw a back-breaking interception to Lavain Scruggs that was returned 51 yards to the USC 18. On the next play, Billy Edwards Jr. threw an 18-yard touchdown to Tai Felton to make it a 21-14 game.

Already, fans were having flashbacks to previous weeks, but the Trojans weren't in freefall mode yet. That would come later.

When Maryland had a chance to tie the game later in the third quarter on a fourth-and-3 from the USC 4, Jaylin Smith made a sleek one-handed interception in the end zone to thwart the Terps -- temporarily at least.

USC even followed up with a long touchdown drive to go back ahead by two scores at 28-14 early in the fourth quarter when Duce Robinson muscled his way in for a 26-yard score after catching the ball at the 12 and carrying two defenders while plowing through a third into the end zone.

Surely, with this much of a fourth quarter cushion, the Trojans couldn't do it again? They couldn't find a way to lose this one, right?

Wrong. Wrong almost every time these last five weeks.

The Trojans defense allowed yet another sustained, long drive when the opponent needed it most -- 10 plays, 75 yards, the usual -- as Roman Hemby scored on a 10-yard rush. Maryland opted to go for 2 and Edwards hit Kaden Prather for the conversion to cut USC's lead to 28-22 with 9:56 remaining.

Again, it was hard to shake the feeling that it was all happening again -- the same script with a few modifications.

USC's next drive stalled at midfield, but the defense sacked Edwards on third-and-long to take over at the Maryland 33 with 2:56 remaining.

Prime field position, less than 3 minutes to play and a 6-point lead ... how could the Trojans mess this up, one might have wondered?

By immediately getting into a fourth-and-1 and having Lantz's 41-yard field goal try blocked and returned to the USC 47 with 1:41 on the clock.

Riley was asked if he considered going for it on fourth-and-1 ...

"There was. There was a lot of discussion back and forth. It was close. I mean, the book certainly says that you're up 6, you can make it a 9-point game and make it really, really difficult for you to win obviously if you convert that," Riley said. "It's a 41-yard field goal, we feel good about it, we obviously had a protection bust in there and those are mistakes you can't make on the road."

At that point, USC fans knew how this was ending.

Two plays into the ensuing Maryland drive, cornerback John Humphrey committed a blatant pass interference downfield after getting beat by Felton. Edwards completed passes of 6 and 14 yards on the next two plays and then ran it in himself for a 5-yard touchdown -- as the extra point put the Terps ahead.

USC still had 53 seconds to try to position for a game-winning field goal, but on fourth-and-2 from the Maryland 40-yard line, Moss threw a short pass to Marks, who was then hammered by linebacker Caleb Wheatland to jar the ball out and seal the Terps win.

"Heartbreaking way to end it," Riley said. "I know it's been kind of the tale of the last several weeks for us is do some good things, get a lead and obviously we just have not been able to finish these games. This one was symptomatic of all three sides -- all three sides had opportunities. I thought we played a pretty good first half, put ourselves in position, all three sides had opportunities -- whether to get stops, to score, make field goals, all of that, and didn't make enough plays. Again, that's road football for you.

"So, yeah, heartbroken for the guys in the locker room. It's been a really tough stretch. Emotionally, it's tough, man. When you fight like these guys are fighting and put yourself in position to win some of these games, do a lot of good things out there, but it just simply hasn't been enough. Just like last week, I own it, it's my responsibility, I've got to get this team to play better at the end of games, and I've obviously not done a good enough job of that — clearly."

But why? How does this keep happening just like this but in new and seemingly even more crushing ways with each mounting collapse?

"Well, I don't like to compare just the end of games. It's just we've had so many games that have come right down to it in a row, and I've been a part of other teams that had other things that were kind of their thing that they had a hard time getting over. But yeah, I just think the one that's made this unique is just how emotional all of them are and heartbreaking the losses are. And it's like that over and over and over again," Riley said. "That's probably been the challenge. If you're not good on third down on defense or you're not good in the red zone on offense, yeah, that's going to put a strain on you. But our strain has been play good -- play good enough to have leads, to have opportunities to win games -- and not finish them.

"That's probably the toughest thing you can experience in football, and we've experienced [it] several times over. So, we're emphasizing it, we're working on it. Obviously, we've got to do a better job of it because, again, I say we're doing a lot of the heavy lifting, which is put yourself in position to win games against good teams. But obviously the inability to finish them off has been, it's just, it eats at you."

Edwards passed for a career-high 373 yards with 2 touchdowns despite Maryland managing just 57 rushing yards on 23 carries and depending fully on his arm.

On the other side, Moss finished 34-of-49 passing for 336 yards, 3 touchdowns and that costly interception. Marks rushed for 82 yards and a score and Makai Lemon led the receivers with 8 catches for 89 yards while Robinson scored his fourth touchdown in the last five games and Ja’Kobi Lane made an impressive one-handed catch for a first-half touchdown.

Moss and safety Bryson Shaw, both picked as team captains for this game, were the only players brought to the postgame press conference and were only asked one question -- how do they move forward from here and what do they hope to get out of the rest of this (lost) season?

"I mean, it comes down to pride," Shaw said. "My father raised me to keep fighting no matter what. That's just kind of who I am. I know guys on this team are the exact same way. We're going to fight every day. That's the only option we have, kind of like coach said, and it just really comes down to individual pride and then as a whole having pride. We're going to take it one game at a time, Rutgers on Friday is the only thing we can look forward to. I know I'm going to keep fighting as hard as I can, and I have full faith in the secondary and the defense and the team as a whole, being around these guys that we're going to keep fighting.

"Kind of what coach said, we're confident in every game. We're confident in all these games that come down to the wire and like, you know, 'How did that just happen?' But full confidence. This hurts, don't get me wrong. This hurts like crazy. But I know going forward that we're going to keep fighting, and that's the only option we have.'

Said Moss: "Just to echo what B-Shaw said, it's not about any kind of end result or whatever that may be. We said at the beginning of the year we're committed to each other no matter what, no matter what the result is, and I think that holds true. It's not contingent on result. I think we all love and appreciate each other, and we're going to continue to fight for one another -- not based on any result."

That's about all that's left now at 3-4 ...