Lincoln Riley left Saturday night with a win, but not with much patience for the sloppiness that came with it.
USC, ranked No. 14, beat Louisiana 49-30 to move to 3-0, yet the penalties were the part that stuck with Riley after the final whistle. The Trojans were flagged eight times, and their coach made clear that number bothered him far more than the final score suggested.
“A little bit of an up-and-down win. Had some really good contributions on all three sides, especially early in the game and the early part of the third quarter.
We’re getting a lot of stops defensively. Obviously, the big punt return was a huge play in the game.
I thought we did a pretty decent job early in the game after they had a little bit of momentum from grabbing it back and really maintaining it through about midway through the third quarter,” Riley said.
Then came the part that set the tone for his postgame comments.
“The penalties are going to be the most alarming thing for us tonight. It was a lot, and they were really at horrible times.
There’s never really good times for penalties, but we had some at really inopportune times, and that’s something we have to clean up a lot. There’s no doubt about that.”
USC has looked sharp enough to open the season with three straight wins, rolling past San Jose State 42-26 and Fresno State 39-0 before handling Louisiana. But this one had more bumps than the previous two.
The Trojans needed a little time to settle in, leading only 7-3 after the first quarter. They took control in the second, outscoring Louisiana 21-7 to build a cushion the Ragin’ Cajuns never really threatened.
Jayden Maiava powered the offense with a clean-looking stat line: 19 completions on 29 attempts for 261 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. King Miller gave USC a strong ground presence with 18 carries for 128 yards and a score. Malik Bowman topped the receiving group with six catches for 83 yards and two touchdowns, while Zacharyus Williams, Kayden Dixon-Wyatt and Trent Mosley also hauled in touchdown passes.
Now the Trojans turn their attention to a cross-country trip. Their next game comes Sept. 19 against Rutgers.
In Other News...
Rutgers Pressure Around Greg Schiano Is Already Getting Hard To Ignore
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Schiano has tried to keep the focus on his players and assistants, but the backdrop matters here. Rutgers is operating under new university leadership, and with expectations rising along with the resources, there is less patience for another slow beginning. The Scarlet Knights still have time to steady things, but the pressure surrounding the program is already hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
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The concern for Rutgers is that USC does not have to be perfect to be difficult to handle, especially when the Trojans are still sorting out how they want to use their roster as the schedule tightens. Even with some defensive unevenness in the mix, the market sees a clear gap here, which leaves Rutgers with the kind of matchup where early resistance matters almost as much as the final score line. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Tech Just Got Pulled Into A Brutal Week 2 Debate
Week 2 put Greg Schiano and Rutgers in an uncomfortable early-season spotlight, even in a broader roundup that also took aim at Georgia Tech, Oklahoma, Ohio State and Oregon. For the Scarlet Knights, the issue is less about one bad afternoon than the way the first two games have left the program searching for answers on both sides of the ball and wondering how much patience usually comes with an October-like sense of urgency in September.
The bigger concern is that this is the sort of start that can quickly turn a coach into part of the national conversation for all the wrong reasons. Rutgers has not just stumbled into a rough stretch, it has invited the kind of debate that follows programs when performances lag behind expectations and the results start to pile up, with the focus now shifting from what went wrong in Week 2 to what Schiano can realistically do to steady things before the season gets away. [Read more 🡒]