USC left the Coliseum with a 41-27 loss to Oregon on Saturday night, and Lincoln Riley didn’t waste much time pointing to the moments that swung the game.
The Trojans fell to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in Big Ten play, and Riley said the defeat came down to a handful of plays in a game he described as exactly the kind of battle both teams expected. He also opened by offering support to Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, saying, “First I want to say that I hope Dante [Moore] is okay.
You never want to see that with any opponent, no matter how competitive the game is. These are all people at the end of the day on both sides, so I wish him speedy recovery.”
Riley called it “a heavyweight battle out there like we anticipated it would be,” adding, “It was one hell of a game.” But he was just as direct about where USC came up short.
The Trojans, he said, made “a few too many errors in the end,” especially after building momentum in the fourth quarter. Oregon answered those moments, and Riley said the Ducks “did a good job capitalizing on them.”
Inside the USC locker room, the mood was understandably heavy. Riley said, “It’s a disappointing locker room.
Guys fought their hearts out, but obviously we’ve got to take this the right way, and that’s going to be important for the locker room.” He still made clear how he sees his team: “We have a damn good football team in there.
I know we do, and our locker room believes that. We’ve got to take advantage of some of these opportunities.”
Defensively, Riley said USC gave up too many chunk plays and lost some of the physical battles that decided the night. He pointed to Oregon’s screen pass early in the second half as a key swing, along with a penalty when USC had the crowd and momentum behind it.
“That moment was probably the most rowdy I’ve heard our crowd since I’ve been here,” Riley said. “It was a hell of an atmosphere in the Coliseum.”
Still, he said the Trojans didn’t sustain that edge. “We had all the momentum in the world, but you can’t do that against good teams and good offenses with talented skilled players like the ones they had,” Riley said.
He also said, “I didn’t think we did a great job tackling them on the night,” and noted that missed tackles helped create explosive plays. USC did get a major stop at the end of the first half, and Riley said that goal-line stand gave the Trojans a lift heading into halftime.
One of the more talked-about moments involved linebacker Desman Stephens II and the hit on Moore. Riley said, “I did not see it.” Asked why Stephens stayed on the sideline in the second half, Riley replied, “Because he’s on our football team.”
Riley also addressed Oregon’s backup quarterback Dylan Raiola, saying a quarterback change naturally affects the game. “I think anytime a different quarterback goes in it’s going to change the flow of the game a little bit,” he said.
“The guys’ skill sets are different. They’re obviously both proven and good quarterbacks at this level that have experience.”
Late in the game, Riley chose to go for it on fourth down, and he said the decision was straightforward. “You’re playing to win at that point,” he said.
He added that USC had looked at analytics on that call, and that the recommendation was strong enough that he felt strongly about it too. “We had what we wanted.
We just didn’t make the play,” Riley said.
He wasn’t interested in broad declarations about the season right after the final whistle. “I don’t make big picture statements after a game.
We just finished the game an hour ago,” Riley said. “We have some things we have to correct, and we need to play better on the key downs.”
USC now turns quickly to Washington, with another big game coming back at the Coliseum next week. Riley said the Trojans need to reset fast.
“We have another big one [against Washington], probably going to be a ranked matchup, back here again next week, and we have to be ready to roll,” he said. “There’s no time to hold our heads.
We have to learn from it. We have to grow and get ready to get ready to attack the next one.”
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