Lincoln Riley didn’t hide from the messiness of USC’s 25-21 win over Washington. When he joined Trojans Live on Oct. 5, the No. 19 Trojans coach called the game “weird” and spent plenty of time explaining why.
The biggest issue, in Riley’s view, was self-inflicted damage. USC, he said, had a solid first-half rhythm but kept shooting itself in the foot with penalties.
“It was a weird game. Really I felt like we had a pretty decent rhythm in the first half,” Riley said.
“Felt like we played good enough to score 30 points in the first half, but we continually set ourselves back with penalties. We took a touchdown off the board, we took explosive plays off the board [too].
We took drives and completely dismantled drives with penalties. So we've got to do a whole lot better with that.
We had to strain to find some positives. We didn't play very good offensively.”
He said USC had chances to put the game away against a strong defense, but the Trojans never fully cashed in.
“We had opportunities to bust that thing open against a good defense like that. So I'm glad we made clutch plays at some clutch times and some really tough plays. But we're going to have to play a lot better there.”
Riley also pointed to the broader issue of clean football, noting that mistakes can come from a lot of different places.
“Self-inflicted errors can show up so many different ways in this game. But they can show up because of a lack of focus or lack of intensity.
They can show up with a lack of fundamentals. Or show up with a lack of poise.
Even some of our penalties were from our oldest, most experienced players. You can be doing so many good things, and they can just zap it.”
“It's been great that we cover up for each other. But we need more moments where we're all surging together.”
If the offense left Riley frustrated, the defense gave him plenty to like. He called that side of the ball the difference in the game, praising the group for stretches of dominant play and key stops late.
“Obviously the way we played defensively was certainly the difference. Just some stretches of really dominant play.”
“Had the fumble return for the touchdown, which was obviously, if not the most singular, biggest play of the game. Then just some of the key stops, especially getting some in there during the fourth quarter.”
USC also had to contend with Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr., and Riley said the Trojans answered that challenge.
“We continued to answer the bell against one of the best quarterbacks in the country [Washington's Demond Williams Jr.]. Really proud of the way we played.”
He praised the way the front played, calling it aggressive and impactful against both the run and the pass.
“I thought we played pretty aggressive. I thought the front was pretty impactful in both the run and the pass game. That's what we've really been challenging our group to do.”
Riley then addressed one of the bigger tactical changes: defensive coordinator Gary Patterson moving to the booth. Riley said the staff had already talked about the possibility before the season, then revisited it after a couple of games.
“I thought it was good, and it was something we talked about on Sunday. There's always positives and negatives.”
“We even talked about it some [Patterson going to the booth] before the season. And now that we've got a couple of games under our belt, it was good for us to go back and re-evaluate just how the entire operation was working. And was this a tweak that could potentially help us?”
“So we test drove it a little bit through the week and felt good about it. And give credit to him.
He called a really good game. I also thought our coaches did a nice job of organizing and making sure the communication was straight with the players.”
Riley made it clear he believes Patterson’s perspective from above was an advantage.
“Again, there's nobody who knows defense quite like him. When he can get up there and get that vantage point, we felt that we could be at an advantage and I felt it was there on Saturday.”
He also singled out the variety of contributions across the defensive front, along with Kameryn Crawford’s performance.
“They were super impactful. I thought we got more contributions from different guys across the front. And thats what you need to have.”
“Because we've seen, at times, the offense is giving attention to different players individually. When that happens, it creates one-on-ones or great matchups at other places. Then you've got to go make them pay for that.”
“Kameryn Crawford was fantastic. He won in one on ones.
He made some impactful plays in the run game. He did good job of getting Williams down a couple of times, which is not easy to do even if you do get home free and win.”
Looking ahead, Riley shifted to the road trip at Iowa State and the challenge waiting there. He said the atmosphere will be one he’s eager to experience and emphasized how important road games are in conference play.
“It'll be a fun atmosphere. I've never gotten the chance to go coach there. So looking forward to it.”
“And I know our team is looking forward to it. You know it's an important game when you're playing a good team on the road. And we know how important those road games are in this conference.”
“Winning last week sets this up to be a really, really important game for us because we have this seven game stretch.”
Riley had plenty of respect for Iowa State coach Matt Campbell, whom he said he coached against often in the Big 12. He also praised quarterback Rocco Becht and the Cyclones’ offensive variety.
“Matt Campbell's a heck of a coach. We coached each other a ton in the Big 12 when he was at Iowa State.
And I have immense respect for him. You go turn on the film and they have an experienced quarterback [Rocco Becht], heck of a player.
They do a lot of challenging things with their groupings.”
Riley then turned to the other side of the ball, comparing Iowa State’s use of tight ends with what he has seen before and noting the physical, well-coached look of the defense.
“Going back to Iowa State, they've always used their tight ends really well and they're doing so here [Penn State]. Defensively they look a lot like the past Penn State teams in being big up front.
They've got realy good athletes and talented players and they're excellent on the back end. It's a well coached football team and it'll be a heck of a night.”
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