Lincoln Riley calls out Pac-12 for suspending Christian Roland-Wallace

Lincoln Riley was not pleased with the Pac-12 following the suspension of Christian Roland-Wallace. 

Roland-Wallace, a transfer from Arizona, was ejected from the Wildcats game against Arizona State in 2022 via a penalty. That warranted a first half suspension this year.

The defensive back missed the first half of USC’s 66-14 win over Nevada and Riley was not happy.

“We’re very disappointed that the Pac-12 didn’t allow Christian Roland-Wallace to play in the first half of the game today,” Riley said. “Not one time in the offseason were we informed of a pending suspension. We became aware Thursday afternoon after the majority of the preparation was already done. 

“Upon learning about the suspension, we felt the need to go back and look at it ourselves. We requested video from the incident and that Arizona/Arizona State game last year, and when we looked at it, it was apparent that Christian was not involved in any way that you could even imagine an ejection. We felt that it was an incorrect call.”

As Riley pointed out, he and his staff looked at Roland-Wallace’s ejection themselves but the Pac-12 made the call in the end. Nothing could be changed.

“When we brought this to the attention of the conference, they stated it was too late and that the ruling had been made,” Riley said. “Whether he played or not is not the most important thing to me, but in my months here with Christian, I’ve seen the kind of person that he is, the kind of teammate that he is. I don’t want this to put him in any bad light, because it shouldn’t, and it’s wrong. 

“So I think it’s very important to make sure that what happened in this matter is understood. Christian has been a very valuable member of our program and continues to be, and we’re going to make sure that his reputation stays intact like it rightfully should.”

Roland-Wallace ended up getting playing time in the second half and finished with two tackles in the win.

In his career at Arizona, Roland-Wallace had 169 total tackles, 126 solo tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, two interceptions, 16 pass deflections and two forced fumbles.

As a member of the Class of 2019, Roland-Wallace was a three-star recruit out of Palmdale (Calif.) William Knight, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 92 overall prospect in the state, the No. 91 cornerback in the class and the No. 956 overall prospect in the class.