Lincoln Riley says USC hungry for success after loss

For the first time in the Lincoln Riley era, USC found itself on the losing end of a football game. In a tough road environment against Utah, the Trojans were not able to escape out of Salt Lake City undefeated, falling 43-42. With a bye week immediately following, it’s been a long two weeks for the Trojans.

Riley was asked about the mindset of his team after their first loss, saying there is still plenty of confidence in the locker room. He thinks if USC could have lined up the following day and played another game, they would have. Shaking the loss off is one thing but based on the head coach’s response, there’s a sense of wanting to get back to winning ways.

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“I would agree with the confidence,” Riley said. “Disappointed but not defeated kind of attitude in the locker room since then. Yeah, it was a hungry locker room after that. I think they would have gone out and played another game right then. If we had it our way, that’s what we would have love to done.”

Once the clock hit zero against Utah, and USC had lost, the Fox broadcast panned to quarterback Caleb Williams. He was visibly upset with the result, showing his emotions. Being on the losing side is not something the sophomore has gone through a ton during his college days.

Nearly two weeks later, Riley has challenged his team to keep those feelings. In the “heat of the moment,” it’s easy to be disappointed with a result. Riley challenged his team to bring the same energy through the bye week and into their game against Arizona.

“I think the key in all of this is you can have all that and the immediate emotions after,” said Riley. “Do you maintain that hunger, that fight, that desire to go get better and go become what we can become? Do you maintain that, right? Opposed to a heat-of-the-moment emotion or something that’s much bigger? That’s been our challenge.”

With the Wildcats next up on the schedule for USC, Riley has had extensive praise for their offense. But at the same time, he said relief, more than anything, will be taken off their shoulders once kick-off occurs. The Trojans have been itching for two weeks to get back onto the field.

“We’ve had two weeks,” Riley explained. “It’s been a long two weeks We’ve practiced well, it’s been a good bye week. We’re eager to go play. This game can’t get here soon enough.”