Lincoln Riley has high praise for USC defense following dominant Week 1 performance

Everyone is well aware of the offensive firepower Lincoln Riley brought to USC. It was on display from the jump in their very first game as the Trojans hung 66 points on Rice. However, the scoring and margin of victory weren’t completely on the offense. As great as the offense played, the Trojan’s defense was arguably just as good if not better.

Riley highlighted his defense’s performance on Monday during an appearance on ‘Trojans Live’. With four interceptions and a trio of touchdowns, Riley says he couldn’t have asked for much more from his defense’s first game.

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“I mean three pick-sixes? Four turnovers? You’re gonna win every game ever. That obviously was huge. (That’s) four game-changing plays,” said Riley. “I thought our effort to the ball for our first performance was very, very positive.”

USC’s takeaways were the main storyline. Of the Trojan’s nine touchdowns on the day, the defense managed to account for a third of them. They also held the Owls to just 14 points and only 280 yards of offense.

Even as they started making subs, Riley was happy to see there was no let-up from his defense afterward. They came at the Rice offense the same way as the starters did, which speaks volumes about what that side of the ball can be for USC this fall.

“I was proud that, defensively in the second half as we started playing multiple players and the game had quite a bit of separation, we continued to stop them. A lot of times you see a team lets off the gas a little bit, gets a little bit sloppy and it really didn’t defensively (for us),” Riley said.

The biggest question at Oklahoma was always whether or not the defense would be enough for Lincoln Riley’s offense. Even with their high-scoring theatrics, Riley’s defense cost him more times than you’d think. After one game with USC, albeit against a Conference USA opponent, his Trojan defense got the job done. If they can continue to do it during the rest of their schedule, including the Pac-12, Riley may not have to wait too long to get USC back in title contention.