Lincoln Riley debates need to alter play calling to help defense

Lincoln Riley is known for his up tempo offense at USC and sometimes that can affect the defense negatively.

Basically, if the offense scores too fast, the defense has to go right back out there. Or in a negative fashion, the offense sputters and has a quick three-and-out drive.

Riley said there’s a debate to possibly alter play calling to help the defense but in the end, scoring and getting stops is never a bad thing.

“At times you do sure,” Riley said. “You can’t really help it when an inside zone play pops. Our defense is never disappointed when we score and we’re never disappointed when they stop somebody. I’ll put it that way.”

Overall, Riley was pleased with the way the defense played in a 66-14 win over Nevada to improve to 2-0 on the season.

“I thought guys stepped up,” Riley said. “Shane Lee stepped up and played well. Raesjon (Davis) stepped up and played well. Tackett (Curtis) was doing some really nice things before the ejection. I thought the guys really stepped up and communicated.

“You saw the run defense was really stout all night. Really, we gave up two fade balls. You don’t discount those; those can’t happen. We have to get better than that, but played pretty clean football.”

Lee, one of the guys mentioned by Riley postgame, missed a lot of fall camp leading into the season. He credited the entire staff for instilling confidence in him ahead of coming back into the lineup.

“First off, credit to my coaches for putting me in the right position and always believing in me and instilling confidence in me, as well as my teammates,” Lee said. “I hadn’t been on the field a whole bunch for fall camp but just always taking reps, always asking questions and just always being around the guys.

“That way, you never get away from it and they’ve done a great job of always keeping me involved. So, really, that’s a credit to my team and my coaches.”

So from that perspective, Riley’s offensive play calling didn’t negatively impact the defense. Caleb Williams had another fantastic performance as well.

He finished 18-of-24 passing for 319 yards and five touchdowns. Backup Miller Moss even got a chance, going seven-of-10 passing for 134 yards and a touchdown.

Riley and his 2-0 and sixth-ranked USC squad return to action for their Pac-12 opener at home Saturday against Stanford.