Lincoln Riley pushing USC to improve on the road after Arizona State game

Lincoln Riley knows USC has to improve on the road later this season if it is to be successful. The win over Arizona State was the latest example of a good, but not great win.

The 42-28 score looks good on paper, but Riley maintained USC had plenty to clean up before its next game. Whether it’s miscues on offense or tightening up on defense, the Trojans have to be better in the head coach’s eyes.

USC (4-0) hits the road again next week against Colorado and Deion Sanders.

“You get on the road and everything’s just magnified a little bit,” Riley said postgame. “And we were just, we were just a little off, you know, especially offensively in terms of moving, the play clock going down on us a lot. And we did not handle that well, so we’ll have to do a better job preparing the guys for that.”

Riley noted penalties on defense that were self-inflicted wounds during the game.

“And then we had a couple of untimely penalties defensively that really put them out, some of the holes that we were putting them in because we were in so many negative plays,” Riley said.

“And so we’ve got to be better than that. I mean, listen, it’s challenging and there’s a reason why 70% of the time the home team wins in college football and it’s been like that forever and ever. So we know we’re gonna have to get better at it without any more road challenges.”

Lincoln Riley stressing improvement on the road

Whether they’re on the road or at home, Riley and USC had to play nine straight weeks after an early bye week. Going into the game against Arizona State, Riley said he wasn’t worried about that factor.

“It doesn’t (affect the way we practice),” Riley said. “You’re gonna play them all no matter what, you know, whether it’s a natural break in the middle. We’ve all been a part of the stretch before so there’s positives and negatives both ways. I think the bottom line is you just gotta handle it well, like wherever the bye week falls. However many games you have in a row. 

“You can make the argument about rest on a bye week, you can make an argument about keeping rhythm and not having to break that on a bye week. I don’t know if it all matters at the end. Like you just have to handle it. Given the schedule well in advance. We know when we’re gonna play, we know where the breaks are and it’s up to us to have a great plan to get it done and our guys to execute it.”