Lincoln Riley says USC has to 'be on high alert' for Arizona State after coaching change

The USC Trojans finally looked human for the first time this year, defeating Oregon State on the road 17-14 in by far their closest contest of the season. The Trojans are back at home this weekend, as they take on an Arizona State team just two weeks removed from their firing of head coach Herm Edwards. USC head coach Lincoln Riley was asked if the coaching change could complicate things from a game plan perspective headed into their matchup.

“It can, it certainly can, unfortunately that’s one of the tougher parts about college football and nobody likes to see it. But we I think all recognize that’s just part of how it is right now, I’ve been in a few situations where we’ve had an opponent like this, and yeah it can,” Riley said.

Arizona State running backs coach Shaun Aguano has taken over as the interim head coach for the Sun Devils. Aguano was a long-time high school coach at Chandler High School in Arizona for 18 years before getting his first collegiate job as ASU’s running backs coach in 2019.

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Aguano and the Sun Devils fell to Utah last week in his head coaching debut 34-13 and will be looking to bounce back against the No. 6 ranked Trojans, and make look to switch things up against them.

“I think you gotta be ready, you’ve got an opponent that a lot of times you switch some staff responsibilities around, different head man in charge, maybe different parameters of what they’re doing,” Riley said. “So I think you certainly have to be on high alert for anything that could change.”

USC may be 26-point favorites heading into this game, but are definitely on high alert, and aren’t taking this vulnerable Arizona State team lightly.

Travis Dye details what makes this USC team unique

USC‘s new look roster has looked like a success so far this year under new head coach Lincoln Riley, as the Trojans are currently ranked No. 7 in the country without a loss on their record. The Trojans are largely comprised of new transfer portal additions, including running back Travis Dye.

Dye transferred to USC from Oregon, where he was a part of multiple conference championship teams, and explained what makes this team different than past ones that he’s been on.

“Just the guys and the unselfishness throughout the team,” Dye said. “We all know we have so many good players on this team, and sharing the wealth isn’t something that maybe guys did at their other schools, the ones who transferred in.”

The Trojans definitely have a lot of mouths to feed and have been feeding them well so far this season. USC already has 4 rushers that have reached 50 plus yards this season, as well as 14 different players who’ve recorded at least one reception in the first three weeks of the season.

“And so we had to acknowledge that, we are all really good, if we all get the ball it’s dangerous. And so just learning how to share the wealth, learning how to be selfless, it’s a really big part,” Dye said.

The Trojan’s distribution of wealth has surely been working for them so far this season, and it’ll be interesting if it works moving forward, especially this upcoming week, as they face an undefeated Oregon State team on the road this Saturday night.