Lincoln Riley still believes in this USC team despite loss

Lincoln Riley isn’t going to let one USC loss derail the Trojans’ season after falling to Notre Dame on the road.

He’s a big believer in his squad the rest of the way, particularly with a tough Pac-12 slate. USC basically has to go through a gauntlet to get to the Pac-12 title game and into the College Football Playoff.

Blowout loss to Notre Dame aside, Riley isn’t pulling the plug after one defeat.

“I still very much believe in this football team won, 1,000%,” Riley said. “The good that you see from this football team is good enough to beat anybody. But we obviously know we got to put it together and put it together quickly to get our best and to get it from all three sides and be able to rise together and we got a great opportunity to do it. 

“Listen, I reminded the team and I’ll remind everybody we’re undefeated in this conference right now. We play in what I think is the best conference in college football from top to bottom and every opportunity that we want is waiting for us, including a big one, seven days from now in Los Angeles that we’ll be excited to get back and prepare for.”

Caleb Williams had a rough outing, the first one of the year. He finished the loss versus Notre Dame with just 199 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.

One can’t put the loss on just one player. The USC defense was gashed as well, giving up two touchdown passes to Sam Hartman and allowing Audric Estime to run for 95 yards and two scores.

“We’ll, we’ll obviously watch the tape,” Riley said. “We got a lot of corrections and a lot of things that we got to fix and get better at but can’t wait to get back to the Coliseum to go to battle with this team and the guys in this locker room. They’re gonna get our best in terms of the staff. I know we’re gonna get their best and we’re looking forward to bouncing back and playing very well here next week.”

USC gets back in action at home Saturday against a ranked Pac-12 foe. No. 14 Utah comes to town looking to keep the streak going against the Trojans.

Utah knocked off USC twice in 2022, including a win over the Trojans in the Pac-12 Championship Game.