USC's Lincoln Riley responds to Sherrone Moore's comment about sold-out Coliseum: 'I don't really care what he says'

Michigan Wolverines football head coach Sherrone Moore made a comment ahead of his team’s game against USC that made its way to opposing head coach Lincoln Riley, who responded in his own media availability Tuesday evening.

USC announced a sellout for Saturday’s game against Michigan (7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. CT) at the Los Angeles Coliseum — the second-ever meeting between the two schools in the venue (1957). That marked the first sellout of the season, after having only three last year — against Penn State, Nebraska and Notre Dame.

“It’s sold out, but it’s sold out because Michigan’s coming,” Moore said during his Monday press conference, as part of a response to a question about his players from California returning to their home state for the game.

Riley was asked about it Tuesday.

“Yeah, I don’t really care what he says,” Riley said. “We’re looking forward to playing.”

Tickets are still available for USC’s remaining home games against Northwestern, Iowa and UCLA. Current capacity for the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is 77,500.

Riley discussed the perceived pressure on the Trojans heading into this game. USC is coming off a 34-32 loss at Illinois before its bye week.

“We don’t buy into much of the pressure stuff,” he said. “It’s just not like that in our walls. Ours is the excitement to play.

“I think it’s understanding the opportunity that a game like this provides, where it’s two of the more iconic brands in college football history that get a chance to do battle and get a chance to do it here in the Coliseum. These are special games. These are games that you remember. These are games that, I think, provide great opportunities for players, for fans, for everyone.

“So, yeah, I think you embrace it. It’s not pressure, because this is what we do. We wait all fricken year for games like this, for opportunities like this. We’re excited, we’re going to go prepare our asses off and go play.”

Michigan QB Bryce Underwood ‘a really good player’

Michigan freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood is off to a strong start to his college football career, leading the Wolverines to a 4-1 record to this point. He’s completed 59.2 percent of his passes for 1,003 yards and 3 touchdowns with 1 interception, adding 27 carries for 181 yards and 3 scores.

“He’s a really good player,” Riley said. “He’s obviously young, but he’s getting in some unique situations here for a young guy. I’m sure it’ll be good for his development. You see the physical talent, his ability to move, his arm strength. He’s a big kid.

“So, yeah, he’s doing a good job. Talented guy that we’re going to have to corral and a guy that we need to put pressure on. We need to make him execute, and that’s the name of the game for any quarterback at any level, especially in these big games. He’s a really good player that we have a lot of respect for, and we need to impact him as much as we can.”

Michigan defensive line ‘different’ than last season, but ‘good’

Michigan’s defensive line has been disruptive, leading the way on a unit that ranks seventh nationally in rush defense and has a 45-percent pressure rate, which ranks first in the Power Four. The Trojans’ offensive line, meanwhile, has been banged up and shuffling different pieces around.

“They’re good,” Riley said of Michigan’s defensive line. “They’re different. They had just the two dominant inside players last year, and they’ve got very good inside players this year, too. But those guys were, obviously, exceptional players.

“They’re experienced at the edges, got guys that have played a while for them and made a lot of plays. And then you just see their depth. They have a lot of really good depth. They’re able to rotate guys, able to play multiple guys. If somebody’s out, they can replace them pretty quickly. They can keep guys fresh. So, you just see a lot of different contributors on the defensive front.

“I think we’re in a much different place on the O-line than we were at this time last year with some of our depth and, I think, some of the improvements that we’ve made. So, we have a really good group, they’ve got a really good group. It should be a fun battle.”

On the other side of the ball, USC just struggled with Illinois’ run game, with the Fighting Illini amassing 4.9 yards per carry, rushing it effectively throughout the contest. Riley was asked how much his own defensive line has been challenged this week.

“We’re very transparent with all of our groups, all sides of the ball every single week,” he said. “So, I don’t know that it’s … it’s a constant one-week challenge every single week here. So, I don’t know that that changes a lot, but certainly the excitement to play in this game against a really good group, coming off the bye week and coming off a game where we weren’t as impactful as we expect to be there, our guys will be ready to play.”