Everything USC coach Lincoln Riley said after losing to Notre Dame football

Lincoln Riley fell to 1-2 as the head coach at USC against Notre Dame with Saturday’s 49-35 final at the L.A. Coliseum. This is everything the man in charge of the Trojans (6-6) said about the No. 5 Fighting Irish (11-1) after the game.

Opening statement

“Just an excruciating loss. Really tough there at the end, just standing in here as all the guys came through, watching great Trojans like this guy right here (Jaylin Smith) come up that tunnel for the last time. There’s been so many guys here that have I think paved the way. They have invested in this program, they’ve shared in our journey to continue to build this thing, and I’m proud to have coached them, proud to have had these guys throughout this journey.

“It’s kind of a mixture of guys like Jaylin that have been here for a long time and some guys that chose to come end their careers here with us, but the appreciation for them is long-reaching. I told them in the locker room, as things go on and climbs and climbs, they’ve always got to look back on it and know that they were a part of it. And they were, it’s true.

“So appreciative, man. I’ve been appreciative to coach this team through this regular season. It’s been a really fun team to coach. We battled today like we have all year. We just didn’t play good enough obviously in the second half. Gave ourselves some chances right there at the end and tried to stay aggressive. And obviously some plays just didn’t go our way.

“But give credit to Notre Dame. It’s a good football team. It was a good football game. Proud of this team. We’ll regroup here, obviously get our bowl assignment, get into some of the development with our young guys and get ready here for the final game of the season.”

On if USC is heading in the right direction

“Yeah, this game finished what 20 minutes ago. So we’ve got time to go here. I know there’s time for that and I get to answer all those, that’s part of being the head coach and I don’t shy away from it, but this is about this team and this moment, these guys that played their last game here at the Coliseum.

“I could sit up here for an hour and talk about the things I know are happening within this program. I could rattle off all the stats, I could show you facilities, I could show you recruiting, I could show you the staff, I could go on about that for an hour. I just don’t think it’s the appropriate time right now.”

On Notre Dame corner Christian Gray’s pick six

“I have to see on tape. It obviously turned over so quickly because we had the ball back right away, needed to go down and score again. We checked into a play, we tried to be aggressive all night. Jayden [Maiava] gave our guys chances to make a lot of one-on-one plays. Yeah, it looked like we weren’t quite on the same page, and the corner got his eyes back and made a nice play on the ball.”

On the USC running game after Woody Marks left the game

“I thought Quinten [Joyner] and Bryan [Jackson] came in and did some really good things, so I mean I don’t feel like we were like, ‘Oh no, Woody’s not there, all of a sudden we can’t do these things.’ But, listen, Woody’s been our best offensive player this year. So to sit here and say that losing him didn’t affect it, it affected it some, but I thought our backs came in and still had some really big plays. But you never really want to lose a guy like that.”

On USC’s defense vs. the Notre Dame offense

“Yeah, I thought we hung in there and made some big plays in the first half. Obviously had the two turnovers, which at the time were massive. But we just didn’t do a good enough job against the run, period. That to me was kind of the story of the day. We didn’t defend the run as well as we have been, and I thought that made them pretty multi-dimensional.

“And then we had a couple opportunities to make some competitive plays both defensively and offensively there in the second half, and they made a few more of them than we did. We made obviously massive, massive progress defensively in every way that you can measure it, but certainly today wasn’t our best.”

On his message to USC players after this loss to Notre Dame and if it’s as much about life as it is about football

“Yeah, you do. You’ve got a big responsibility here. These are transformational years for these guys. These guys go through a lot on a very public stage. They put their heart and soul on the line, and my message to them is that this team has put their heart and soul on the line. Anybody that has watched us play, you cannot deny that. And to go through emotionally what we have and still continue to do it, like, you can’t question this football team.

“There’s times we could have played better, sure. There’s times we could have coached better, yeah. Did we miss some opportunities? Yes, we did. But we laid it on the line every single week, and my message to the guys was, ‘You continue to do that in your life, you continue to do that in this football program, the things you want will come.’ And that they needed to walk out of that locker room with their heads held high.

“If you quit, if you give in, if you crack, if you fall apart, then you ought to walk out of that locker room with your head down. This team has no reason to put their head down. I’m proud to coach this team. I’m very, very proud to coach them.”

On why things didn’t pan out for USC this season

“Well, I think No. 1, I think there’s some really strong leadership in this program. We’ve got some really high-quality individuals. I think this program means a lot to the people in our locker room, that the challenge of building and bringing this thing back with all that’s changed and continues to change, I think this group really cared about one another. I think they really didn’t want to let each other down, all sides of the ball.

“The coaching staff, I mean, you coach long enough, you’re going to be part of teams at times that don’t win some games or you go through some tough moments, and the majority of the time that I’ve been through that, at some point there’s some finger-pointing, there’s some dissension, like there’s something as a head coach that either I had to do as a head coach or I watched other head coaches do when I wasn’t a head coach, like they gotta go get in between that or stop it. Like, that never happened with this football team. Not one time.

“That’s why I knew every week we were going to show back up and we were going to keep rolling and I knew we’d have a chance to make a run here at the end. Obviously, we really wanted to get all three of these, so I think it speaks to what we’re building, speaks to the quality of the individuals in that room, and you’ve got to first learn how to fight and learn how to scrap as a program. I think this team did that and we’ll continue to grow from it. We’re going to get better, but it’s one hell of a place to start”

On USC quarterback Jayden Maiava

“He’s done a good job. You know, it’s not an easy situation to go into, especially when you’re playing three good programs, three pretty good defenses. There wasn’t a gimme on that schedule. Especially the way he played today, that’s the best we’ve played offensively all year. That’s a really good defense that we did some pretty good things against, so I thought he stepped up, played some really good. I was impressed how he handled the whole way and how he handled our team in terms of being a leader, being a steadying presence. That’s what that position has to do, and I thought he answered the call.”

On if Notre Dame can make a run in the College Football Playoff

“Yeah, it’s a good football team. I think it’s — the teams we’ve played against here the first two years, it’s probably the most complete Notre Dame team that we’ve played. It’s probably the best offensive team that they’ve had, in my opinion, in the last couple years. So yeah, they’ve done a good job. I know there’s a lot of other good teams out there, but I give them credit. They did a really nice job. We’ll see what happens.”