What Lincoln Riley said following No. 6 Oregon's win over USC

USC head coach Lincoln Riley met with reporters for approximately 11 minutes following Oregon’s 36-27 win over the Trojans in Eugene on Saturday.

Here is a full transcript of everything he said during his post-game press conference.

OPENING STATEMENT

“Tough loss tonight. The guys really battled, put ourselves in a couple of holes and were able to make a run there both at the end of the first half and there at the end of the game but just didn’t quite play clean enough. Thought the guys really fought. We had many guys banged up, many guys coming in and out of the game. We gave ourselves some opportunities, just a few in the first half, just a few in the second half. They were right there, and that’s kind of been the tale the second half of the season. We just haven’t quite been good enough. We haven’t quite made enough of the key plays and we missed a few key moments to be able to handle these games. We knew we were facing a good opponent here tonight that’s got a lot of momentum and we knew coming into this that we’re going to have to play a little bit more clean and probably fight. I know everybody’s frusturated because we’ve been that close to winning all these games. So we’ve got one left in front of us, which is an important game for a lot of reasons; senior day at the Coliseum playing against one of our rivals, obviously being a very important game for our locker room. Our guys will be ready to go, prepared to give one last shot here for the end of the season.”

Q. On performance this year compared to last year…

“We were the team sitting in the conference championship last year and beet everybody other than Utah. Tonight they were a deeper football team. I thought tonight they played better on the lines of scrimmage than we did. We threw some good shots in there but there are still some depth issues that showed up in there. They are probably a deeper roster than us right now, but also a much healthier roster than we are right now too. I think that calmed down a little bit yeah, we’re gonna continue looking big picture, gotta continue to make games, we know that. We are continuing to address some of the areas in the program and within the roster that we’ve got to get better. We realize that, it’s kind of been the theme the last several weeks is that we’re not that far off. I mean, we’re not and we got work to do, but that’s kind of big picture right now. We got a big game coming up here against UCLA and we need to be ready to go.”

Q. On moving on without conference title hopes… 

“We have one more shot in the Coliseum. We’ve got one more chance to play UCLA, and that’s a big rivalry for us. I think from the locker room, these guys have gone through a lot this year. They have hung in there and they’ve kept swinging. There is a lot of unity in this locker room, and I think they very much appreciate one last chance to play the game together, and that’s what you do. It’s a first game that we’ve played here at USC where we’re out of a championship race. You don’t intend on playing any more like this, but games like this show the character of the progam, so that’s what we get a chance to go put on display.”

Q. On developing talent within the program…

“There is a crazy emphasis on growing here right now. We don’t turn all that over kind of from where this thing was, almost to be on the most on the offensive and defensive lines, it’s not going to happen. I think we’ve improved in a lot of areas, we’ve done a lot of great things in the two years here. Obviously that’s an area that force has to continue to perform. A lot of times for championship level football, that’s the separating factor and we know that. There’s been a heavy emphasis on it. That’s why we won the amount of games that we won in the two years that we’ve been here. But of course does it need to get better? Hell yeah. Are we gonna get better? Hell yeah.”

Q. On changes following defensive staff changes… 

The guys have played hard defensively. We had some key stops there. I mean you’ve got guys playing in there that are probably about 70% right now, and that’s just kind of what you had. So I thought the coaches did a good job rallying the guys. They fought all night. It’s admittedly not the easiest situation, but I wouldn’t change anything about how our guys handled it. I thought the defensive staff, with the adjustments, did everything that needed to be done.” 

Q. On giving up big plays… 

“Part of our goal was to be able to slow down the game, and we were able to do that at times. But to give up those two big plays, I think one of them was on third and long, and then we had the offsides and we stopped on the fourth and one. Those were monster plays, and again when you play a really good football team like we’ve played here the last several weeks, those are the margins. That’s the difference. Last year we made a few more of those than it feels like we have this year. We’ve just had a few too many key breakdowns that have made a lot of these games close and then play here and there. That’s obviously a gap that we’ve got to make up and that’s kind of been the story of the second half of this season.” 

Q: On performance this year compared to last year… 

“You know we love the group of guys that you work with, the guys that you coach with here. I knew last year that there were a lot of close games and a lot of moments that we found the way to win, one way or another. This year has kind of been the same. Honestly, we probably played a little bit tougher schedule this year. This nine game stretch has been a bear. We’ve just made a few less key plays at opportune times as a football team. That’s the margins when you play in a really good league and play really good competiton. That’s just what is is. Obviously, the better that you get, the more that we go on, the more we build this roster, you’re probably going to be in less games, or playing games here or there. In the meantime, you’ve got to win as many of them as you can. The reality is we have not won enough of them here.”

Q. On playing clean late in the season…

“We’ve had our ups and downs and obviously we made a change defensively because that wasn’t getting where we needed to end. That’s obviously a good point to all sides, it kind of put pressure on each other. We haven’t been able to surge too often and sometimes it’s a balancing of all, sometimes it’s a call, sometimes it’s officiating, sometimes it’s a player error, sometimes it’s a coach error. I don’t know I can point to one thing, like it’s only been that. That’s what makes it so tough. The flip side of it is that there was a lot of good to put yourself in a position to be good team and to beat a really good team like Washington, or a good team like tonight. You have to do a lot of good things to have a chance to win those games too, we have and that’s the tough part to swallow.”

Q. On the two point conversion decision in the fourth quarter… 

“It could have gone either way. You’re going to have to go forward and at one point or another, and the good part about going forward early is it defines what you need to do in terms of the onside kick and all of that.  We had a call that we liked and just didn’t quite execute.”