Lincoln Riley quotes after USC's 36-27 loss to Oregon

Here’s what USC head coach Lincoln Riley had to say following the Trojans’ 36-27 road loss to the Oregon Ducks.

Riley Opening Statement

“Tough loss night. Thought 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. Really battled. Thought the guys really fought. I don’t know if I’ve ever played in a game or coached in a game where we had as many guys banged up, as many guys coming in and out of the game. It’s kind of even difficult to practice, especially defensively in the secondary, was certainly a challenge. We had some guys battling and probably some guys — not from a safety standpoint, but probably shouldn’t have been playing just in terms of their ability to help and we just really didn’t have anybody else. And so guys stepped up and I’m really proud of those guys.

Gave ourselves some opportunities. Missed a few in the first half. Missed a few of the second half that were right there. That’s going to be the tale of this second half of the season for us. We just haven’t quite been good enough. We haven’t quite made enough of the key plays. And we’ve missed a few key moments to be able to win some of these games And we knew, good opponent here tonight, it’s got a lot of momentum. And we knew coming in that we were gonna hve to play a little bit more clean. Like I said, we’re proud of the fight. I know everybody’s frustrated, just because we’ve been that close to winning all these games. And so we’ve got one month in front of us, which is an important game for a lot of reasons: Senior Day, at home in the Coliseum, playing against one of our rivals. Obviously, it will be a very important game to our locker room. And our guys will be ready to go prepare to give it one last shot here at the end of the regular season.”

Riley on the gap between Oregon and USC in speed and physicality

“There’s each year. We were the team sitting in the conference championship game last year and beating everybody in the league 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 we’re still — certainly some depth issues that showed up. And they’re probably a deeper roster than us right now. They’re also a much healthier roster than we are right now, too. So I think that compounde a little bit. But we’ve got to continue, looking bigger picture, gotta continue to make gaines. We know that. We’ve got to continue to address some of the areas within the program, within the roster that have got to get better. We realized that. But, kind of been the theme of the last several weeks is we’re not that far off. I mean, we’re not. We’ve got to work to do. But that’s kind of big picture right now. We’ve got a big game coming up here against UCLA and I know how important that is and we need to be ready for it.”

On the message with USC now out of the Pac-12 race

“I think what I just said. We’ve got one chance here in the regular season to go play together. We’ve got one more shot in the Coliseum. We’ve got one more chance to play UCLA, longtime historical rival. And I think just for the locker room, these guys have gone through a lot this year. They have hung in there. They’ve kept swinging. There’s a lot of unity in this locker room. And I think they will very much appreciate and cherish one of their last times to play the game together. And that’s what you do. It’s the first game that we’ve played here and USC where you’re out of a championship race. We don’t intend on playing many more like this. But games like this show the character of the program and the character of the people in it. And so we get a chance to go put it on display here Saturday.”

Riley on building the offensive and defensive lines

“It’s a climb. There’s a crazy emphasis on building it right now. But you know, you don’t turn all that over coming from where this thing was, to all of a sudden being the most elite team on the offensive and defensive line. It’s not going to happen that fast. I think we’ve improved in a lot of areas. We’ve done a lot of great things in the two years here. But obviously, that’s an area that’s that of course has to continue to improve. That’s a lot of times in championship-level football, that’s the that’s the separating factor. We know that. There’s been a heavy emphasis on it. That’s why we’ve won the amount of games that we’ve won in the two years that we’ve been here. But of course, does need to get better? Hell yeah. Is it gonna get better? Hell Yeah.

On what the defense could fix in one week

“I thought the staff did a good job. Guys played hard defensively. We got some key stops there. The first two long ones that get out. I mean, again, you got guys playing in there that are probably about 70% right now. And that’s just kind of what you had. And so I thought the coaches did a good job rallying the guys. Guys fought all night. It’s admittedly not the easiest of situations, but I wouldn’t have changed anything about our guys handled it.”

Riley on giving up big plays early in the game

“That was tough. 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, because I think one of them was on a third and long. And then we had the offsides where we stopped them on a fourth-and-one, those are monster plays. But again, when you play really good football teams, like we’ve played here in 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 that we have this year. We just have a few too many key breakouts that have made a lot of these games close and they’re one play here or there. That’s obviously the gap that we’ve got to make up. And that’s kind of been the story of the second half of the season for us.

On dealing with this season as a follow up to last year

“It’s tough because you 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 a way to win, that could have gone one way or another. This year it’s kind of been the same, honestly. We’ve probably played a little bit tougher schedule this year. This nine-game stretch has been has been a bear. And then we’ve just made a few less key plays at opportune times as a football team. But that’s the margins when you play in a really good league and you play really good compensation. That’s just that’s what it is. And obviously, the better that you get, the more that we go on, the more we build this roster, you’re probably going to be at less games that are one play games here or there. But in the meantime, you’ve got to win as many of them as you can. And the reality is we have not won enough of them here in this last stretch.”

On still not playing a clean game this late in the season

“You know, we’ve had our ups and downs. I mean, obviously, we made a change defensively because that wasn’t headed where we need it to head. You can point to all sides. We kind of put pressure on each other. And we haven’t been able to surge too often together. Sometimes it’s a bounce of the ball. Sometimes it’s a call. Sometimes it’s officiating. Sometimes it’s a player error. Sometimes it’s a coaching error. It’s just been, I don’t know that I can point to one thing and say it’s only been that. That’s what makes it so tough is because the flip side of it is there is a lot of good to put yourself in position to beat a good team like Utah, to put yourself in position 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 is we haven’t gotten over the hump. That’s, that’s obviously what you’re defined on and we haven’t done a good enough job.”

Riley on going for two points trailing by nine late in the game

“Could have gone either way. You’re gonna have to go for it at one point or another and the good thing about going for it early is that defines what you need to do in terms of the onside kick and all. So, had a call that we liked. Just didn’t quite execute it.”