Saturday Can't Get Here Soon Enough for Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans
It’s tough to tell whether USC fans or players are more excited for Saturday’s season-opener at the Coliseum against Rice. But head coach Lincoln Riley made a strong case for the team during his appearance on the Trojans Live radio show Monday evening.
Riley said the team went to the Coliseum this past Friday to do a game day walk-through and simulation.
“We were ready to play then,” Riley said. “It can not get here soon enough.”
Riley said this week is the “longest week of the year” for a USC team that has been building toward this season-opener for months.
The turnover from last season is incredible. To go along with the new coaching staff, the Trojans added 20 players out of the transfer portal. There will be new faces everywhere on Saturday, including starting quarterback Caleb Williams. It isn’t just Trojan fans who are wondering what this first game under Riley will look like.
“Saturday will be so interesting,” Riley said. “There’s so much new.”
Riley said the build-up to this week has been good. And that goes all the way back to when Riley arrived and began this turnaround.
“I’ve loved how they’ve responded to the challenges that we’ve continually put in front of them,” Riley said. “We’re going to have to continue to improve as the season goes on. There’s no question about that. You always do. But I’m excited about what I’ve seen on the field. I’m excited about the way they’ve come together, the way they interact with each other, compete with each other.”
USC coaches and players spoke all offseason about how well this group has come together despite so many new additions.
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“Certainly excited to see how much we’ll trust all of that on Saturday,” Riley said. “All the new. The coaching, the schemes, the fundamentals, each other, the mentality. You get out there in that arena and it feels a little bit different. And so, if we can continue to do what we’ve done in the weeks leading up and trust it, then it’ll be a fun Saturday.”
One Final Week of Build-up Before the 2022 USC Opener
Riley said this fall that the Trojans had a very physical camp but won’t take their foot off the pedal when the season starts. They plan to treat this season as though they are playing three games a week. Riley wants the Tuesday and Wednesday practices to be as physical and competitive as the Saturday games.
“Tuesday and Wednesday is a game to us,” he said. “We’re going to hit, we’re going to tackle, we’re going to play very physical on both sides. We’re going to have a lot of competitive periods…We always get in a lot of good-on-good work during those days. I think you have to have it.”
Thursday and Friday then become “a little bit more mental” according to Riley.
The key for us is you don’t save up for the game,” Riley said. “You’re doing everything you can to get your body ready to practice on Tuesday, and get your body ready to practice on Wednesday. And then there’s going to be a time where you let these bodies heal, you let them get their legs back underneath them. You continue the mental preparation and you go get ready to let it all loose on Saturday.”
