USC head coach Lincoln Riley didn’t mince words after his Trojans scrapped out a 25-21 victory over Washington Saturday evening at the Coliseum, improving their season record to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in Big Ten play. While hyped about the win, Riley was clear: there’s still a ton to clean up.
Penalties Almost Tanked the Whole Thing, Riley Says
Riley was quick to praise his guys for a “hard fought win,” buzzing about the “steps we took” and the “clutch plays we made.” The defense, he said, “just kept answering the bell all night.” But for long stretches, the game felt like USC was fighting themselves as much as Washington. Riley flat out called the penalties “just massive.”
“It felt like for a long period of the game we were really outplaying them,” Riley explained. “But when you make some of those mistakes, you just kind of let them keep hanging around, and we just had missed opportunities that were penalty after penalty. So, we clearly have to do a way better job on that.” He pointed to “alignment penalties” and “a couple dead ball personal fouls, at the worst times possible.” Despite that self-inflicted damage, overcoming it all to grab a win against a “quality Big Ten opponent” was something Riley said they’d “take it.”
That Comeback Mentality and the D-Line Power
Trailing 21-10 in the third quarter? Most teams start to unravel. But Riley said his team stayed “pretty steady at half,” even when they “couldn’t get out of our own way.” He loved that defining mindset. “I am proud though that we never wavered. I felt like the guys didn’t waver, the coaches didn’t waver. We made the adjustments that we needed to. We didn’t get into the poor us. We caused a penalty here, or should have this been called there? We just kind of had a whatever it’s going to take attitude, and that’s what it took.”
A huge part of that comeback attitude came from the defense, especially up front. Riley highlighted his defensive line, calling them “the tip of the spear.” He stressed the “massive emphasis in every way possible to make our D line as good as we can,” and now they expect “a big time performance out of that group every week. They’re good enough to do it. That’s our mentality, and if they’re going to be the tip of the spear, then they have to bring it every single week. And they did tonight.” Their pass rush “largely affected the game against a guy that’s challenging because if you rush him too much, you can open up lanes, and he can make you pay. But if you don’t, then he can just sit back there. So I thought we did a pretty nice job finding the balance.”
Team Bond and the Road Ahead
More than just the on-field plays, Riley gushed about the squad’s internal chemistry. “I think this team has a real love for each other. They have a real desire to be great. They’re not hard to coach. They came ready. I loved our mentality.” He recounted a “heartbreaking loss” the previous Saturday where they felt they “should have won,” but then “came back Sunday and they were energized and ready to go Sunday night. Really were throughout the week.”
That belief is why Riley is so invested. “I believe a lot in this team. I believe a lot in the capability, and that just pushes me to want to do everything I can to get these guys ready to play to prepare them. Because, like I told you guys last week, win or lose, coming to sit here, I know we have a good team in there, and I just want to help these guys. I want to help these guys feel that.”
Moving forward, Riley feels this hard-fought victory will propel them. “I think this team will take a lot of momentum into this next game. This will be a big game for us, a big oppor.” It’s clear they’re riding a wave of confidence and grit after overcoming their own mistakes to pull off a crucial Big Ten win.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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