Lincoln Riley addresses reports of widespread food poisoning inside USC program

Coming out of the loss to Illinois, it was reported that the USC Trojans were dealing with a bout of food poisoning that affected the players and staff. However, when head coach Lincoln Riley addressed those rumors, he downplayed how dire the situation was.

In the week following the game, Riley admitted that some players were dealing with food poisoning. However, that’s not an excuse he wanted to use.

“We had a few guys that didn’t feel well,” Lincoln Riley said. “I don’t know how in-depth I want to get into it, to be honest. We had a few guys that didn’t feel 100 percent. I’ll put it that way. It hit people in varying degrees. It’s just part of road ball. It’s part of road ball. There are no excuses. We’re not an excuse-making program, and we’re not going to start now.”

The reality for USC is that some players were forced to play while still dealing with symptoms. That doesn’t mean everyone was incredibly ill, but that they weren’t at their best. That then became a challenge to navigate.

“There was a few guys. Again, we had people that had varying symptoms, but there was a few people that didn’t feel their best… Just a few people,” Riley said. “I don’t want to make it out like we had some widespread thing where it was 50 people with food poisoning. That’s not what it is. We had a few people and a few staff members that didn’t feel in tip-top shape. It is what it is. You’ve got to deal with it.”

Lincoln Riley does need his team as healthy as possible now as the Trojans are in the midst of one of their toughest stretches of the season. Coming off the road loss to Illinois, USC is on a bye week to give them time to prepare for a home game against Michigan. After that, they’ll be on the road again to take on rival Notre Dame.

Certainly, for Riley, there is still plenty to work on on the field too. That includes getting healthy. Analyst Joel Klatt recently noted that injuries seemed to take their toll in the Illinois loss.

“Then, you show up to a game and there’s just a ton of injuries. Kamari Ramsey, out at safety and he’s their best defensive back. Sure enough, they didn’t play well in the secondary. Elijah Paige can’t go at left tackle. Then you lose Kilian O’Connor at center and you’re down two offensive linemen. It becomes a different game. That team that I saw on film, I largely didn’t see on the field on Saturday,” Klatt said. “In part because the style of game that played out. It started being a throw game, rather than a run game for them. They’re better when they can be balance.”

Luckily for Lincoln Riley and the Trojans, they do have that bye week. Hopefully, they’ll be able to use that to get healthy, whether that’s recovering from injuries or food poisoning.