Lincoln Riley assesses USC's play against Arizona State: The first half 'wasn't quite us'

Lincoln Riley’s USC Trojans have reached the 5-0 mark after their win Saturday night against Arizona State. As one of the few remaining undefeated teams, though, they didn’t necessarily bring their A game against the Sun Devils. Riley realizes that and says they have a lot to still improve moving forward.

Riley broke down where he felt his team came short during media following the 42-25 victory. He said he just thought the first half wasn’t a true reflection of his team but was happy to see them play like themselves after halftime.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

“We challenged the guys. We didn’t play, just overall in the first half, the way we needed to…It just wasn’t quite us, wasn’t quite the edge that we’re used to playing with and that we expect to play with,” said Riley. “I thought our guys responded well in the third quarter and made some key plays when it mattered to get away and win the game.”

The Trojan offense scored 21 points in each half. They had some miscues, but it was the USC defense that took it up a notch in the second half. After allowing 17 in the first two quarters, they allowed just eight the rest of the way.

The Sun Devils are a competitive Pac-12 team but are nowhere near the top of the conference after their early season struggles. That means better teams are coming down the line for USC. If his team is to remain undefeated, Riley realizes that they have a few more things to iron out beforehand.

“Lots to improve on, no question about it. We’re gonna have to build and have to play a lot better,” Riley said. “We got some good opponents coming up (so) we’re going to certainly need to improve. That’s obviously the goal so we’ll keep improving.”

It’s hard to find too much wrong amidst a double-digit home win. However, USC has higher aspirations than success in the Pac-12. As the No. 6 team in the nation, they have goals to be in the College Football Playoff. In order to reach that level, they’ll need to clean up some of the mistakes and slow starts that won’t fly against better competition.