Lincoln Riley, USC eager to get back on the field after bye week
USC was playing really well through the first three games of the season, before getting a bye last week. That’s likely why the Trojans are so anxious to get back on the field this weekend.
USC head coach Lincoln Riley joined Trojans Live on Monday and shared where he feels like his program is coming out of the bye.
“It was a good week,” Riley said. “I thought the guys did a good job with their approach. Bye weeks can go a few different ways, and then it comes down to, I think, the team’s approach during that time. Are you out there to get work done or are you just punching the clock and excited about having a few days off on the weekend and all of that? I thought our guys handled it well.”
USC is 3-0 entering Saturday’s matchup at Arizona State. The Trojans have scored at least 56 points in all three of their games, and the closest matchup was a 28-point win.
Riley and USC are favored by 35.5 points entering Saturday’s game with the Sun Devils, and Riley expects his team to continue to play well.
“We pushed them hard. We got after it practice wise, all the way up through Thursday. And then gave them Friday, Saturday, Sunday to get a chance to get away from it,” he said. “It was obviously great to get back on the field today. There were definitely some areas that we needed to get better at. There were some guys that needed to take advantage of the time to get healed up. But I think this team was very eager to get back on the field today. They’re ready to go play again.”
While USC has been very good so far this season, it hasn’t been tested away from home yet. That will change on Saturday as the game will be in Tempe.
Riley insists his team is ready to show what it can do on the road, not only this weekend, but the rest of the year. That includes a matchup next weekend with Shedeur Sanders, Deion Sanders and Colorado.
“Honestly, I think they’re excited to go play on the road,” Riley said. “We haven’t had a chance to do that yet. And they’re very much looking forward to that opportunity this week and over the next several weeks.”
USC also has a road matchup with Notre Dame in the next few weeks. That game could feature a pair of top 10 teams.