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Everything USC coach Lincoln Riley said after losing to Notre Dame football

IMG_9992by: Tyler Horka10/19/25tbhorka
riley
Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley talks to an official during the first half against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Notre Dame Stadium. (Photo by Michael Caterina-Imagn Images)

Lincoln Riley has gotten used to talking to the media after a loss to Notre Dame. Saturday in South Bend, he had to do it for the third consecutive season following a 34-24 Fighting Irish victory over his Trojans.

Here’s everything Riley said about it.

Opening statement

“All right, disappointing football game. Guys fought their tails off, had our opportunities but just didn’t, we just flat out didn’t play good enough. I mean, we made some really good plays on all sides but to have some of the missed opportunities on all sides, obviously we did not stop the run well enough defensively.

“Offensively, didn’t run it good enough and obviously missed some just golden opportunities. The kickoff return obviously was a huge, huge play in the game after we had taken the lead and got the two point conversion and had a lot of momentum there in the stadium in the second half. And you just can’t do that against a good football team.

“And so we just, we have to own it. We just flat out did not play good enough tonight against a good team on the road and had some missed opportunities that make you sick right now. So we’ll own it, obviously get into this bye week and then jump back into the Big Ten Conference where we’ve worked our ass off to put ourselves in a great position like we are now.

“And so that’ll be the challenge of this team is to handle this, to learn from it. And we just, we flat out have to be better. And we got some really cool opportunities in front of us here, again, with the way that we’ve positioned ourself in this conference. So we’ll get on the bye week, get some work in, obviously get some of these guys back healthy and get ready for the stretch run.”

On the reverse wide receiver pass USC ran on fourth and short near midfield resulting in a Notre Dame turnover

“It’s a stupid call. Stupid call.”

On USC’s struggles defending Notre Dame’s running game

“You know, it was a little different than Illinois. I didn’t feel like it was a battle. Kind of a lot of stalemates at the line of scrimmage, kind of from what I can see. I haven’t obviously sat and watched the entire tape. But we, I thought especially, we give up the big one. We don’t stunt to the correct gap on the corner blitz on a very base call for us. And you give a good player like [Jeremiyah] Love a huge run, that wasn’t a good start to it.

“And I just thought we, I thought we just overcompensated and at times panicked a little bit. Where at times I thought in the Illinois game when we didn’t defend the run either, we got moved too much. And this game, again, from the sideline, there was a lot of stalemates, but we had a lot of guys not stunting into correct gaps or not fitting into correct gaps. And again, against two really good backs like that, they’re going to make you pay. We didn’t do a good enough job with the ends, setting edges. And so the execution there was just not good enough.”

On USC wide receiver Tanook Hines

“Yeah, I mean, he made some big plays for a young guy in a big environment and obviously challenging conditions and all that. So we got a lot of confidence in him. He did some good things tonight.”

On the weather conditions

“They were a little more of a factor in the second half. I mean, obviously, I think everybody could see that. And so you still gotta be able to run the ball, to hang on to the ball, finish plays. I mean, the conditions are what they are at the end of the day. We all got to play in them. And so it’s just the hand that we were all dealt tonight.”

On USC’s other failed fourth down conversion

“We had an option right there to sneak it or to pop it out. And we got to make decisions right there at the end, and give them credit. They defended it well. Like I said, I had the reverse pass and two fourth down calls that weren’t very good calls and didn’t put our guys in very good position. So I got to be way better for our guys.”

ON USC not being ablew to run vs. Notre Dame

“Yeah, yeah. We just, we weren’t as clean. We didn’t, I didn’t feel like we did as good a job running through some of the tackles. We obviously got it going a little bit better there at the end of the half and then some of the second half and had some good runs. It was tough, too, because we were making a lot of explosive plays and had some, I thought, really favorable matchups in the throw game.

“It was a disappointing performance in terms overall of us running the ball. Had some good moments but not to the level that we’d been running it.”

On the future of USC vs. Notre Dame being in doubt

“I don’t worry too much about the future. Just kind of in the moment right now and every game means a whole hell of a lot to us. And so when you don’t win, it hurts, especially with as hard as this team’s prepared. So yeah, there’s a lot of uncertainty about a lot of things in the future. So I just don’t spend much time thinking about that.”

On not stopping Notre Dame’s running game after stopping Michigan’s the week before

“Yeah, our inconsistencies there are disappointing because we’ve seen, obviously you all, we all have seen, when we’re playing really well there and when we’re closing space. But again, you’ve got to do the things that really good run defenses do. Obviously you got to, the line of scrimmage, the battle there is important, but you have got to stay in correct gaps. You have to play off one another and you have to set edges. It doesn’t matter what defense you run. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing. It doesn’t matter the schemes on either side. You have to do those well, especially against a really talented backfield like they obviously have.”

On USC having no margin for error in the CFP race now

“I told them, I mean, shoot, team that won this trophy sat there and they were actually in their home stadium, I think, but after a rivalry game, really disappointed, probably thinking they didn’t play their best game and look what happened. So in this, this kind of new age, new playoff era of college football with all the parity right now, I mean, anything’s possible. Anything’s possible.

“And we’ve only really seen one year of this thing. So, I mean, there’s more possible and probably even than we even think. And with the record we have in the Big Ten right now and as strong as the league is right now and the opportunities that we have upcoming, we ain’t got no time to hold our heads. Like, like we got a good team in there. I know we have a good team in there. So I’m excited to get back to work with these guys here, with the guys in that locker room.

“I feel like we didn’t play our best game on all three sides tonight and still had a golden opportunity to win the football game. So we control what we can control, which is all of our sides playing better, us coaching better, we’ll be pretty tough to beat here down the stretch.”

On USC’s bye week objectives

“We want to spend some time with the staff and obviously kind of, again, look at it from a whole. It’s not ever just about one game. And so, yeah, I mean, this is our last bye week. We got a handful of guys that we definitely need to get healthy and freshened up. It’s been a heavy stretch right now. And then obviously there’ll be plenty of things to attack to get better at for the Big Ten run.”