Lincoln Riley Unconcerned About Caleb Williams' Performance Against Oregon State
USC quarterback Caleb Williams had the worst statistical game of his short USC career this past weekend. But Trojans’ head coach Lincoln Riley wasn’t concerned at all when he spoke to media following Tuesday’s USC practice.
“Just had one of those nights,” Riley said. “Just wasn’t at his best, throwing-wise.”
Williams finished the game 16-for-36 passing for 180 yards and a touchdown. He did rush for 27 yards, including a huge fourth-down scramble during USC’s game-winning touchdown drive.
The 20 incompletions were just two fewer than he’d thrown in the first three games of the season, combined. That rate was going to be nearly impossible to keep up all season. But USC’s passing game was clearly out of sorts against Oregon State.
Riley said incompletions and a stagnant passing game are usually placed at the feet and on the arm of the quarterback. But things aren’t always that simple.
“Everybody thinks about, well throwing is like the quarterback and a physical thing,” Riley said. “If any of these things are out of sync, they can look a little bit off. Protections out of sync, a route’s a little bit out of sync. Footwork, bad preparation, bad coaching. Anything can make it look a little bit off. And we had instances of all of those. When you do that, the offense is just going to be a tick off. And when you’re a tick off against a good defense, that can look like it did the other night.”
Now that Oregon State has shown this passing game can be at least disrupted a bit, other teams will almost certainly look to emulate the Beavers with disguised zone coverage and strong secondary play. But Riley said there won’t need to be too many adjustments from the Trojans.
“I think just refocusing us on operating the way we need to, coaching better and playing better,” Riley said. “I know it sounds kind of boring, but it’s the truth. We need to coach better, we need to prep our guys better, we need to play better and play more precise. And I think we will this Saturday.”
A Strong Finish from Caleb Williams
Riley compared Williams’ performance to a baseball pitcher who can run into night where he just doesn’t have his best stuff.
“He’s as gifted as they come,” Riley said of Williams. “You’re going to have days like that.”
Riley said there were a few mechanical issues to address, but he added that’s something that comes out of every game, even one with a 90% completion rate. In the end, Riley liked how Williams settled himself and finished the game.
“I think he’s settled back in,” Riley said. “He did a good job resetting and made some big-boy throws when he had to.”
Leading up to USC’s final touchdown of the game — a 21-yard strike from Williams to Jordan Addison along the sideline — Williams had been 0-for-7 on throws that traveled 15 yards or more downfield. He finished 1-for-8, and that one was huge.
“That last throw was…there ain’t five dues in the country that make that throw, especially in that moment,” Riley said. “He’ll be fine.”
