USC's Lincoln Riley fires back at Michigan's Sherrone Moore on stadium sellout comments

On Saturday, the No. 15 Michigan Wolverines and the USC Trojans will play in front of a sold out LA Coliseum in Southern California. It will be USC's first sellout of the season when the Wolverines come into town.

During his Monday press conference, Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore was asked by a reporter about how his players who are from California will handle returning to their home state. While answering that question, Moore said the reason the game is sold out is because the Wolverines are coming in.

"It’s sold out, but it’s sold out because Michigan’s coming," Moore said. "So we’re excited about the opportunity for guys to get to go back home and see family and be closer and friends, but not make it too much of a deal there."

Moore added that he isn't making too big of a deal as a team about players going to the state of California because the team is traveling to compete in a football game as opposed to being mesmerized by anything else.

"We’ll talk about a little bit as a team on guys going back to California, back in their home state, and the families there, but I don’t make it too much of a deal because at the end of the day, we’re going to somebody else’s place and we’re not celebrating going to the Coliseum. There are no pictures and selfies because we’re at the nice Coliseum," said Moore.

Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore fires up the student section during warm up ahead of the New Mexico game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, August 30, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

USC head coach Lincoln Riley was asked about Moore's comments during his weekly presser and told the media he isn't putting much thought or weight into Moore's comments.

"Yeah, I don’t really care what he says, said Riley. "We’re looking forward to playing.”

While USC's program is filled with plenty of rich history, the Trojans don't always fill all of the seats at the LA Coliseum during its home games and recently have only sold out games that feature traditional college football powers coming to Southern California.

Last season, USC's three sellouts came against Notre Dame, Penn State and Nebraska as the Trojans did not sell out their other three home games in the 77,500 seat stadium.

Given recent data and the fact that Michigan has a large alumni base in the Golden State, Moore is accurate in his assessment that Saturday night's sellout has a lot to do with the Wolverines coming to Southern California.

Tickets still remain for USC's remaining home games against Northwestern, Iowa and UCLA, further proving Moore's point.

The Wolverines and Trojans will kick off at 7:30 p.m. EST on NBC.

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