Lincoln Riley Addresses Controversy Of USC's Food Poisoning vs. Illinois

USC Trojans coach Lincoln Riley addressed the controversy surrounding the 34-32 last-second loss to Illinois in week 5. Multiple Trojans were dealing with food poisoning on the road trip, but Riley downplayed it saying "We're not an excuse program."

USC now has a bye week before they host the Michigan Wolverines. Here is everything Riley said on Tuesday night, including key injury updates and evaluation of quarterback Husan Longstreet and receiver Makai Lemon.

What Lincoln Riley Said

USC Trojans Lincoln Riley Injury Updates Illinois Fighting Illini Michigan Wolverines Bye Week Big Ten Killian O'Connor Bryan — Sep 13, 2025; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley stands on the sidelines during the first quarter against the Purdue Boilermakers at Ross-Ade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

Team’s Battle With Food Poisoning on Road Trip

“We had a few guys that didn’t feel well. Don’t know how in depth I want to get into it to be completely honest. We had a few guys that didn’t feel 100 percent, I’ll put it that way. It hit people kind of varying degrees, but it’s just part of road ball, man. No excuses. We’re not a excuse making program. Not going to start now…I don’t want to make it out like we had some widespread 50 people with food poisoning, that’s not what it is. We had a few people, few staff members that didn’t feel in tip-top shape but it is what it is. You got to deal with it.”

Killian O’Connor and Elijah Paige Injury Updates

“Killian will for sure miss these next two. I think a possibility to get him back after that. Everybody else is just kind of wait and see right now.”

J’Onre Reed Stepping In

“He did a pretty good job. He came in and operated us pretty well. It was good to get him some reps. It’s obviously great for us that we can bring in a second center and have a guy like that that’s played a lot of college football. He’s new to our place and a little new to our system, but he’s played a lot of ball. You could tell once he get in there. He made a couple of mistakes, but all in all we still moved the ball really well when he was in there.”

On Makai Lemon

“I don’t rank them while they play for me, but he’s playing good ball for us right now. His versatility and consistency really stands out to me in the way that he’s playing. He’s a guy that we feel like can do a lot of different things well on the field and that allows us to use him in different areas and be creative and try to get him in situations where we feel like the advantage is going to be ours. He’s improving. He works hard out here for his craft. Football is important to him and he just keeps getting better and better.”

Secondary’s Issues vs. Illinois

“The biggest problem with the secondary was the two explosive plays that they throw swing pass and a hitch route and they turn into massively explosive plays. We didn’t leverage the football properly on two plays and they made us pay. That’s the biggest takeaway. We had a few errors…We made some plays, we got beat a few times, but the biggest, we tackled. We had a lot of awesome individual tackle efforts.

Christian Pierce was off the charts again. He’s playing so well right now. You can’t take a team like that (Illinois) and allow a hitch route and swing pass to go the distance that they did….You take those two off of it and it’s going to be really tough for them to beat us.

But that’s part of playing in that position. There’s nothing else behind you…Those little things really show up big…You don’t do it right in the secondary and the whole stadium is going to see it. We got to be better fundamentally in our tackling and leveraging the football.”

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Confidence in Secondary Moving Forward

“Confidence is built through preparation and going out there and performing. You can’t fake that. We’re doing enough good things that it should show up an there should be confidence from that. But if we keep making some of the mistakes we’ve made; whether it’s a busted coverage or not leveraging the football, those are controllable on us.

Other people aren’t even having to make plays that way…It’s controllable, you got to come out here and do it. We’ve got to put in the work and preparation. The results have got to show out there on the field. We have good players in that room…We need to go put it together and play a complete game.”

Defensive Line Takes A Step Back vs. Illinois

“We weren’t as good. I thought at times we played a little bit more undisciplined. It was a little bit different style of game. I thought it took our guys a little bit to adjust…Some of it was in the nature the way they called the game. You’re not every game going to have the chance to have seven or eight sacks…We had some really bright moments, but also I didn’t feel like we consistently impacted the game the way we have in the first few…We got to start faster…For us to play well, we definitely need to be better there.”

On Husan Longstreet

“He’s just a backup quarterback. He’s busted his tail and we got a lot of confidence that when he goes in that he’s going to be able to operate our offense and make plays and do what he does out here on the practice field. When you become the backup quarterback, that’s not an easy job either. I know a lot of people focus on the starter, but a place like USC it’s not easy to do that. Especially for a young guy. He’s improving quickly and I got a lot of confidence in him no matter what way he goes in the game.”

Bryan Jackson Injury Update

“We certainly don’t feel like we’ve lost him for the season, but I couldn’t sit here and say that he’s for sure going to be available in the next couple weeks.”