USC Fans Might Be Surprised by Lincoln Riley’s Post-Game Message

The USC Trojans were handed their second loss of the season when they fell to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this past weekend. Despite the disappointing loss, USC coach Lincoln Riley expressed a strong belief in his guys ahead of final stretch.

Aug 30, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley watches from the sidelines against the Missouri State Bears in the first half at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The USC Trojans suffered another disappointing loss over the weekend when they fell to No. 12 Notre Dame under the heavy rain in South Bend. 

USC dropped to 5-2 and fell out of the AP Poll. The Trojans will have their second bye week of the season, before they enter this final stretch. 

“The opportunities we have upcoming, we got no time to hold our heads,” said USC coach Lincoln Riley after the game. “We got a good team in there, I know that have a good team in there.”

Looking Ahead to Crucial Stretch 

Aug 30, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley watches from the sidelines against the Missouri State Bears in the first half at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Riley is correct. There is no time to dwell on this recent loss with crucial games on the horizon such as Nebraska, Iowa and Oregon in the month of November.  

“We'll own it, get into this bye week and then jump back into the Big 10 conference, where we've worked our ass off and put ourselves in a great position like we are now,” Riley said. “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 position ourselves in this conference. We'll get on the bye week, get some work in, get some of these guys back healthy and get ready for the final stretch.”

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Nebraska and Oregon will be massive test for a program that has one win on the road outside of the state of California over the past two seasons. Iowa could be a ranked team by the time the Trojans host them in mid-November. 

Even UCLA has become a program that is a problem in the Big Ten with three straight wins, since firing Deshaun Foster. 

Lincoln Riley Owns Mistakes

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

Riley had arguably one of his worst games as a play-callers since he’s been at USC. 

Early in the second quarter, Riley called back-to-back screen plays with the Trojans in Notre Dame territory, one resulted in a gain of zero on third down and the next was an incomplete pass on fourth down. 

A double pass to receiver Makai Lemon in the rain early in the fourth quarter resulted in a fumble. Riley flat out called it a “stupid play” after the game. And then later in quarter, instead of calling a sneak on the 20th anniversary of the "Bush Push" while facing a fourth and inches, Jayden Maiava rolled out to his right and quickly ran out of time and just had to get rid of it.

“The reverse pass and two fourth down calls, weren’t very good calls and didn’t put our guys in very good position,” Riley said. “So I gotta do way better for our guys.”

Controlling Mistakes

Oct 18, 2025; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Southern California Trojans wide receiver Ja'Kobi Lane (8) breaks a tackle by Notre Dame Fighting Irish safety Tae Johnson (9) during the second half at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael Caterina-Imagn Images | Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

USC has to give Notre Dame credit, but the Trojans have continuously hurt themselves late in the games. Maiava’s first interception late in the third quarter came on a bad throw over the middle that was behind an open Ja’Kobi Lane.

Maiava’s second interception was a desperation heave the final minute of regulation and summed up the Trojans offense in the second half. 

And the defense had an abysmal showing, particularly on the ground, where they gave up 306 rushing yards. Still, even with the struggles on both sides of the ball, Riley believes they are fixable and will come down to them doing just that over the next month.

“We control what we can control, which is all our sides of us playing better us, coaching better," Riley said. "We will be pretty tough to be here down the stretch.”