The Big Truth Lincoln Riley Just Revealed About Coaching At USC

The No. 17 USC Trojans are hosting the No. 21 Iowa Hawkeyes at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with their College Football Playoff hopes on the line.

USC coach Lincoln Riley spoke to reporters in lead up to this matchup, and he was asked by 247Sports' Connor Morrissette if he feels "appreciated" by USC fans.

What Lincoln Riley Said

USC Trojans Lincoln Riley Iowa Hawkeyes Top 25 Rankings College Football Playoff Big Ten Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum — Jul 24, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; USC head coach Lincoln Riley speaks to the media during the Big Ten NCAA college football media days at Mandalay Bay Resort. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images | Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images

On If He Feels Appreciated at USC

Riley didn't shy away from addressing the truth of being a head coach at USC ...

“There’s been a lot of support behind what we’re doing. I like pointing to facts. I like pointing to the facility we’re building. I like pointing to the investment the university has made in our staff and now our players. I like pointing to the fact of images of the Coliseum before we came here," Riley said, courtesy of Los Angeles Times reporter Ryan Kartje.

“I’ve seen a lot of games here where the atmosphere was fantastic. Tomorrow is going to be another one of those. So ya, absolutely. It’s not something I get wrapped up in. I understand the ebbs and flows of this business and the position I’m in a program like this. I understand that one week, everyone is going to be signing your praises and then the next week, it may not be the same. There’s always going to be highs and lows," Riley continued.

“That’s always going to be a part of these jobs. I don’t get too wrapped up in that. I feel very supported here by players, staff, administration, fans, everything. So yeah, I do.”

What Makes USC the Place to Be

“There’s hundred something of these jobs out there and there's not one like this one. I just think it is a special place. It's really unique. You know, you combine the history, you combine the academics here, you combine the the location that we're in. I think being the the flagship football program here on the West Coast.”

“I just think there's so much to this place. And so it's been a fun challenge to be here. It's fun to see the momentum that this place is gathering right now and to even take a minute to sit back and even imagine of where this thing can go is pretty fun. So, it's cool to be in the moment with it right now. and glad I'm here.”

Process in Selecting Game Captains

“I talk about it with a few staff members. It’s not something where we sit out at full staff meetings and go through it, but I’ve got a couple of people that get some feedback on it and then I ultimately make the decision here this afternoon of who we’re going to go with.”

“We let the team know in our Friday night team meeting. We’re just trying to look for people we feel like are bringing a lot to our team and program…(Asante Das) one of those guys that maybe people haven’t seen a ton on Saturdays that has a huge impact in this program. He’s a phenomenal scout team player.”

“He has become a real leader on this team; vocally, emotionally, challenging guys, pushing our standard, our core values. This guy is off the charts. There’s no way we would ever play a game that we wouldn't take him to. I mean, he is really really key to what we're doing.”

“And there's a lot of maybe on the outside kind of quote unquote unsung heroes that have a lot bigger impact in this place than maybe what people would believe that only watch the game on Saturdays. it's been cool to see our team respond when guys like that have have have earned that opportunity. And I don't ever want to just turn a I don't ever want to be the coach that, well, our captains are only going to be the guys that are playing the most snaps on Saturdays.”

“These are like big families. it doesn't always work like that. So, I think our team has appreciated that. It's been cool to see some of our guys like Asante get, you know, have the opportunity to be out there and represent the team.”

How Weather Makes Offense Adapt

“Yeah, I mean, you you definitely have to be aware of it. I mean, I think you got to be aware of it from a from a just ball security standpoint. Obviously, holding on to a football that is that is wet is different. It's still very doable, but you got to be really good with your ball security.”

“We we try to have guys figure out throughout our practices when we simulate this of are they a player that if it's wet conditions wants to have gloves on or does not want to have be aware of it. Some guys obviously prefer to just take them off and just go go bare hands. Some guys still prefer and do a better job with gloves on. So we don't want to be making those decisions in moment.”

“Getting a comfort level kind of for where each guy is from an equipment standpoint. I mean there's you know it's obviously got to get pretty bad. And again, I would probably point like the second half of the Notre Dame game was pretty significant to where it really started to affect even what we were calling. It's got to get pretty bad to be that way. The majority of these offensive guys, unless it's just a complete downpour. We feel like we can function very close to normally, even if it's wet.”

MORE: Weather Concerns Mount For USC's Game vs. Iowa Hawkeyes

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MORE: Why USC Trojans Could Be On Upset Alert Against Iowa

Jayden Maiava’s Leadership Growing

“I think he's just embracing more parts of of being starting quarterback for this team and being the starting quarterback at USC and it does involve more than just taking snaps and throwing the football. and uh he's he's embraced the leadership.”

“He's embraced like you said opening up more with his teammates, opening up more with the media, with fans. And I think that's a great thing like you you have to embrace it especially at a place like this. And so he just yeah he kind of continues to let his personality show more and more which has been great on all accounts and yeah I do believe all those things are connected to the way that he's been playing.”

Defensive Line

“We need to do what we did to Michigan. We need to do what we did to Northwestern. We need to do what we did to several of these other teams, too. And and I mean I think I think the big deal is, we have to do a good job physically at the line of scrimmage. We didn't feel like we did a very good job of that in the Illinois game.”

“Then we have to be very assignment sound of both our gaps up front and then how we fit from the linebacker and the secondary level to not give them any freebies, which we obviously had too many of those against Notre Dame. You do those two things, you're going to play pretty good run defense. Feel like we've taken some big steps that way and we get tomorrow's going to be a big challenge and we plan on being a pretty big challenge for them too.”