Lincoln Riley Reveals How USC is Prepared for Autzen Stadium Atmosphere

The No. 15 USC Trojans will aim to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive as they will go on the road to take on the No. 7 Oregon Ducks. Autzen Stadium is one of the most difficult places to win for road teams.

USC coach Lincoln Riley spoke to reporters about how he feels his team has learned lessons on the road this season and will take with them to Eugene.

What Lincoln Riley Said

USC Trojans Lincoln Riley Oregon Ducks Autzen Stadium Big Ten Road Game Eugene College GameDay College Football Playoff — Nov 16, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley watches game action against the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the second half at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

How Previous Hostile Road Environments Prepare Team for Autzen Stadium

“Yeah, I think it's great. We've had a chance to be in some other big-time environments here this year, really the last couple of years. And I think that's something that now being in this Big Ten conference really prepares you for. It's the toughest thing to do in college football, is go win big games against good competition on the road.”

“I think for the team having the confidence of having been in some of those environments, learned from it, having been successful, especially here as of late, is important. And I think you learned some lessons in terms of communication. The mentality that it takes and all of that. I'm glad we we've been in them. Glad this is not our first. Definitely pushing hard on our end to make sure it’s our best.”

Effect of Helmet Communication in Road Games

“Yeah, I mean I think it adds that level of communication to whoever you got the green dot on and which was obviously a lot tougher to do in road environments before. So yeah, I think it helps, although I mean it helps in home environments too. So yeah, I think maybe a little bit of difference there. Is it some like game-changing thing? I don't know that I would say that.”

Oregon’s Balanced Offense

“I think anytime you play somebody that that does both things well, that's always a challenge. and and yeah, you have to play complete football against them, right? They've shown the ability to to run the ball, especially here in the back half of the season. They've really ran the football well. They've been explosive, been efficient…got a good group of backs, some impactful tight ends, o-line’s playing well.”

“Definitely be a big challenge for us there, and then certainly they've shown the ability to be explosive in the passing game and that's that's evolved a little bit some as they've had some different receivers in and out of the lineup. But they're a good group. They do both things well. They put pressure on you to defend both…be great challenge for our defense. There's no question about it, and our guys are looking forward to it.”

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Relying Less on Portal This Season

“I think for for us and where our program's at right now, it has been an advantage. I think the transfers that we did take have largely fit into what we wanted from a culture standpoint. Obviously when you're taking less guys like that that you've developed in house, you feel like you mitigate your risk a little bit. Then I think there's an excitement of our young players of seeing a path towards development, seeing a path towards the the field. I think it's impacted our practices.”

“I think our practices have been really good because of that too because guys see kind of that upward arc whether they're playing some right now or they're red shirting or they played some early and less now or vice versa. I think they just see our investment as a whole program-wide kind of just in in our guys here in house.”

“And I think it's important. I think it's important message to our high school recruits. I think it's important message to our current team. And uh yeah, we just feel like I know every place is different, but we feel like for USC right now, that's right where we need to be.”

Team Blocking Out Outside Noise

“Well, it's that's kind of the age-old question for us, right? Is how much can you insulate them versus like, everybody on the planet has a cell phone, everybody on the planet has access to to 24/7 news, sports talk, all that stuff. I mean our team's aware of it. I think we just tried to really teach these guys of like just where to place value, where to place their time and energy as much as we can.”

“And I think some of it for us is like it's almost like the outside noise has lost a little bit of credibility with this team, you know what I mean? Like, and I don't mean that like to be a jerk. But really, this team kind of had to sit there and listen to that we weren't going to be a very good team. And now, we've turned into a pretty good team. And so I think this team's credibility with it and again I'm talking generally…I just don't feel like this team cares that much honestly.”

“I think it'd be naive of me to say that they don't they don't hear some of it. It's hard not to in this day in age. I really believe the team and the leaders of the team have kind of taken on that personality where they just want to play, and they're having fun playing. They're having fun competing. They're having fun winning and they just want to keep it going.”

Impact of Anthony Lucas

“He's playing at a really high level. It’s a great observation and and that's been a little bit of a fight for him and something I'm really proud of him about is there's been times in his career where he has chased the production so heavy that in turn he's missed opportunities or not played as well or hurt us at times.”

“You see like his maturity, how he's grown. And right now, he is just trusting what we're doing defensively, his assignment, and because of that, he is playing some really, really impactful football. And the thing is, you could be you could be a defensive end and you could play the game of your life and not have one sack.”

“It's there's a lot of other factors there, right? And so I think he's really maturing and starting to see that and people that know ball, you watch how he's playing right now, see that he is an impactful player that's playing at a high level and really affecting us in a positive way. So, super proud of that and just another example of his growth.”

What the Strength of the USC Defense Is

“I would say how we play in the second half right now. I'd have a hard time not saying that. I think our resilience, our ability to settle into games and make adjustments has has been, I haven't seen like a lot of detailed stats on it, but it's it's pretty damn good. I would say that. And then again, I think this is almost team wide, but you can certainly defensively, our ability to to do it with so many different players, differing lineups, all of that.”

A Difference From Jayden Maiava on the Road Compared to at Home

“No, I haven't felt much of a difference to be completely honest. We didn't play very good in the passing game, not really any of us at Nebraska and then we did some good things. Obviously, we played in a downpour of the second half of Notre Dame, which obviously impacted the throwing game some, too.”

“I honestly haven't felt much of a difference from him. I think he's continuing to get better and more comfortable in all these situations, the road included. Obviously, we're going to need him to play well like any week, but I think he's teed up and ready to go.”