USC Trojans' Lincoln Riley Reveals Unique Behind the Scenes in Weather Delay

The USC Trojans are 3-0 after their 33-17 win on the road against the Purdue Boilermakers. Lincoln Riley and his team now come back home to Los Angeles for their Big Ten home opener against the Michigan State Spartans.

Riley spoke on Trojans Live on Monday night in the lead up to Saturday night’s game against the Spartans.

What Lincoln Riley Said

USC Trojans Lincoln Riley Big Ten Football Purdue Boilermakers Weather Michigan State Spartans Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum — Aug 30, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley gestures during the game against the Missouri State Bears at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

A Unique Weather Delay

"I can remember one at East Carolina in earlier years which was pretty long. Definitely the longest one in a while. Then when you combine the fact of the time zone, travel, and all that I think it's maybe the most unique one I’ve been involved with. So, I thought the guys handled it great. They were pretty amped in the locker room…We actually had to calm them down and sit down and relax a little bit which was good. I thought their energy level and focus and focus and just kind of willingness and excitement to go out and play never let off."

Adapting to Warmup Schedule

"We thought there was going to be a delay, and then they came onto the field during pregame warmups like “no we’re good, it’s just going to be rain,” so we finished warmups. We’re bringing the team up. I’m like at the very end of the pregame speech and literally about to break them down and they come in and it’s like ‘no there’s lightning and we’re delayed 30 minutes.’ You’re just kind of watching it every 30 minutes. There’s other strikes and it keeps adding; you don’t quite know when you’re going. I think we ended up doing five or six different schedules…As it got longer you have to warm them up more because they’ve just been sitting there. It was unique, but the staff, the players, the entire program handled it well."

Team’s Mentality

"I thought there was a mindset that whenever we play we’re going to be ready…There wasn’t like these highs and lows. They were just like ‘alright just tell us when it’s time to go and we’ll be ready’… A real no excuses attitude from them."

Reflection on Team’s Performance

"Excited about some of the physicality that we played with…I thought there was some really good things on both sides of the ball. Ryon Sayeri continues to be a really bright spot for us. He was huge in the game…Defensively; had contributions at all three levels. Offensively it was okay…We did what we needed to do to win, but it certainly wasn’t our best performance."

Watching Film on Jamaal Jarrett’s Touchdown Return

"The first vision when we were riding home Saturday night, I saw the TV copy of Ja returning it, my first thought was ‘He looks like the waterboy,’ carrying the ball the way he was. Our guys did some pretty unique video editing, maybe spliced in a couple shots of the waterboy with Ja running down, so that was pretty cool. Our sports science guys did a couple of cool stats with the amount of force that was moving when you take a guy that’s as big as Ja and how fast he was moving…Pretty cool moment."

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USC Trojans Off To 3-0 Start

The 2025 college football season could not have started much better for Lincoln Riley and the Trojans. They kicked off with the Missouri State Bears, winning 73-13. The following week, USC welcomed back former coach Clay Helton and his Georgia Southern Eagles, winning 59-20.

USC took the show on the road last week to begin Big Ten conference play against the Purdue Boilermakers. The game was originally scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. PT, but mother nature had other ideas.

There was a three hour weather delay, but Riley’s team remained focused controlled the entire game in a wire to wire victory. Riley joked with CBS sideline reporter Jenny Dell before half time that the delay put his team back on west coast time.

“We just got it back to west coast time, so that was god doing that for us. We responded well,” Riley said.

Their next game is a late west coast kick off against Michigan State. It is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on FOX.