Lincoln Riley discusses his team's dominant win over Utah State

Late Saturday night, the USC Trojans moved to 2-0 on the young 2024 season by taking apart Utah State 48-0. It was the program's first shutout since 2011 and one of the most dominating performances from the Trojans in recent memory.

Speaking to the media following the game, head coach Lincoln Riley was pleased, as one might expect.

“Really just a great team win," he said. "Very complementary football on all sides. Very proud of defense. I was told it’s the first shutout at SC since 2011. It’s very hard to shut people out in modern-day college football. I’m really proud of us maintaining our play defensively the entire night.

"The complementary ball was really good. The offense did a good job running the ball — that was a big emphasis point, so we’re proud of the way the guys responded and ran the ball. Really it was kind of a back-and-forth all night and the guys never took their foot off the gas, which was exciting to see. Great win. Got to play a lot of guys, which was awesome. You don’t always get those opportunities, so we got to see a lot of young guys and new guys get their first time on the field at the Coliseum as USC Trojans and that was really cool. We’re looking forward to getting into the bye week. We’ve got a lot of work to do and excited for what’s ahead.”

As for the shutout, Riley said that it was a nice step in the right direction following week one.

“We’ve done a lot of good things," he said. "I thought we made some improvements today in terms of our communication, especially in pass coverage. It was something defensively in the first game we weren’t really thrilled with. I thought we did a nice job there. It was a big emphasis point, so I’m proud of the guys for making some of the adjustments and corrections that we needed to do. We played a little bit more clean than we did against LSU.”

Fortunately, the Trojans were mentally locked in for this game, one that many thought might have been a potential trap game. Riley said that was a focal point for the week.

“We talked about it all week," he said. "We talked about it pretty specifically last night in our team meeting. I’m sure all those other teams did, too. At the end of the day, it’s a player’s game and they’re either going to listen to what you say and take it to heart and be ready or not. And our guys were certainly ready to go.”

In the game, USC ran for 253 yards on 25 attempts. Riley said that effort started with his offensive line.

“It’s important," he said. "The guys ran hard; we blocked well up front. I thought we took some steps. The big thing offensively is we wanted to be cleaner in the run game. And the big thing defensively was we wanted to be cleaner in our pass defense and our communication. I think we did a pretty good job of both tonight. We gotta get better. We did a good job of it. We know we have some exciting challenges coming up.”

As for the defense, Riley said he's pleased with what he's seen for the first two weeks. However, he also feels there is room for improvement.

“We’ve tackled pretty well in the first two games," he said. "I think we’ve done a pretty decent job against the run. It’s been fun to see our guys just come together. It’s a new staff, there’s more new players on that side of the ball than the offensive side of the ball. To see that group really come together and play as one early here in the year is very important. It’s great, we’re excited about it. There’s just a long ways to go, man, but shoot, we couldn’t be more excited about what they’re doing, the way we’re playing defensively right now, the way we’re flying around, and most importantly the camaraderie that exists on that side of the ball right now.”

Finally, Riley was asked about his new defensive coordinator, D'Anton Lynn. As expected he haid high praise for his top assistant.

“He’s patient, he’s very organized, and he’s always very prepared," Riley said. "He just has a unique ability to take things that may not be, honestly, that simple and make them really, really simple. It’s just very organized and very well thought out and I think our guys take a lot of confidence from that. And he’s got a great staff around him and a lot of synergy with that group right now and it’s been fun to see how they are all operating together.”