USC head coach Lincoln Riley talks Michigan loss and how to move forward

As per usual, USC head coach Lincoln Riley met with the media on Trojans Live on Monday to discuss his team's loss to Michigan in week four. Let's take a look at some of the interesting things he had to say.

First, Riley was asked what he thought was the biggest difference in the game. He pointed to his team's slow start.

"Well, we dug ourselves in a hole in the first half," he said. "We gave up a couple of long plays. Defensively, didn't really get much going until the last couple of drives. Offensively, we really started slow and it's obviously not the recipe that you want going on the road. You get the crowd into it, which their crowd was definitely a factor in the game.

"There's no question about it and good road atmosphere as it typically is. And so yeah, we certainly had to rally, we played an awesome third quarter, really kind of flipped it, made some big-time plays, just did some really good things on all sides of the ball. We really did for the majority of the fourth quarter as well. So we just had just a few too many mistakes and I mean we have one less of any of about a hundred things and then we're all sitting here feeling a lot different right now in terms of result of the game. And so yeah, it was obviously awesome to see the team rally back and put ourselves in position to win it.

"All sides of the ball contributed to getting us to that point and then all sides, each side of the ball had a chance to finish it off there at the end and we weren't quite able to get it done. Agonizingly close, but you play good teams on the road and that's sometimes what the margins are. And I think we leave it excited. We felt like we certainly didn't play anywhere near our best ball and we still came within one last second, fourth down snap to beat the defending national champions at home. And again, just don't feel like. We played really hard. We had some guys that played outstanding, but we made a few too many mistakes that we've got to grow and learn from.

Following up on that point, Riley was asked about why his team got off to such a slow start last week. He said it came down to not making plays.

"Yeah, we just didn't make some of the plays really on either side", he said. "The two long plays defensively that got out, we had had people there, one we were misaligned, which we weren't misaligned much in the game, but we had an alignment error on one and just had an execution error on the other. We had some opportunities to get going offensively. We dropped the ball right there and on the first series it would've been a first down and you get your momentum and kind of get going.

"And we kind of played musical chairs with some of the errors offensively. We had some errors at all positions that hurt us, especially against a really good defense like that. So yeah, no, it's certainly not what you draw up, but you got to go find a way to dig yourself out of it. And we did. And I think there was a very much a confidence in the locker room, even at halftime that was like, we're right in this. We haven't played great.

"We've had some tough breaks go against us. Kind of like the tip ball right there at the end of half. That would've been an easy pass interference or a catch. I think there was still a lot of confidence. I know there was with our team at halftime that we were going to get back in the game. It was not a panicked locker room. They knew that we left some things out there that were within our control that we could go do better in the second half and we did that."

Playing at Michigan in an electric environment is a unique experience. Riley next discussed how that can help his team moving forward.

"Playing in that environment and then playing the LSU game should pay dividends for us," he said. "I mean, we've been in a pretty heavy hitter neutral and we've been in a pretty heavy hitter on the road against quality football teams, talented opponents, two of the more talented rosters in America, and we've obviously put ourselves right there. So yeah, no, you expect it to pay dividends. We've got some other big road tests coming up. [We're] playing some other really good football teams starting with this week, and so that needs to pay off and I believe it will for this team because the best teams take adversity and they find a way to flip that into becoming a better team and a closer team and learning and growing. And I believe this team will do that."

A big storyline from the Michigan game was the reshuffling of the offensive line in the middle of the game. Riley talked about what went into that decision.

"Some of it was changing some guys out," he said. "We had a couple of injury things that we were dealing with too. So the answer's a little bit all over the place there. But yeah, no, I mean that's the toughest position to play when you play in a great road atmosphere. It just is because so much of that is based on timing and knowing your snap count, whether you're loud, whether you're silent, however you do it, there's a million different ways to do it. And when you take that advantage away from the offense, I mean I don't care what level ball you watch, watch college, watch NFL.

"When you get in a raucous environment, then it is a challenge. And then when you add on top of it, you're playing arguably the most talented defensive line in all college football. That's what it is. And so we had some guys that came here and battled. I was really proud of Tobias Raymond. It was his first real real snaps for us. And he came in and did some really good things and I thought in some ways settled us down a little bit and all of our young guys, they had their good plays, they had their bad plays.

"There was a couple of times where you could tell, all right, this is their first time in one like this, a little bit. And I thought there was a couple of points where I thought we lost some of the trust and what we were doing and tried to do some of our own things and sometimes that could make it worse. You just got to stay with it and you've got to keep hammering away. And we had some moments where we settled in. But yeah, no, that's about as tough as it's going to get and I think our group will grow, learn from it. There's some things we can do better as coaches and listen, I mean we still have plenty of opportunities with the skill position guys and everybody else to that make the plays certainly to win that football game. So it's always a shared effort regardless of how it turns out."

Many have been critical of Riley's play-calling on the drive prior to Michigan's game-winning possession. He talked about that series of plays.

"Yeah, no, we ran the ball first down," he said, "had just an okay run. We called the play on second down that gave Miller a little bit of an option and the second down call was a bad call. I mean I didn't put him in a good position there and that's the one I most wish that I had over. We false-started on the third down. We were in a long yarded situation. There's still a ton of time left and so we called the shovel pass, which we felt like was a pretty safe completion. And we had a couple breakdowns because had we been able to get the ball to Woody, he'd actually probably still be running right now. So yeah, I mean it would've been a first down and maybe quite a bit more. So I mean, yeah, the second down call is one I regret and I told the team that. We all own in it, we all have things we can get better and I got to get better too.

Many USC fans are wondering about the health of Makai Lemon, who took a nasty hit on special teams. Riley provided an update.

"He's doing good," Riley said. "He's doing good. He's rebounded back well. I think as good as you could possibly hope for with that scare of a situation was kind of a unique play. His head ended up kind of the whiplash effect and I think it was more of the helmet hitting the ground than the actual hit and I think that caused it, but no, obviously never want to see that and thankfully bounce back well and was able to fly home with us at night and to doing very well."

Miller Moss was up and down in his first career road start at QB. Riley was asked to evaluate what he saw from his signal caller.

"Yeah, he played well," he said. "He had a couple of decisions that we would want back, a couple of balls over the middle that were a little closer than we would like. Just a couple of throws, not many, but yeah, he hung in there. Obviously he had to make some throws under duress and he did a good job in the pocket, did a pretty good job with his ball security. I thought he stayed pretty steady throughout the day and managed a group and that was important. You had to a game like that as a quarterback, test your patience and it test your resolve and I thought he was incredibly steady and a great mindset the entire way through and he certainly gave us a chance to win."

Riley then moved on to talking about the upcoming game with Wisconsin. He talked about how to fix his team's mistakes in just one week.

"Well, there's just a lot of things that can be better," he said. "Again, we can put 'em in better positions. I think these guys are going to grow and improve. I think also, again, got to, there ain't going to be a tougher challenge than what we just faced for all the other reasons around. And so we want to build into being a group that can be not just effective but dominant in those games. But that's to do it at that position against that quality of a group in that type of atmosphere. That's like the pinnacle for offensive line play.

"I mean, that's what the very best of the best do. And so that's building towards it. I have a lot of confidence in our group. I have a lot of confidence. I've seen a lot of great things. You take the first three games as a whole. I've seen a lot of great things and I think this group is going to continue to improve. We've got good leadership in that room. We have talented young guys that are going to get better fast."