Lincoln Riley and USC player quotes from stormy, turbulent win over Arizona
Lincoln Riley had a lot on his mind Saturday evening in Tucson.
This could refer to his worries about all the injuries which befell the USC Trojans against the Arizona Wildcats. Jordan Addison, Eric Gentry, Ralen Goforth, Andrew Vorhees, and Mario Williams were all out. That’s a lot of production and a lot of leadership.
Bobby Haskins got hurt in the second half.
Korey Foreman did not play.
Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura and his receivers played well.
There was a lot on Riley’s mind … but he also had a lot on his mind when the Pac-12 refs mangled the game administration procedure at the end of the first half, costing USC a field goal.
Here’s what Riley said about that and other topics in this roundup of USC coach and player reactions to the 45-37 win over Arizona:
PRIDE
#USC coach Lincoln Riley after the Trojans’ win over Arizona:
“Awesome, gutsy win. For our guys to come in here and overcome a lot, a lot of out of our control, I’m as proud of this one as any of the seven (victories).”
— Trevor Booth (@TrevorMBooth) October 30, 2022
INJURY UPDATE
USC WR Mario Williams was expected to play, but had a “little tweak,” Lincoln Riley said.
— Keely Eure (@keelyismyname) October 30, 2022
USC RECEIVERS
Riley to the Los Angeles Times on USC’s receivers without Jordan Addison and Mario Williams:
“They just stepped up and made some big plays, and we had to have them,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said. “When you have two of your top receivers out, you test the depth of your group. And our group responded.”
BASIC TRUTH
Lincoln Riley on the officiating at end of the first half, “They admitted that they messed it up. My question was, ‘If you messed it up why didn’t you stop the play and review it.’”
— Keely Eure (@keelyismyname) October 30, 2022
WITHOUT A DOUBT
Lincoln Riley after #USC's win:“I’m as proud of this win as any of the seven this year without a doubt.”
— Antonio Morales (@AntonioCMorales) October 30, 2022
IN FULL
Lincoln Riley on the officiating at the end of the 1st half: “My question was, if you messed it up, why wasn’t it, ‘Stop play and review it’? The explanation“given to me at the beginning of the third quarter was they obviously didn’t handle it properly.”
Riley’s full answer: pic.twitter.com/vwdAFF8C5V
— Ryan Kartje (@Ryan_Kartje) October 30, 2022
JUSTIN DEDICH ON MASON MURPHY
Dedich said this to the Los Angeles Times about Murphy, who filled in at right tackle on a reshuffled line due to the Andrew Vorhees injury:
“Mason Murphy is a talented kid, probably the most talented in our room,” Dedich said, “and we all had confidence he was going to do the job, and he did.”
RILEY ON JONAH MONHEIM, WHO STEADIED THE OFFENSIVE LINE
“He’s been super valuable,” Riley said about one of USC’s core offensive linemen.
JUSTIN DEDICH
“I was really impressed with how we performed tonight,” Dedich said about the offensive line’s collective performance.
SAFETY BRYSON SHAW
“Couple guys down at ‘backer, they need DBs to step up, we were ready,” Shaw said.
SHAW ON FIGHTING THROUGH INJURIES
“It’s been tough, of course,” Shaw said. “I’m a competitor.”
RILEY ON BACKUPS FILLING IN FOR STARTERS
“So many guys stepping up, you kind of lose count,” Riley said.
KYLE FORD ON USC'S RECEIVER DEPTH
“We have such a good room that you have to come with your best every day,” Ford said.
RILEY ON HIS DEFENSE AND JAYDEN DE LAURA
“We still gave up too many big plays,” Riley said. “Listen, the quarterback here is a unique challenge. We had him dead to rights I don’t know how many times during the game.”
RILEY ON THIS GAME
“I just think the mindset of this team was in a really, really good place tonight,” Riley said.
RILEY ON THE FUTURE
“There are going to be plays we want back and things we have to do better, but if our mindset stays that way, we’re going to keep making progress, we’ll get a couple of these guys back, other guys are going to continue to step up, and we need to be ready to surge right here.”
CALEB WILLIAMS ON HIS RECEIVERS
“I put the ball where I thought was best and those guys went and made some catches,” Williams said.
MORE FROM RILEY
Riley commented to Antonio Morales of The Athletic:
“We just weren’t going to let anything get to us. The team came in very poised, very determined and you saw that effort.”
CALEB WILLIAMS ON WHAT RILEY TOLD HIM BEFORE THE GAME
Caleb Williams said this to Antonio Morales of The Athletic:
“He (Riley) said sometimes when you don’t have your top two guys you have to spread the ball around a little more, and the other team can’t key in on everyone else,” Williams said.
RILEY ON USC'S RECEIVERS
Riley said this to The Athletic:
“When you’ve got two of your top receivers out,” Riley said, “you test the depth of the group, and our group responded.”
KYLE FORD ON HIS HARD PATH
Ford said this to The Athletic:
“It’s a big, happy feeling for me. It’s a lot of work put in,” Ford said. “Ups and downs, what I’ve been through, but at the same time I know I can do this. It really wasn’t a surprise to me. I just know I can help my team the way I did tonight moving forward.”
CALEB WILLIAMS ON KYLE FORD
Williams said this to The Athletic:
“Kyle shows that all the time in practice. We called each other right after the Utah game and he said no more. He wants to be on the field and wants to make those catches for me and he got his opportunity.”
TAHJ WASHINGTON
“It wasn’t a tough call for me,” Washington said to The Athletic. “If you want to be a guy and you want to play at the next level, you’ve got to get used to playing around guys. If I want to be the best me I can be, I want to be next to competition. I want to be next to some of the top guys so you can see yourself and learn from what makes those guys so great.”
