USC Football: Lincoln Riley Not Resting On Laurels After Obliterating Stanford
On Saturday, your USC Trojans flattened pundits' expectations for the third straight week, massacring the Stanford Cardinal 56-10 (including 49 in the first half) behind another mind-blowing performance from reigning Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams.
Per Mirjam Swanson of The Southern California News Group, the now 3-0 Trojans, the sixth seed in the AP's latest college football rankings, don't plan stop there.
"I’ve come to this conclusion about USC’s fate not only because of all the supremely sharp tools at Caleb Williams’ disposal – including his own self," Swanson writes. "And not even because that much-maligned and apparently much-improved defense has so effectively smothered its past two opponents.
"But because of the way USC is acting," Swanson continues. "Because of its attitude. Because it feels like, down deep, these guys really are hungry."
Swanson notes that, despite head coach Lincoln Riley's initial postgame press statements to the contrary (“We essentially gave up three points. That’s pretty, pretty good, you know?”), she believes he's anything but sated by the team's early success, and is very much looking to build on it as the 2023 season progresses throughout this fall.
When pressed further, Riley did eventually relent, acknowledging that even an absolutely humming offense could stand a tweak or three.
“You know, we didn’t play very good complementary football there in the second half,” Riley said. “Offense wasn’t very good in the second half. O-line didn’t play very well. Second group, was disappointing with how those guys played… had some opportunities that we totally missed... It’s like when we challenged that last touchdown. I – we – don’t want to give anybody an inch.”
Even during the game with a win all sewn up early in the fourth quarter, Riley remained a forceful sideline presence:
