With his team mired at 4-5 a couple weeks ago, Lincoln Riley emphasized the opportunity ahead for his Trojans over the final three games, including two rivalry showdowns, and what it could do for the program moving forward.

Two games into that stretch, USC has strung together back-to-back wins and did it in dramatic fashion Saturday night with a come-from-behind 19-13 win over rival UCLA at the Rose Bowl.

"It's important. We've played some good football this year, we really have. It's been a unique year, but we've tried to block out any of the good, any of the bad, any of the things that went our way, anything that didn't and just really focus on being in the moment here in the end," Riley said. "Sometimes you get wrapped up in all the outside and you miss the opportunities that are right in front of your face. These are unbelievable opportunities. These are life-long memories.

"It was important to this team here at the end certainly to get a chance to go play another game after next week, because honestly it's been a really fun team to coach, there's a great vibe in that locker room, and I think anybody that's watched us play, like, you see this team leaves it out there every single time. I mean, they have, so glad that we get to do a couple more together. We've got a good little streak going right now and we intend on keeping it going."

See the full postgame press conference and a complete transcript of Riley's postgame comments below.

Lincoln Riley opening comments ...

"Awesome, awesome win. Really proud of this group. It was an interesting week, and we just decided from the beginning that nothing out of our control was going to be an excuse. I thought the guys handled the week really well, had to adjust. Really, the only thing I can compare it to is having gone through a Covid football season. But guys just had a mentality the entire week, we felt good coming into the game and made enough plays. I can't say enough about us defensively, how well we played to hold them down. Obviously, the big stops -- we were just pretty awesome defensively. We really were, really played at a high level. Excited to see our front continuing to get more active, really starting to affect the game more and more as some of those young guys really come on and play. Obviously, we had a lot of opportunities offensively to really extend the lead -- didn't play very good in the red zone but got the one there at the end obviously that counted. We were tough and resilient. Special teams was really good again. Eddie was awesome, Lantz was awesome. So we did the things we needed to do to win the rivalry game. It feels great, I'm proud of this group, and yeah, these wins are special. We know how much this means to this city, how much it means to our university, so proud to get the win."

What did Jayden Maiava show you on that go-ahead touchdown, scanning the field, buying time, the throw, all of it?

"Yeah, he made a great play. He's been able to make a few plays for us right now in terms of when things aren't exactly there, making some off-schedule plays. We did a good job protecting him on that play, giving him time, and he did a great job finding Ja'Kobi in the back."

With all the issues finishing games this season, what did it mean winning this game the way you did?

"Yeah, I would have taken, I would have liked to have scored a few more times in the red zone and not done that way, but we're battle-tested. We have, we've been through a lot of them. I told you all when we lost a few of these at some point this is going to become our advantage because we have been in so many we really don't know anything else honestly. Guys were confident, we made the stops when we had to defensively, we were able to get a decent drive down there and get the field goal offensively. No, it feels great, man, it does. More than anything, not for any other week or anything else that's happened, but just this week and what we had to overcome to go win this game, it feels tremendous. I'm really, really proud of how our guys responded."

What do you think it meant to D'Anton Lynn to perform well against his former team?

"Well, I know these games, a lot of us have been a part of those where you play an alma mater or you play somewhere you played or coached before, all that. So, yeah, I'm sure there's some personal meaning for him, but he's such a team guy I think he's just excited for the win, excited for the way our guys played. I'm sure it was a meaningful game for him and a couple of our guys that have been on the opposite sideline here, but tonight was about the team and obviously defensively we were tremendous. He and our staff did a great job getting our guys ready."

What did you think of what the defense did in the first half keeping you in the game?

"Yeah, we kept swinging. We were able to affect the quarterback, and that was obviously, that for us has maybe been a little bit of our Achilles heel defensively this year, especially early in the year. To see some of these young guys start to -- not just young guys but the whole D-line start to step up and affect the quarterback then that changes the way that we can play the game. It gives us opportunities to call things differently, to be aggressive in different areas. Yeah, we did a nice job. We really didn't break really much at all. Even after a couple of explosive runs, they got to midfield a couple of times and we were able to stop them. Just to be resilient and keep going out even though offensively there were chances to extend it, and we just kept going defensively. That's what really good defenses do, and that's what we did tonight."

On the three prior opportunities inside the 5-yard line, what was the biggest frustration or lament having to settle for field goals there?

"Well, we didn't run the ball well down there. We had a number of busted assignments, which is kind of strange because we really were running the ball in the open field pretty well and just some pretty generic things for us we did not do well. And then in the throw game, we had an opportunity to make a lot of one-on-one plays and we didn't make enough of them. So obviously excited to get the win despite that, but we know that's going to have to get a lot better."

​What does this kind of win do for the program to see the results start to come?

"Winning breeds confidence, it breeds excitement, it's confirmation on the things that you do. For us to win one, especially in this fashion playing as well defensively as we did, again overcoming all that we did this week -- and we could write a book about this week alone -- we had a no excuses attitude. We've talked about a three-game season right here at the end. We had a big win this week, obviously this is a massive win for us and looking forward to that one next week too."

​No turnovers tonight, how important was that?

"That was huge. That was huge. It was a massive, massive part of the game. Jayden did a good job taking care of it. Our guys, especially in wet conditions, did a great job with ball security. Yeah, it was key. It was a game where you felt like a turnover either side was really going to change the course of it."

Can you share more about this week and what you were having to overcome as a team?

"Yeah, we had, I don't want to use the wrong word, I don't know if I want to say outbreak, but we had a lot of flu. Like a lot, a lot of flu. We practiced Tuesday with I think 27 players out, and it ran through over half the staff. Guys battled. We had a lot of guys that didn't feel very good even here at the end of the week. The preparation was a little disjointed because of that, but said from the very beginning, we're going to get through this deal here at the beginning of the week and then there are no more excuses. We said last night in the team meeting, like, we wake up in the morning, nobody's sick -- period. Nobody's sick. So we healed them all, baby."

​Were you able to avoid the flu this week?

"Nobody's sick, right? I was able to push the button tonight so I found a way."

Ja'Kobi Lane had played a smaller role the last couple weeks but makes the big TD tonight -- what's that say about him?

"Yeah, it was great to see him step up and make some of those plays. We've had a lot of different skill guys step up at various times throughout the year. I've got to give him credit, he has had a lot of big plays in games. He's made some big-time catches in games that have really helped us, and this was another one so it was great to see him step up."

What do you hope this three-game stretch does for the future of the program?

"It's important. We've played some good football this year, we really have. It's been a unique year, but we've tried to block out any of the good, any of the bad, any of the things that went our way, anything that didn't and just really focus on being in the moment here in the end. Sometimes you get wrapped up in all the outside and you miss the opportunities that are right in front of your face. These are unbelievable opportunities. These are life-long memories. It was important to this team here at the end certainly to get a chance to go play another game after next week, because honestly it's been a really fun team to coach, there's a great vibe in that locker room, and I think anybody that's watched us play, like, you see this team leaves it out there every single time. I mean, they have, so glad that we get to do a couple more together. We've got a good little streak going right now and we intend on keeping it going."

The double pass from Makai to Kyron, did you know you were going to use that all game and why was that the right moment for it?

"Yeah, just felt like it was time where we maybe needed a spark and guys did a great job executing. We didn't put it in until later in the week, but glad we did -- guys executed it awesome. We protected well and Makai threw just a dart. Awesome play by Kyron too. It was a big-time play in that moment."