After USC's 55-17 win over Colorado on Friday night, Trojans coach Lincoln Riley, quarterback Caleb Williams and defensive end Tuli Tuipulotu joined reporters for the postgame press conference.
Riley talked at length about losing running back Travis Dye to a season-ending leg injury, about the significance of being 9-1, the defensive performance against the Buffaloes and more.
Watch the full press conference here or scroll for a complete transcript of Riley's postgame comments.
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Opening comments:
"Ninth win. Ninth win. Had some really cool times of the team surging on all three sides, which we said was going to be a big deal. I thought our guys responded and did it. Really played pretty well defensively from the jump -- pressure, just sound play across the board. It took us a little bit to get going offensively, but we obviously were able to settle in there and get rolling pretty good. I'm proud of the way everybody stepped up, guys were awesome. Yeah, just obviously really proud of the win and to get another one here at home. Obviously, some exciting opportunities coming up that we'll be looking forward to."
How tough was it to see Travis Dye go down with injury?
"It's tough. It shook us all a little bit. He's such an emotional leader, and here he is a senior, it just, yeah it sucks. There's just really no other way to put it," Riley said. "It's one of the tough parts of this game. This game, it's given Trav a lot, he's put a lot into it and he's had an awesome career, he's had an awesome run here for us this year. There's no way we would be sitting here where we're at as a football team without him. So his role will probably be a little bit different going forward here for this team, but he'll still be a huge leader and huge part of it.
"And he's got a lot of great ball and a lot of other great things ahead of him right now. He's married way over his head, so he's definitely got that going for him. We love him and it's an unfortunate part of this game."
