USC coach Lincoln Riley made his final comments leading up to the No. 8 Trojans' home game Friday night against Colorado, joining reporters for his weekly Thursday morning Zoom call.
Riley provided encouraging injury updates, stating that he expects wide receiver Jordan Addison and linebacker Ralen Goforth to play Friday while wide receiver Mario Williams and linebacker Eric Gentry remain game-time decisions.
He also wanted to make sure that fans (or perhaps media) haven't lost perspective on the turnaround this program has pulled off from the 4-8 team he inherited to an 8-1 Trojans team that remains very much in the hunt for a Pac-12 championship and potential College Football Playoff berth.
Riley further provided injury updates on TE Jude Wolfe, S Xavion Alford and CB Domani Jackson, talked more about his confidence the defense will get back on track, how the Trojans have handled the short week and more.
Read the complete transcript of his comments below:
You have a unique perspective on what makes a Heisman quarterback. What would you say is Caleb's case right now for Heisman candidacy?
"He's played at a really, really high level. He's had one turnover, a lot of touchdowns and his team's won a lot of games. He's done it with different ways. He's done here as of late without some really impactful players being able to play both on the line and at the skill positions. He's been as valuable as any player in the country, and I think it's pretty simple. I mean, this stuff always plays out, right? A lot of that stuff, just like conference races and all that, will be decided here as time goes. But up to this point, I don't think there's been a better or more valuable player in college football than him."
What would seeing all three phases of the game coming together this week do for this team's confidence?
"I don't know if it would have a ton to do with the confidence. We have a confident group. I mean, our guys, all three sides expect to play very well and believe we're very capable of doing it, so I don't know it will have as much on the confidence. But sure, it's great to go play well on all three sides. I mean, you win eight of your first nine you're going to be pretty confident, and we're pretty confident right now and know that we can play better. For us, just see that as a constant climb. That's really what this thing is. It's a true journey, and there's still so much left to go in terms of opportunities, impactful opportunities for our program. These guys are very, very excited about this one. We've put ourselves in a great position, and I've got to be honest, I think that's getting lost around here a little bit. Like, don't forget where this thing was last year, and I think a lot of people have. Like, we're 8-1, with everything in front of us. Like, let's make sure we have some perspective around here.
"And again, regardless if this program won the national championship the year before, all right, or this program lost a bunch of games the year before, like, we're in a phenomenal position. And every person that supports USC football -- whether they do or not -- they ought to recognize that. I just want to make sure that's not getting lost around here. We're damn sure not letting it get lost in our locker room. We're in a tremendous, tremendous spot and really excited about it. And, obviously, our expectation is to go play extremely well on all three sides, and I believe we will."
