With a touchdown pass from Jayden Maiava to Ja'Kobi Lane with 8:43 remaining to make it a one-score game, followed by a quick defensive stop, USC had all the momentum and opportunity to rally back from what had been a two-touchdown deficit against No. 5-ranked Notre Dame.

But on first-and-10 from the Fighting Irish 21, Maiava was intercepted by Christian Gray, who returned it 99 yards for a gut-punching touchdown.

Another pick-6 by Notre Dame's Xavier Watts on the next series sealed it, as the Trojans eventually lost 49-35 after a late touchdown of their own.

With that, USC finishes the regular season 6-6 while Notre Dame will land in the College Football Playoff with an 11-1 record.

Afterward, Trojans coach Lincoln Riley talked about the difficulty of the moment for he and his team.

"Just an excruciating loss. Really tough there at the end just standing in here as all the guys came through, watching great Trojans like this guy right here (Jaylin Smith) come up that tunnel for the last time," Riley said. "There's been so many guys here that have I think paved the way. They have invested in this program, they've shared in our journey to continue to build this thing, and I'm proud to have coached them, proud to have had these guys throughout this journey."

Riley wasn't ready to talk about the big picture and where his Trojans program is going, from 11-3 in his first season to 8-5 last year to 6-6 now pending a bowl game.

"Yeah, this game finished what 20 minutes ago. So we've got time to go here. I know there's time for that and I get to answer all those, that's part of being the head coach and I don't shy away from it, but this about this team and this moment, these guys that played their last game here at the Coliseum," he said. "I could sit up here for an hour and talk about the thing I know are happening within this program. I could rattle off all the stats, I could show you facilities, I could show you recruiting, I could show you the staff, I could go on about that for an hour -- I just don't think it's the appropriate time right now."

Watch the full postgame press conference below and scroll down for a complete transcript of Riley's comments.

Full transcript of Lincoln Riley's postgame comments ...

Opening comments:

"Just an excruciating loss. Really tough there at the end just standing in here as all the guys came through, watching great Trojans like this guy right here (Jaylin Smith) come up that tunnel for the last time. There's been so many guys here that have I think paved the way. They have invested in this program, they've shared in our journey to continue to build this thing, and I'm proud to have coached them, proud to have had these guys throughout this journey. It's kind of a mixture of guys like Jaylin that have been here for a long time and some guys that chose to come end their careers here with us, but the appreciation for them is long-reaching. I told them in the locker room, as thing goes on and climbs and climbs, they've always got to look back on it and know that they were a part of it -- and they were, it's true.

"So, appreciative, man. I've been appreciative to coach this team through this regular season. It's been a really fun team to coach. We battled today like we have all year. We just didn't play good enough obviously in the second half -- gave ourselves some chances right there at the end and tried to stay aggressive. And obviously some plays just didn't go our way. But give credit to Notre Dame. It's a good football team. It was a good football game. Proud of this team. We'll regroup here, obviously get our bowl assignment, get into some of the development with our young guys and get ready here for the final game of the season."

What gives you confidence that the program is heading in the right direction?

"Yeah, this game finished what 20 minutes ago. So we've got time to go here. I know there's time for that and I get to answer all those, that's part of being the head coach and I don't shy away from it, but this about this team and this moment, these guys that played their last game here at the Coliseum. I could sit up here for an hour and talk about the thing I know are happening within this program. I could rattle off all the stats, I could show you facilities, I could show you recruiting, I could show you the staff, I could go on about that for an hour -- I just don't think it's the appropriate time right now."

On the first interception, was it a miscommunication -- it looked like Jayden Maiava was throwing to the back shoulder and Kyron Hudson was looking toward the corner?

"I have to see on tape. It obviously turned over so quickly because we had the ball back right away, needed to go down and score again. We checked into a play, we tried to be aggressive all night. Jayden gave our guys chances to make a lot of one-on-one plays. Yeah, it looked like we weren't quite on the same page, and the corner got his eyes back and made a nice play on the ball."

How much did Woody Marks going out early impact the run game?

"I thought Quinten and Bryan came in and did some really good things, so I mean I don't feel like we were like, 'Oh no, Woody's not there, all of a sudden we can't do these things.' But, listen, Woody's been our best offensive player this year. So to sit here and say that losing him didn't affect it, it affected it some, but I thought our backs came in and still had some really big plays. But you never really want to lose a guy like that."

What did you think of the defensive performance?

"Yeah, I thought we hung in there and made some big plays in the first half. Obviously had the two turnovers, which at the time were massive. But we just didn't do a good enough job against the run -- period. That to me was kind of the story of the day. We didn't defend the run as well as we have been, and I thought that made them pretty multi-dimensional. And then we had a couple opportunities to make some competitive plays both defensively and offensively there in the second half, and they made a few more of them than we did. We made obviously massive, massive progress defensively in every way that you can measure it, but certainly today wasn't our best."

After a game like this, do you talk to them as much about life as football after this?

"Yeah, you do. You've got a big responsibility here. These are transformational years for these guys. These guys go through a lot on a very public stage. They put their heart and soul on the line, and my message to them is that this team has put their heart and soul on the line. Anybody that has watched us play, you cannot deny that. And to go through emotionally what we have and still continue to do it, like, you can't question this football team. There's times we could have played better, sure. There's times we could have coached better, yeah. Did we miss some opportunities? Yes, we did. But we laid it on the line every single week, and my message to the guys was, 'You continue to do that in your life, you continue to do that in this football program, the things you want will come.' And that they needed to walk out of that locker room with their heads held high. If you quit, if you give in, if you crack, if you fall apart, then you ought to walk out of that locker room with your head down. This team has no reason to put their head down. I'm proud to coach this team. I'm very, very proud to coach them."

Why do you feel like with everything this team went through this year that they never cracked?

"Well, I think No. 1, I think there's some really strong leadership in this program. We've got some really high-quality individuals. I think this program means a lot to the people in our locker room, that the challenge of building and bringing this thing back with all that's changed and continues to change, I think this group really cared about one another. I think they really didn't want to let each other down, all sides of the ball -- the coaching staff. I mean, you coach long enough you're going to be part of teams at times that don't win some games or you go through some tough moments, and the majority of the time that I've been through that, at some point there's some finger-pointing, there's some dissension, like there's something as a head coach that either I had to do as a head coach or I watched other head coaches do when I wasn't a head coach, like they gotta go get in between that or stop it. Like, that never happened with this football team. Not one time.

"That's why I knew every week we were going to show back up and we were going to keep rolling and I knew we'd have a chance to make a run here at the end. Obviously, we really wanted to get all three of these, so I think it speaks to what we're building, speaks to the quality of the individuals in that room, and you've got to first learn how to fight and learn how to scrap as a program. I think this team did that and we'll continue to grow from it. We're going to get better, but it's one hell of a place to start"

What have you learned about Jayden Maiava over the course of these games?

"He's done a good job. You know, it's not an easy situation to go into, especially when you're playing three good programs, three pretty good defenses. There wasn't a gimme on that schedule. Especially the way he played today, that's the best we've played offensively all year. That's a really good defense that we did some pretty good things against, so I thought he stepped up, played some really good. I was impressed how he handled the whole way and how he handled our team in terms of being a leader, being a steadying presence. That's what that position has to do, and I thought he answered the call."

Do you think this Notre Dame team can make a run in the playoffs?

"Yeah, it's a good football team. I think it's, the teams we've played against here the first two years, it's probably the most complete Notre Dame that we've played, it's probably the best offensive team that they've had in my opinion in the last couple years. So yeah, they've done a good job. I know there's a lot of other good teams out there, but I give them credit. They did a really nice job. We'll see what happens."