Lincoln Riley has talked a lot about the grandeur of the Coliseum, what it means to be able to play in such a historic venue, its iconic place in college football.
Saturday was his first time talking to his USC football team in the locker room at the stadium, his first time leading the Trojans out on the field with fans in the stands as the program held its much-anticipated spring game.
"You kind of start thinking about what that will be in the fall," Riley said afterward. "I just tried to take in every moment of it -- every single moment. Coming out of that tunnel for the first time certainly gives you chills, and check your pulse if it doesn't. That's one of those iconic walks in our sport that I've never had a chance to do -- kind of glad I got to do it the first time with a USC visor on."
USC officially announced an attendance of 33,427, the most ever for a Trojans spring game as far as records go back to the late 1990s. It's hard to approximate by eye, looking at the crowd in the context of a stadium that seats more than 77,000. What is clear is there was a great number more fans than for any recent Trojans spring game.
And as much as anything, Saturday was about furthering the momentum Riley has brought back to USC football since his hiring.
"The guys were excited to play today. If you're in this city and don't feel the momentum about this program, you're not paying attention. And our guys feel it right now," Riley said. "So they were amped to play this game, and it was good to see them settle and play focused and not out of control and undisciplined."
RELATED: Watch: Interview with Lincoln Riley and players after the spring game | Join the postgame discussion on Trojan Talk
USC played two quarters of live football. Instead of dividing the roster into two teams, the Trojans simply went offense vs. defense due to depth concerns, with QBs Caleb Williams and Miller Moss rotating through the first eight series before Moss stayed in late to close it out.
Williams worked with the first-team offensive line, Moss with the second-team OL and the skill players rotated in and out.
Not that it ultimately matters in this context, but the final score was Offense 34, Defense 30, with a scoring system that started the defense with a 21-0 advantage and awarded further points for fourth down stops (and other categories that didn't come into play).
Williams, already getting buzz as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate, led back-to-back touchdown drives to open the day, going 9-of-9 passing for 90 yards and 2 TDs through his first two series.
Both touchdowns went to Mario Williams, his former Oklahoma Sooners teammate, who hauled in 5-yard and 9-yard scoring passes on the right side of the end zone. On both, the QB made a quick read to his most familiar target and their timing/chemistry was apparent.
"I had a couple really good shots to Rio for touchdowns and that connection between me and 'Rio', as we all know, it goes back to the old school that I was at. It was a smooth day, but we've got to get better at a lot of different things," Caleb Williams said.
Indeed, those would be his only touchdowns of the day as he finished 10 of 12 for 98 yards across four offensive possessions, going three-and-out on his final two series of the day.
"Beginning was solid. The end, not so solid. Got to get better at moving the ball second half. That's always big," Williams said. "There's always a new game when you come out that second half. It's basically 0-0 every single time. ... The defense did well in responding.
"As an offense, though, we've got to get better. Myself also, pushing the guys, making sure that we're all on point, locked in, focused, because you never know what that drive could be. It could be a game-winner, even if it's in the third quarter, coming out it's the first drive [of the half]. That's always big."
Moss, meanwhile, backed up the praise he had received from Riley over the last couple weeks, finishing 15 of 20 for 169 yards and a touchdown -- a beautiful 48-yard strike in stride to Kyle Ford down the left seam.
Moss' first series had ended with a sack from Nick Figueroa (by whistle, as QBs were off limits to tackling) and a 55-yard Alex Stadthaus field goal before he followed his second series with the big touchdown strike.
"Once I saw it was one on one, like, 'We're going after him.' Kyle made a heck of a play," Moss said. "... I think Coach Riley kind of touched on it, but he just wanted the spring game to be a reflection on what spring as a whole was and I think that was the biggest focus going into the day and you've kind of got to treat it like any other practice. And I think I was able to do that."
Moss' third turn with the offense ended with a 6-yard Austin Jones touchdown run and included the QB's second-best throw of the day -- a 24-yard completion to Kyron Ware-Hudson down the right sideline with an unblocked pass rusher in his face. The pass was good, but the catch was excellent as Ware-Hudson had defensive back Jaylin Smith right on him as we went up to grab it.
Moss' fourth series led to a 30-yard Denis Lynch field goal.
Travis Dye rushed for 27 yards on 7 carries, Darwin Barlow rushed for 23 yards on 5 attempts and Jones had 6 rushes for 14 yards.
Ford led the Trojans with those 48 receiving yards but it was his only target and catch. Ware-Hudson had 4 catches for 36 yards, Mario Williams had 4 for 32 yards and the 2 TDs, Terrell Bynum caught 2 passes for 34 yards, Brenden Rice caught 3 for 13, John Jackson III had 2 catches for 26 yards, Barlow had 2 catches for 26 yards, Jude Wolfe had 3 catches for 22 yards, Jones caught 2 for 18 and Tahj Washington caught 2 for 12.
Defensively, Figueroa, Romello Height and Julien Simon notched sacks while Tuli Tuipulotu had two impressive tackles for loss in which he swallowed up Dye behind the line of scrimmage before the running back could even react. Brandon Pili also had a TFL.
"I was happy with what we did as a defense," linebacker Shane Lee said. "I think we kind of settled down and played our game as the game went on -- fast, physical, downhill attacking, being sound on the calls, playing within the defense, doing your job, relying on your brother to do their job and just having fun out there."
In terms of other big plays, Dye started the day with a 13-yard run up the middle, Ware-Hudson took a well-executed reverse from Barlow for 18 yards, Caleb Williams had a 29-yard completion to Bynum that he lofted perfectly down the right sideline while almost moving backwards with pass rusher Tyrone Taleni in his face, and Barlow had a 21-yard reception on a swing pass from Moss.
Afterward, Riley highlighted the tackling and the "battle" along the line of scrimmage.
"That was a great day. Great, great day. A lot of work went into this day by a lot of people. I mean, you think about four, four and a half months ago where this thing was, the team just being put together, roster being put together, assembling a staff, a fan base that I think was hungry for some real momentum. Today was a great example I think of the progress that's been made in a really short time," Riley said.
"I thought the day was very representative of how the entire spring has gone. Pretty physical on both sides of the football, some big plays on both sides, typically sides if something didn't go their way they tend to rebound, so pretty back and forth on the day. That's been, I would say, very typical of this spring."
Afterward, there was as much talk about building the culture of the program as there was about the spring game itself. Indeed, it's the progress both on and off the field that Riley and the players felt encouraged by as they closed out the spring.
"Everybody was excited, like coach said. You work so hard for four months and this is the day that you work for. It was a pretty good day," Lee said. "I'm happy with the foundation that we've built this spring."
