SOUTH BEND, Indiana -- After his USC football team took a humbling, one-sided 48-20 loss on the road at rival Notre Dame, coach Lincoln Riley remained defiantly optimistic that none of the issues revealed Saturday night are endemic and unfixable.
Moreover, he asserted that he believes this team can achieve all its goals.
"Incredibly disappointing night. Just didn't, didn't play good enough to win the game here on the road in a rivalry game against a good opponent. I mean, that's the simple matter,'" Riley said. "The obvious thing is you lose the turnover battle 5-0 and you give up a kickoff return for touchdown, you have a penalty that takes a touchdown off the board, a number of negative plays. That's the name of the game right there. ...
"Obviously, we're really disappointed. It's a disappointed locker room. Disappointed -- certainly not defeated, not demoralized. We know that we've obviously got a lot in front of us."
USC's struggles had been bubbling to the surface the last few weeks as the Trojans had a hard time on the road in a 42-28 win at Arizona State, then let a large third quarter lead almost disappear in a 48-41 win at Colorado and last week needed three overtimes to beat Arizona, 43-41.
The offensive line struggles that became more magnified in recent games boiled over as the Trojans allowed 6 sacks, routinely gave quarterback Caleb Williams no time to operate (two of his three interceptions came on throws forced under pressure) and cleared few lanes for the running backs, who totaled 84 yards on 21 carries.
Williams finished 23-of-37 passing for 199 yards, 1 touchdowns and 3 interceptions (after having just 1 pick over the first six games combined) and the Trojans ended up with five total turnovers after two fumbles late in the fourth quarter.
Add in 9 penalties for 75 yards and a lot of preexisting concerns became magnified in this deflating defeat.
But Riley remained resolute that this team could still chase a Pac-12 championship (the Trojans are 4-0 in Pac-12 play).
"We've got to go fix the things that we gotta fix. We gotta coach and play better. But is it in our power, is it something we're capable of? I believe it to my core and we're going to go fight our ass off to get it done," Riley said.
Watch the postgame press conference here as Riley and QB Caleb Williams discussed the deflating defeat.
RELATED: Full transcript of Lincoln Riley's and Caleb Williams' comments after the loss at Notre Dame
Join our postgame thread on Trojan Talk and share your thoughts on the loss.
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