Everything Lincoln Riley said after USC's win over Fresno State

"A great win against a good football team. It was a very physical game on both sides, very competitive plays on both sides, so certainly a different challenge than we've faced. We said that all week with our team that we're going to get tested and we're going to be faced with some situations in this game that we haven't been in yet as a team, and it was good to see us really respond. Really proud of the way we played in the second half. That was a very big point of emphasis throughout the week, especially coming off the Stanford game, of putting together a more complete game and I thought we did that. I just told the team in there probably my favorite play of the game or sequence of the game was the goal line stop there at the end. That's what we're about. No matter who thinks the game's over or this doesn't matter, it all matters to us, and if you're going to be a champion it's got to all matter. For our guys to get that stop right there at the end to close the game was as meaningful as anything that happened tonight. So, proud of our guys, great win, obviously got to get back on it -- have an important one coming up."

What is your general feeling about the defensive performance?

"We just held a really, really good offense and offensive staff and talented guys to 17 points. You know, can it get better? Absolutely. Do we expect it to get better? Yes. But we're finding way to now allow people to score many points and win games and make the big plays when we need to make them, so absolutely something we'll continue to build on. I think we're growing, we're learning each week -- there's a few less mistakes, a few more things right and I thought this group offensively really presented some challenges and proud of the way we handled it. You guys are kind of getting to know our personality now too -- I mean, we're always going to love and appreciate winning, a lot to get better at, a lot of ball left to play."

Is it fair to say your defense is opportunistic?

"Great units make big-time plays at big moments. I would say we're a very good defense that I expect is going to get better and better."

How important was the success of the run game?

"Yeah, I thought the run game was really pretty good most of the night. We were steady. I thought the line was really good in the run game. Those guys start seeing it pretty well. We had some big ones that we're really, really close -- I think the shoestring one that Travis almost came out of it would have went a long, long way. So yeah, it's important, you've got to run the ball to win and win consistently, win different ways. So proud of the way we ran the ball."

Is there any concern about Bobby Haskins' arm?

"No, he could have played if the game there was [closer]. Just took a pretty big shot, but he was laughing and joking at the end. I can't repeat it all, but he'll be good. And we'll be excited to get some of these guys healthy. We were able to get through tonight on both sides of the ball holding a few guys that we think are getting pretty close to being ready to go."

What has it meant to have Solomon Byrd emerge the last two games?

"Huge. We gave him a game ball in there, which was very much deserved. Two weeks ago he was a 3, wasn't getting very many reps. How many reps did you take in the Rice game? (Byrd says 5). He took 5 reps in the Rice game. Again, that's what we're trying to build, right? A guy that first game of the season takes 5 reps and is a 3, gets an opportunity, keeps working and then now look at him. Now is a starter, really came in and impacted the last two weeks, was even better this week than he was last week from what I saw on the field. And we would expect him to continue to get better, but it's been huge."

How pleased with how Caleb Williams responded in the third quarter and that he has no turnovers to this point?

"Yeah, I love that he's taking care of the ball. I thought we had to make some adjustments there after the second quarter, and I thought the adjustments were well received. He went out and executed them well. He's learning to win and progress in different ways. That's what quarterbacks do as they get older and more experienced. He's seeing it well and has a really good grasp on what we're doing. I thought he trusted it even more this week than he did last week. We've just got to continue to work together and improve."

You had a 15-play drive that took up 7 minutes of the clock, I don't know how many of those you've ever had ...

"More than you would guess."

How important was it to take some time off the clock?

"It was a point of emphasis for the offense -- we've got to be able to win in different ways. When we're playing fast or explosive plays, or it slows down, you have a lot of plays, you've got to be able to execute. Being fairly effective on third down and really, really effective on fourth down was a big part of that and I think it showed some progress."

Was it your plan to be that aggressive on fourth down?

"No, I was hoping we wouldn't be in that many. But yeah, you just make those decisions as you go -- you never know how the game's going to play out. The fun thing about calling plays when you're the head coach is you've got the full team in mind when you do it, and I felt like the confidence defensively that we were going to get stops, the confidence offensively that we were going to convert, really had no hesitation on all three of them."

What was your thought defensively after Jake Haener went out for Fresno State?

"Just keep playing. We have too much respect for the other plays on that team. For Coach Tedford and his staff, obviously the quarterback's a tremendous player, but for us to sit there and think they're not going to have another guy ready, Jeff Tedford's one of the best quarterback coaches our game's ever seen so he's going to have somebody else ready to go. And they still got all those other good players that have been a big part of their success, so no, it was business as usual. On to the next one, and they still presented a challenge."