Lincoln Riley started his postgame comments Saturday night with a statement about the Pac-12's decision to enforce a suspension upon redshirt senior defensive back Christian Roland-Wallace for the first half of the Trojans' 66-14 win over Nevada.

Riley said the suspension regarded something that happened in the Arizona-Arizona State game last year, when Roland-Wallace was a Wildcat, but he did not agree any penalty was warranted.

After setting the record straight on that, Riley talked about the dominant win over the Wolf Pack, highlighting the performance of a Trojans defense that opened the game without key linebackers Eric Gentry and Mason Cobb due to injury and then further lost freshman LB Tackett Curtis to a targeting ejection in the first half.

In addition to Riley, wide receiver Tahj Washington, running back MarShawn Lloyd and linebacker Shane Lee were on the dais with Riley for the press conference.

Watch it here and scroll down for a complete transcript of Riley's comments.

RELATED: Breaking down USC's 66-14 win over Nevada

Opening statement about Christian Roland-Wallace having to sit out the first half ...

"We're very disappointed that the Pac-12 didn't allow Christian Roland-Wallace to play the first half of the game today. Not one time during the offseason were we informed of a pending suspension. We became aware Thursday afternoon after the majority of the preparation was already done. Upon learning about the suspension, we felt the need to go back and look at it ourselves. We requested video from the incident in that Arizona-Arizona State game last year. When we looked at it, it was apparent that Christian was not involved in any way that you could even imagine an ejection. We feel like it was an incorrect call. When we brought this to the attention of the conference, they stated it was too late and that the ruling had been made.

"Whether he played or not is not the most important thing to me, but in my months here with Christian I've seen the kind of person that he is, the kind of teammate that he is and I don't want this to put him in any bad light because it shouldn't and it's wrong. And so, I think very important to make sure that what happened in this matter is understood. Christian's been a very valuable member of our program, continues to be and we're going to make sure that his reputation stays intact like it rightfully should."

Did the Pac-12 provide any reasoning for why this wasn't brought to your attention earlier?

"No. I mean, I think it was an oversight. And listen, with guys transferring, all that's going on right now in the world, there's going to be mistakes made. We're not perfect. I make plenty myself. I just think disappointed that there aren't mechanisms in place, and even when they're not, that's when sometimes you just do the right thing. I think the video was very apparent. I think we've seen every angle, every bit we possibly could. If there's something we're missing then I'm wrong, but from what we've seen. Again, you've got a senior here that's busted his tail -- we don't get 60 games. Missing a half of ball, for a guy that wants to help his team, for a guy that wants to go play in the NFL, that's a big deal. And most importantly to me, the reputation of somebody that's been a class act for us from the beginning, so that's just where we're at."

Did you get to talk to Jedd Fisch about it because it seemed like he wasn't aware either?

"I did. I talked to Jedd, to Coach Fisch yesterday. I don't want to speak for him, but I think we both feel the same way about it. It is what it is. We're going to move on. The most important thing to me is not trying to send a message at anybody. I'm not trying to send some crazy message to this conference. That's not my goal here. My goal here is, understand that this kid did not deserve -- from what I've seen -- did not deserve to sit and I want to make sure the reputation of him stays intact. That is the No. 1 goal and then we'll all move on."

Opening comments on the game ...

"All right, now on to the game. Yeah, listen, I think we made a lot of improvements throughout the week. We really challenged these guys on all parts, challenged ourselves as a staff and I thought that really showed up. Thought the guys played well. It was great to see, again, a lot of guys be able to play. We saw playmakers on all sides. I thought our young players in particular, really, you could tell this one wasn't their first game. The eyes weren't quite as big at the end, and you saw some guys really settle in there and make plays.

"Obviously, Stanley's fumble return was probably the major highlight of the game. When big people score, football's more fun. So that was awesome, and yeah, proud of all sides. A few plays here and there that we're going to want back that we know we obviously have to continue to clean up, but we took a step this week and we've got a big one coming up and we've got to continue to take those steps."

How did you feel the defense responded to being down three linebackers and is there an update on Mason Cobb and Eric Gentry?

"Yeah, Cobb and Gentry we don't think they're long-term. They weren't ready to go today. That had nothing to do with the opponent. I don't believe they would have played regardless -- they just weren't ready. And I thought guys stepped up. Shane Lee stepped up and played well, Raesjon stepped up and played well. Tackett was doing some really nice things before the ejection. So no, I thought the guys really stepped up, communicated. You saw the run defense was, I mean, was really stout all night. Really, we gave up two fade balls. I mean, you don't discount those -- those can't happen, we have to get better. Other than that we played pretty clean football."

How helpful is it to have Caleb Williams when you're still rotating on the O-line and at WR?

"Yeah, he's been pretty steady the first two games and obviously his mobility shows up at times, so no, it's been good. I do think the O-line was much steadier today. Really, I think offensively you'd point to the penalties as the negative. We had a couple up front. We played much steadier, communicated better, kind of had the makings of a good group today and a little bit more in sync. So no, positive steps there."

You had a front-row view of Caleb's throw to Dorian Singer on the sideline. What did you think of that play?

"Yeah, it was a good play. I was yelling at him to throw it away. Sometimes I'm mad when he doesn't listen to me; this time I was glad he didn't listen to me."

​What are you trying to emphasize the most to Caleb as the next step in his development?

"Situational ball, and these guys would tell you, I think for the whole program that's been a big emphasis point. It's Year 2 now, this is not brand new for everybody. We did more situational ball in this camp than any camp I've been a part of, putting these guys in these situations where it's not only executing the call but understanding where you're at on the field, what hash, how this split matters, how this much time on the clock or they have this many timeouts -- all those things factor in the game. You see our team starting to understand that more. We've tried to do that with Caleb, we've tried to do that with all these guys, and there's been some real positive signs so far."

​How do you get a read on these first two games before you head into conference play?

"I just gauge it by our team. You've been around these guys a lot now, you're starting to get a feel for these guys, where they're at individually, where they're at collectively, what we can be. For us, it's just a steady climb, right? We can't beat anybody until we play them, so you've got to continue throughout the year. I do think we took some really positive steps tonight, but in college football every week is it's own story. You scrap it, you learn a few things and then you start over and the matchups and challenges are going to continue to change. We know we got a good one coming in here next Saturday night. We need this place rocking. Next Saturday at 7:30, we need this place rocking -- potentially the last time these schools match up for a long time and there's a lot of significance to that. And having that one here at home behind a great home crowd is very important."

With all the young guys playing, how hard is it to tell some guys they might want to redshirt?

"Yeah, we're all kind of having to get back in that world. Covid took us out of that for a while when everybody had the free year. It's like you kind of forgot about the four-game redshirt for a while and we're all back into that world. We'll take it on a case by case basis, but if guys can help this team now we're going to lean toward playing them. We're going to need a lot of guys. It's a long journey. These guys have been through some of those journeys. It's a long year, you're going to have different lineups, we're going to need different people to step up, it's not always going to be the same people every week. And I think we've got a roster full of guys who are hungry to make the most of their opportunities whenever they come."

You had some quick scoring drives in the first half -- do you adjust your play-calling to try to give the defense more of a rest?

"At time you do, sure. You can't really help it when an inside zone play pops. Our defense is never disappointed when we score, we're never disappointed when they stop somebody, I'll put it that way."

​Is Caleb where you want him to be right now?

"Ahh, hard question to answer, honestly. He's improving. I can't say I'm like disappointed with how he's played, but he's got to get better, right? Again, like I told you guys about the game last week, everybody wants to look at the score and then just write the story and there's so much to it. There's some things he's done really well, especially the situational ball, and some understandings defensively I think have improved. But we've had a handful of plays in both games that we both want back that we got to go get and not leave on the table here going forward."

Any update on Gino Quinones"

"Not yet, we'll have to see, keep our fingers crossed."