Nothing groundbreaking, though Riley was pretty blunt in saying USC just isn't talented enough on the defensive line.
USC’s throwing the third-most passes in the FBS, throwing a higher rate than you usually have, what’s responsible for that?
“Uh, I think a little bit of the way the games have unfolded. We’ve been in, I think we have been in a lot of two-minute situations, which typically is going to accentuate that a little bit. And yeah, we don’t pay a ton of attention to it from an overall perspective. To me, it’s still a week-to-week thing, and what you think gives you the best chance to win. And that’s why we call the plays that we do.”
How has D’Anton handled adjustments to get more sacks/pressures on QB?
“Yeah, I think he’s done a good job with it. I mean, it’s, you’ve got, you’ve got the pieces that you have. And each year, especially in a Year One for us with this new defense and new defensive staff, you have the players that we have and you’ve got to go make it work with what you have. And try to accentuate the things that we do well, and then try to – I don’t know if cover up’s the right word, but you got to try to create with what you have. And so, I think his creativity has shown, and obviously that’s going to continue to evolve as we continue to recruit, as we continue to develop, to target guys that obviously fit this system and give us the skill sets that we want to have with the way that we play. And that’s just, that’ll continue to evolve as time goes on. But no, I mean, he’s creative. And we’ve had to be, even just creative just within the year, just because of the – some of the differing lineups, and having guys available, not having guys available, we’ve played obviously some very different offensive styles. And, so, no, I do. You feel his creativity week-to-week, and he stays really positive with it. Very positive, very confident, it’s all about – just find a way, alright. And if this isn’t working, or if this is different, then let’s adjust, and do everything we can to put these guys in position to succeed and to stop offenses.”
Is it a priority for the program to develop pass-rush talent?
“Yeah, I think it’s definitely fair to say. I think that’s definitely one thing that, as we look ahead, that we’ve got to be able to – we’ve got to be able to generate more pass-rush without having to bring pressure all the time. And we certainly want to get to that point, and I think there’s the now, which is obviously, how can we develop and get that going as much as we possibly can for the rest of this season, and then certainly there’s a big-picture view of recruiting, developing, getting to the point where we feel like we can get pressure a lot of different ways. And you want to get to the point where, as a coordinator, you feel like you’ve got a chance to get pressure either way, and now you’re just mixing up looks, fit, with the confidence that we can be effective either way. So, no, definitely the development and recruiting of pass-rushers is certainly going to be a big part of looking forward.”
What impact are injuries having and what can you do about it?
"They always do. You have to adjust week to week. Occasionally, you get the rare seasons where it feels like your lineup stays the same the whole way through, and you’re able to develop a lot of continuity and build. That happens some years, and it doesn’t some years. It hasn’t really happened for us, and that’s OK. You gotta be able to adjust. You gotta be able to adapt. You have to be able to show the resiliency of the team and the adaptability of the team and the coaching staff. You just never know. You know challenges are coming. You can’t ever predict all they’re going to be, and you have to be ready to handle them. Yeah, it impacts you. You’d love to go through it and have minimal injuries, very consistent lineups. That’s definitely an advantage, but that’s obviously not in our control. What is in our control is finding a way to put a good product out there each week and find different skillsets and adapt. Like, it’s OK if we have to adapt. We’re obviously trying to minimize that for the guys, and take a situation which can be consistent and try to provide as much consistency for them as we possibly can. Gotta put more of the strain on the staff than the players. That’s been the mindset. It’s had an impact, but it’s football. Adversity happens. We’ve got to keep responding."
What's the update on Jacobe Covington, Kamari Ramsey and Jaylin Smith?
"We’re hopeful. We’re hopeful. They’ve all shown some positive signs. The short week is a challenge there. That’s probably one of the big negatives of a short week. When you have guys dinged up, it’s obviously a little less time, not necessarily just to get healthy. But there’s also the preparation standpoint. Right? Not just get them healthy so they physically could do it on a Friday night, but can you get them ready to give them some reps during the week to be ready to play? So that’s the two things we’re fighting against. Hopeful to have them. Our medical staff has done a nice job with all three guys. They’ve all made progress, but I don’t know. Today will be pretty telling for those guys."
What's your philosophy on having a true No. 1 WR and is that something you hope emerges?
"I definitely understand the question. It’s kind of hard to force. Every receiving corps is different. We’ve had years where we’ve kind of had a clear-cut 1 or 2 that are kind of just way ahead of everybody else, and those are going to be guys you know you’re going to feature every week, no matter what. And then we’ve had years, we feel like we have a handful of guys who are number ones, and each one of them is having different opportunities. They’re all making impacts on all the games, but you know one game, this guy gets a little more, this game this guy gets a little more. I think the key is just that we’re getting productivity from all of these guys. And whether a bunch comes from 1 or 2 players or it’s evenly spread out across four or 5 players, it’s tougher to defend Option B. But it’s harder to build a core to where you feel like you can go and target all these guys and you’ve got confidence built up in all of them. We do have confidence in these guys, and I do think it has made us difficult to defend in the passing game, and certainly counting on that showing up even more as these guys get more experience and our quarterbacks get more experience with them. Certainly counting on that showing up at its very best here in the last part of the season."
Has this matched what you expected from Big Ten scheduling, playing a Friday game at 8 p.m. local time?
"I think it's been pretty as I would expect. The Friday kicks here aren't ideal in LA. I know there's a lot of other great sporting events that's going on on Friday, but those obviously provide some challenges in LA that are unique to our place. So those are the ones I'm really not a fan of, but we're not going to have too many of those. That's probably going to be a once every two, three years type of thing. I think all the early kicks have been great, I do. You look at some of the TV windows that we've played in, and when we have had to travel we haven't got home just horribly late. I think the recovery piece has been good for our guys, so no, I think scheduling -- this one was a little unique, we kind of knew in the beginning, all right, you go to Maryland, you come back and play a Friday game. But now that we're going through it I really don't have any complaints about it other than I just don't love Friday games here at USC for some of the obvious reasons. I think the scheduling in large part this year has been a success and a positive in my mind for our program."
What has been your impression of D'Anton Lynn through the first half of the season and having to adjust to personnel setbacks?
"He's just been steady, man. He's handled it like a pro and really our whole defensive staff has. You can just tell these guys don't get real rattled by not having a player or this happening or that happening. You can tell they've been there. It just feels that way. I think they've all been great additions to our program, and I just think there's been a real steadiness about that entire room the way those guys work together, the way those guys function with our players and the rest of our staff. And I feel that with our entire staff. This is a very steady staff, it's a lot of people that have been there, it's a lot of people that don't get easily rattled, that see the big picture and just kind of stay at it. There's a real professionalism in this building now. No, I've been proud of the way he's handled it, all of our people. He's been a tremendous addition. I can't say enough good things about him."
A couple random special teams questions -- why does a reserve offensive lineman wear the No. 95 over his jersey even though he's not wearing a duplicate number, and why do the offensive guards on the kick unit flip sides?
"Well, there's two parts to that. The jersey one, there's definitely a schematic piece to that that I don't want to get into, but I promise you there's a good reason behind it to go through that trouble, I promise you. And yeah, flipping sides on that for us is about teaching people's blocks come differently from kick side vs. boundary side and kind of the thought process is, all right, do you want to teach one guy to do both or do you want to teach them just one thing. It's fairly common in field goals. Offenses used to do it all the time -- offenses used to flip O-linemen from playside to backside all the time. Obviously, you don't see it as much anymore, but that's been the thought process there."
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