Lincoln Riley’s never-before-seen USC admission is no excuse for pathetic defensive showing vs. Rutgers

The USC football team survived a scare against Rutgers on Saturday, 42-35. USC head football coach Lincoln Riley sees a lot to work on for his Trojans defense.

“We were certainly out of position and I thought that had a big effect on the game. We also gave up too many big plays defensively. Not pleased at all with how we played there,” Riley said, per Sports Illustrated.

The Trojans improved to 4-0 on the year with the victory.

“Excited to get the win. It was a lively game. Saw some things tonight that I’ve never seen in my career with us on the road,” he added.

USC allowed 460 total yards to Rutgers, who is winless. That included 292 passing yards. Riley said his secondary had to rotate in several players to maintain coverages.

“I look at more individual breakdowns. We’ve obviously had to play with a lot of different guys in the secondary. We had some guys go down throughout the game who weren’t available. But I thought we were untimely as a defense,” Riley added.

Despite the defensive struggles for USC, there was one big moment in the second half. USC scored a touchdown on a pick-six, to open up a 13-point lead.

“Obviously the pick six was big for us. Christian Pierce’s interception early in the game was really good. And we got them into third and fourth downs, but didn’t always get them. We also still have to clean up penalties. We certainly helped them a little bit there,” Riley added.

The Trojans are now 1-0 in the Big Ten following the win. USC has expectations this season to reach the College Football Playoff. The school has yet to make the CFP under Riley. Some analysts consider the USC football coach to be on the hot-seat this year.

USC next takes on Oregon at home on Saturday.