As the Notre Dame football team made a statement, it was at the hands of the USC football team as they fell 49-35 on Saturday in their regular-season finale. While the future of the USC football team will be heavily talked about, head coach Lincoln Riley spoke about what went wrong, including on the defensive end that led to an easy day on offense for the Fighting Irish.
When Riley spoke to the media after the loss to the fifth-ranked team in the nation, he mentioned how the defense had made “massive progress” while also admitting the outing was far from their best, according to ESPN.
“We had a couple of opportunities to make some competitive plays there in the second half, and they made a couple more of them,” Riley said. “We’ve made massive progress on defense in every way you can measure it, but certainly today wasn’t our best.”
“Yeah, I thought we hung in there and made some big plays in the first half,” Riley continued. “Obviously had the two turnovers, which at the time were massive. But we just didn’t do a good enough job against the run, period. That to me was kind of the story of the day. We didn’t defend the run as well as we have been, and I thought that made them pretty multi-dimensional.”
It was a close in the first half as both teams were tied at 14 a piece at halftime, but the Fighting Irish opened it up in the third with 21 points and 14 more in the fourth.
USC football's Lincoln Riley on the future of the program

The home team couldn't last with Notre Dame as USC football quarterback Jayden Maiava threw for 360 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
“Just an excruciating loss,” Riley said in his opening statement via On3 Sports. “Really tough there at the end, just standing in here as all the guys came through, watching great Trojans like this guy right here (Jaylin Smith) come up that tunnel for the last time. There’s been so many guys here that have I think paved the way. They have invested in this program, they’ve shared in our journey to continue to build this thing, and I’m proud to have coached them, proud to have had these guys throughout this journey.”
Talking about the future of the program, there has been talk about the job Riley has done so far, but when asked about what the road ahead looks like, he mentioned how it's too early to look at.
“Yeah, this game finished, what, 20 minutes ago? So we've got time to go here,” Riley said. “I know there's time for that, and I get to answer all those [questions]. That's part of being the head coach, and I don't shy away from it. … I could sit up here for an hour and talk about the things I know are happening within this program, I could rattle off all the stats, I could show you facilities, I could show you recruiting, I could show you the staff, I could go on about that for an hour. I just don't think it's the appropriate time right now.”
At any rate, the USC Trojans finished with a 6-6 record, 4-2 in conference play, as they await a bowl game.