USC Trojans College Football Postgame Quote, 01/02/2023

CHARLIE FISS, MODERATOR: We are joined now by USC Head Coach Lincoln Riley. Coach, we’ll come to you first for your thoughts on today’s game.

COACH LINCOLN RILEY: Yeah, thank you. First, I want to congratulate Coach Fritz, Tulane. Magical year they’ve had. We knew they were a very tough opponent. No surprise to us that they kept swinging throughout the ebbs and flows of the game. So really well-coached football team. Obviously, it’s a huge win for them and their program. And we just want to offer congratulations to them.

It’s as tough a loss as I can remember in my entire career. You know, to have the momentum a number of times. Obviously, didn’t do a very good job finishing there at the end. The thing we told the guys in the locker room ‚Äì obviously, a very, very disappointed locker room. You know, wins like this ‚Äì or losses like this are always tough to digest, man. They really are. I thought our guys really laid it on the line. Played really, really hard. Prepared hard. Really wanted to win this game. And we actually put ourselves in a phenomenal position to get it done. And then all three sides right there at the end with the dropped kick-off and the safety, and then obviously, not getting the stops that we needed defensively down the stretch. I mean, all three sides contributed to it.

Now that the season’s over, I’ve rarely at the end of a year felt so conflicted. On one hand, sick about the way that we finished the season. Particularly, the fourth quarter of the last two games. We lost three games this year. We lost two of them on the last play of the game. And we lost one in the fourth quarter in the championship game where we had the chance to go to The College Football Playoff. That’s the competitor in you, the competitor in us, that’s a tough pill to swallow, man. Because those opportunities are not easy to get.

Now the flip side of it is, we were in those positions. And those positions are very, very real. We’re in this locker room. We’re here at the Cotton Bowl [Classic] at a New Year’s Six game. And again, 12 months ago, I don’t think many people on the outside believed that was even possible.

So I think getting through this first season, there’s a ton of great momentum in this program. And today’s result, as sick as it is, does not change that. The reality is that we’re here, and we’re not going anywhere. We know what we need to get better at as a program. We have to finish better. And we didn’t get that done enough this year. And we were really, really close.

And the line to do that, the line to finish and win these big games like we had here at the end, it’s so thin, man. It’s a fine line. It’s one play here or there, and it changes everything. And that’s how close we are. But we’ve got to go get that as a program. And we will.

In a lot of ways, we’re further ahead in so many areas than I would have thought. But we clearly have a lot of work to do. And this one won’t be easy to get over, but we’ll get over it. And the journey for next season starts tomorrow. I can’t wait to get up and go back to work and figure out what we’ve got to do as a program to finish better. Continue to put ourselves in these opportunities that this team did a great job of this year, and then when we get there, finish them. And we will get there. And we will get there sooner rather than later.

Like I said, we’re not going anywhere. Tough one today. But we’ve got to own it as a team. And that’s what we’re going to do. And we’ll see you back in 12 months.

CHARLIE FISS, MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

Our student-athletes from Southern California, Justin Dedich and Mekhi Blackmon. Let’s take questions for the two students first, and then we will keep coach and bring him back in a few minutes.

For you both. Just like Coach [Riley] said, bittersweet ending. But what you can say about what you did do this season and how you find those positives, even in the tough locker room right now.

DB MEKHI BLACKMON: I would say it’s hard to be happy with what we did this year with the day we just had. So obviously, I just need 24 hours to get over that, and then I’ll be able to tell you guys how I’m feeling about the whole year.

OL JUSTIN DEDICH: Being a part of the previous season, I’m unbelievably proud of this program and the turnaround. Obviously, there’s still something that we need to do as players and bring it together so we can finish these games in the fourth quarter. I guess that’s the difference playing in the National Championship.

Mekhi, there was a lot of talk this week about how it felt like the defense had taken steps forward this last month. How frustrating was it to not see that progress on the field today?

DB MEKHI BLACKMON: You’re going to have your ups and downs. Just wish we played a little better. That’s all you can hope for.

Justin, can you take us through those two plays on the goal line that ended up in the safety? Especially that second one, where did it break down?

OL JUSTIN DEDICH: Yeah, it’s sitting heavy in my gut right now. Our unit didn’t get it done when we needed it most. And we take responsibility for that. But just next time we’ve got to be the more physical opponent against them and get those yards that we need. That’s all I got.

Justin, despite those last couple plays, how do you feel like the line kind of played throughout, despite not having [Andrew] Vorhees?

OL JUSTIN DEDICH: Yeah, I’m extremely proud of those guys. They stepped up to the plate. They did really well. They made important calls, made important blocks. But in games like this, it’s important to make those key blocks for all of us whenever the game is on the line. And so, I wish we could take back some plays, but overall, I’m proud of the group.

This is for Coach Riley or Mekhi. Tulane’s quarterback Michael Pratt going into this game said you guys could be exposed on a lot of big plays and that seemed to happen to the defense. Why do you guys think it is?

COACH LINCOLN RILEY: We missed tackles in the run game. Completion percentage wasn’t great. It was less than 50%. But obviously the big plays in the pass game. And he had some really nice scrambles against us in some key times. Obviously there on that last drive. A couple fourth down scrambles that were obviously big plays. So yeah, out of position a couple times. But again, our tackling hurt us. And against a good back. Because that was the story. Their ability to run the football, you know, 300 yards-plus rushing, I mean, that’s the entire game right there. And we didn’t do a good enough job at it obviously. And you don’t tackle good players and a good running back, that’s what happens.

Coach Riley, you mentioned how it’s such a fine line between being on the other side of this game. Where do you go when you wake up tomorrow? And how do you close that fine line and take the next step for next season?

COACH LINCOLN RILEY: Honestly, it’s a long answer to that. You know, you come in here day one, and you’re trying to, in a lot of ways, just start to teach these guys how to compete and what championship habits look like. You’re starting from the complete ground floor on everything. We’ve learned a lot of things. We’ve grown in a lot of ways. And that’s why we’re at this game and why we’re an 11-win team and two plays different from being who knows where.

But there’s still so much more to go to be in that position where you close out a conference championship game or you win a big bowl game like this or win a semifinal game or win a national championship, right? A lot of us in that staff room have seen it. And when we’ve won, it’s been, a lot of times, we’ve made just a couple more than the other one. And at times when we haven’t won and it’s been right.

And so yeah, that’s what’s painful about it, the margin is thin. And I think we’ve made a lot of big jumps this season to get over that hump, it is equally as challenging as just getting this thing started like we all did this year.

And so it will be a big challenge. But we know what we’re doing. We know the areas that we have to get better. We know the things that we have to address. We’ll spend a lot of time on it. Get some clarity. Let this one kind of soak in and get past it. And then we go back to work.

And we didn’t come here for a one-year deal. We knew that, when we signed up to come to USC. And so this one hurts, but also it gives complete clarity on what we need to do next; and that’s go back to work and keep building and developing our program.

Coach Riley, what’s your assessment for why the defense fell off precipitously the last few games? And you’ve been so supportive of Alex [Grinch] and aligned with him for a while. Where’s your confidence in him to lead that unit moving forward?

COACH LINCOLN RILEY: We just got done playing the game 15 minutes ago, so I’m not going to give any big-picture assessments. We didn’t play good enough today. We gave up ‚Äì the big plays obviously, and the lack of just not tackling to the level that we would expect is very, very alarming and something that we’ve got to do a much better job of.

But listen, to play great on offense or defense or special teams, to have any success, everything has got to be clicking. Every single part of your program. So we’ll take a deep dive into every part of it here over the next couple of weeks. We’ll lay out a plan, just like we did when we landed in L.A. 13 months ago. You take a deep dive of it, you assess what you’ve got and how can we make it better, and then you go to work. And now we just repeat the process knowing a little bit more about this roster and a little bit more about where we’re at and what we have coming back and what we’re going to add.

We made a pretty good jump in year one. And I wouldn’t bet against us to make another big jump next year.

CHARLIE FISS, MODERATOR: All right, Coach [Riley], Justin, and Mekhi, thank you for being with us. And congratulations on a terrific season. Enjoyed having you this week in North Texas.