USC football coach Lincoln Riley breaks silence on controversial media decision
After a much-needed win against Rutgers, USC football head coach Lincoln Riley explained why his team's practices will no longer be open to the media.
During a tough inaugural season in the Big Ten, the Trojans lost four games by one score or less, but in their preparation for last Friday's game vs. Rutgers, Riley said he and his assistants noticed something that they would like to continue, meaning media watching practices is done with.
"We evaluated some things last week," Riley said [h/t On3]. "We've made some changes to the way that we're handling pre-practice, just with the short week, and we liked how our team handled it, responded to it. With that, we're continuing forward with a lot of the things we did last week, and it just didn't make sense to have [media-viewing periods], honestly."
Previously, members of the media would be allowed to watch a portion of practice, which is commonplace around the country. But it would make sense that in another tough season since arriving to Los Angeles he would make this decision.
The season started off well, with the Trojans defeating LSU in the season opener in Las Vegas. USC followed that up with a shutout win vs. Utah State.
But things started to go awry after a 27-24 road loss to Michigan. In the aftermath of the game, USC defensive tackle Bear Alexander announced he would sit out the rest of the season and redshirt. While USC would momentarily stop the proverbial bleeding with a come-from-behind win vs. Wisconsin, the Trojans lost the next week to Minnesota. Two more losses followed; the first, a 33-30 home defeat in overtime to Penn State, and then a 29-28 road loss to Maryland.
In each of their four losses this season, USC has had the lead at some point in the final minute of regulation, a stinging fact considering the team's 4-4 record on the season and 2-4 Big Ten record, as well as Riley's enormous contract .
In Riley's first two seasons as USC football coach, he and 2022 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams led the Trojans to records of 11-3 and 8-5. This season, redshirt junior Miller Moss has been at the helm of the offense. Moss has struggled at times while taking hits behind a lackluster offensive line.
After several heartbreaking losses, Moss performed well against Rutgers, though; the quarterback threw for 308 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 42-20 win overshadowed by Game 1 of the World Series , which was happening just 5 miles away. In addition to Moss, running back Woody Marks rushed for 94 yards and 3 touchdowns on 15 carries against the Scarlet Knights.
Unlike the past several weeks, USC will face a more familiar foe this week albeit still in the Big Ten. For the second consecutive year, the Trojans will meet former Pac-12 stalwart Washington. The Huskies, who advanced to the national championship game a year ago, won last season's matchup 52-42. USC leads the all-time head-to-head series 51-31-4.
USC vs. Washington will kick off at approximately 4:30 p.m. PT on Saturday.
