Swanson: USC satisfied after Stanford blowout? Definitely not
LOS ANGELES – Hear me out: I think – I think – USC’s going to do pretty well this year.
Yeah, I know. I’m going out on a limb about as sturdy as a freeway overpass here after the No. 6 Trojans improved to 3-0 by bludgeoning their once-bitter rival Stanford 56-10 on Saturday night.
I’ve come to this conclusion about USC’s fate not only because of all the supremely sharp tools at Caleb Williams’ disposal – including his own self. And not even because that much-maligned and apparently much-improved defense has so effectively smothered its past two opponents.
But because of the way USC is acting. Because of its attitude. Because it feels like, down deep, these guys really are hungry.
Please, come on a short journey with me, sit in on head coach Lincoln Riley’s postgame address late Saturday night.
Minutes beforehand, SCNG’s USC beat writer Luca Evans and I discussed what Riley might say after the Trojans put up 49 first-half points, so many that Traveler got gassed from doing so many celebratory sprints behind the USC sideline and had to take a break.
We expected coachspeak, competitorspeak. Because when you’re hellbent on being the best, you almost have to focus on the flaws, you’ve got to hone in on the potential growth areas that flash neon to a guy like Riley, even after issuing a 46-point drubbing.
So we thought he’d say something like he did last week about about star quarterback Caleb Williams after he completed 18 of 24 passes for 319 yards and five touchdowns in just a little more than a half of work: “I can’t say I’m disappointed with how he’s played but he’s got to get better, right?”
But no.
This time Riley came in and claimed that he was good and satisfied.
Sat at the dais in the crowded interview room and issued an opening statement that painted a picture of rainbows and butterflies. And then he left it alone. Didn’t even insert a gas-guzzling SUV into the frame to try to sell it.
“Proud of the guys,” said Riley, who was able to give so many guys playing time that by game’s end walk-on wideout Josiah Zamora had caught a pass.
“What can you say? All three sides played pretty well and did a lot of good things,” Riley continued. “Proud of the guys for finishing the game. Those situations are sometimes awkward. It’s still football but when you separate that much, you’re trying to walk a fine line between playing good football and also doing it with respect and class that we would expect out of our program.”
In summation, the coach stepped back for a better look at the end-for-now of a rivalry that began in 1905: “I’m really, big picture, proud to be able to get the final last two here – up at their place last year and gettin’ ’em here today. It was important to us to seize that moment.”
And, to be frank, that’s how I would’ve looked at it. But elite competitors are rarely glass-half-full folks, they’re rarely ever actually satisfied, even by a blowout of such epic proportions.
And we all saw this man get spitting mad on the sideline when he didn’t like what his team was doing in the second half. We watched the coach stop the game to challenge Stanford’s one and only touchdown with 3:35 left to play in a game that, until then, USC led 56-3. We witnessed Riley coaching his tail off until the the game’s merciful, official end.
But postgame, Riley was committed to the purely positive bit. He defended his defense when a reporter brought up one of the few areas that fans will want to see the Trojans clean up before they head on the road to face stiffer competition: Stanford averaged a not-insignificant 5.1 yards per rush.
Riley’s response: “We essentially gave up three points. That’s pretty, pretty good, you know?”
Clearly, his game plan postgame after Saturday’s feel-good victory was to send everyone home feeling good. I wasn’t exactly buying it.
It took some diligent chipping away at that happy veneer – and a question about the offense – before Riley revealed a little of a never-satiated interior that felt much more authentic.
“Coach, is there anything on offense not clicking for you guys right now?”
Sitting to Riley’s left, Williams shook his head and gave us one of those upside down smiles, a facetious frown – saying without saying, nope, nothing!
What could be missing form an offense that eclipsed the 50-point mark for the third consecutive game – something USC hadn’t done since 2005? Like, c’mon! On his own in one half Saturday, Williams was 19 for 21 and threw for 281 yards and three touchdowns – plus his tough 21-yard TD run.
But Riley – the offensive perfectionist driving USC’s resurgence – countered that notion. “Yeah,” he said. “How long do you have?”
And what about that show of frustration on the sideline in the second half?
Even up 46 points Lincoln Riley doesn't let up pic.twitter.com/K2pK2qfHRh
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 10, 2023
“You know, we didn’t play very good complementary football there in the second half,” he said. “Offense wasn’t very good in the second half. O-line didn’t play very well. Second group, was disappointing with how those guys played… had some opportunities that we totally missed.
“It’s like when we challenged that last touchdown. I – we – don’t want to give anybody an inch.”
And that’s not coachspeak, it’s the energy the Trojans are going to have to harness now that they’ve enjoyed their dessert and are moving onto the main course. Now that they’ve finished off the proverbial cupcakes and figure to have their hands fuller with road games against Arizona State and then No. 22 Colorado.
That’ll be the crucial ingredient if Riley’s going to get over the College Football Playoff hump with this team – and however they choose to express it, I get the sense the members of this loaded USC team are hungry enough to tackle those challenges.
“Whatever goes on within games, it’s hard to win football games,” promised Williams, well aware of the pretty picture he’s been painting on the field. “Sometimes it looks easy, but it is hard. You go through weeks ands summers and springs of training and things like that just to get to this point.”