‘We didn’t get run out of the stadium’: Lincoln Riley defends USC after Oregon loss

The USC Trojans suffered a disappointing loss to the Oregon Ducks over the weekend. And while Oregon coach Dan Lanning has had some strong words about USC after the loss, Riley is now defending his program.

After the game, Lanning took some not-so-subtle shots at the USC crowd size and the overall state of the program after Oregon’s third-straight win over the Trojans. However, Riley still seems proud of the way his team competed in the game.

Lanning Calls Out USC

Following Oregon’s win over USC, Lanning had a few not-so-subtle shots at the USC program.

The average attendance for the first four home games of the season in Los Angeles was 51,806. The crowd on Saturday night totaled 75,500.

Lanning took notice of this and quickly took credit for giving the Coliseum an attendance boost.

“I’ve watched three of their TV games,” he said, via Jordan Mendoza of USA Today. “I haven’t seen a game packed yet, but we were here, it was packed tonight. So I guess when the Ducks show up, that’s how you fill up the Coliseum.”

Lanning then had an even more pointed shot at USC as he sent a message to any recruit considering both schools.

“Three wins against these guys,” he said, via Max Torres of Scoop Duck. “I guess if you’re interested in winning football games, you’re from this area, you should go to Oregon. You want to go to a Chris Brown concert, you should go here.”

‘There’s a lot of good on that tape’

Despite the end result of the game and Lanning’s rather harsh words for USC, Riley came to his team’s defense this week.

“We didn’t get run out of the stadium. There’s a lot of good on that tape,” Riley said, via USA Today’s Matt Hayes. “You don’t have a chance to win a game like that if you don’t do some things pretty well.”

Riley isn’t necessarily wrong. USC did have some strong moments, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, totaling 446 yards of total offense. The problem is that the defense surrendered 504 total yards in a game where the backup quarterback played the majority of the snaps. USC has also given up 30 or more points in each of the past three games.

It makes sense that Riley is defending his team, but it’s pretty clear that the Trojans need to make some real changes going forward.

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