"This is where I want to be": Riley answers the noise head-on
· Yahoo Sports
LOS ANGELES --- USC's offense enters its biggest home game of the season carrying the weight of its ugliest performance in quite some time. A 24-7 upset loss at unranked Wisconsin has reignited every question about Lincoln Riley's job security in the process. Riley didn't dodge it Tuesday, addressing his standing with the program directly.
"This is where I want to be," he said. "This is the right place for me. I'm the right person to be here, and that's as honest and transparent as I can be."
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Riley also addressed speculation about his relationship with USC leadership, particularly athletic director Jen Cohen, calling it stronger than the chatter suggests.
"She's a tremendous AD. Even though she's not the AD that I came here with and I'm not the head coach that she hired...fantastic relationship. She's been a huge part of all the progress that we've made."
On the performance itself against Wisconsin, Riley was self-critical about his own play-calling, particularly in the second half. The Trojans finished the night with a miserable -17 rushing yards, putting up their lowest point total since 2018.
"The biggest problem I thought was I didn't do a good enough job staying with it to be completely honest," he said of his run game. "We could have been better, which always for a playcaller is going to increase your confidence to call it more."
That same self-accountability was a theme for the rest of the offense on Tuesday. Quarterback Jayden Maiava, who threw two interceptions in the loss, put the result squarely on himself rather than the circumstances around him.
"Just didn't play to my standard, and the Trojan standard," he said. "Got to play better. Can't dwell on that. Another big opponent coming up this weekend."
Maiava also pointed to his teammates picking him up - literally, in the form of Justin Tauanuu, after his second interception - as evidence of a locker room that's looking to tighten instead of fray under the outside scrutiny.
"That just shows the kind of team that there is right now. After a tough loss like that on the road, we just buy in more to each other."
Running back King Miller echoed that same refusal to let frustration splinter the group, crediting backup Shahn Alston's readiness when called upon as proof of the program's depth holding up even in a loss. Alston led all Trojan rushers with 28 yards on seven carries.
"He's shown it all since spring, since he's been here," Miller said. "He's one of the guys that studies his tail off, recovers his body. When you put him out there, I had no doubt he was going to do exactly what he was supposed to."
With Ohio State having allowed just 650 rushing yards from opponents this season (fourth-least in the Big Ten), the job won't get any easier for Miller, Alston or the rest of the running back room as they look to bounce back.
Wide receiver Trent Mosley said the response to the loss inside the building has been about returning to fundamentals rather than searching for something new. In his two games back from injury so far, the freshman wideout has amassed 156 receiving yards across 14 receptions.
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"I just think we need to get back to what we were doing and how we were playing," Mosley said. "We're a real close team, and we just need to show it on the field."
Offensive lineman Elijah Paige, part of the group that surrendered five sacks to the Badgers' defense, was the most direct about where the outside noise ranks in the squad's priorities. He made it clear that outside conversations aren't reaching players the way they're reaching fans and the media.
"The only opinion that matters to myself and us as a team is the opinion in this building," he said. "So just keeping the main thing the main thing."
Paige, alongside Maiava and the rest of the Trojans that spoke on Tuesday, was quick to back Riley as USC's coach moving forward. He credited him personally for his own path with the program, framing his steadiness as the thing keeping the team anchored.
"I know he's the right guy. Coach Riley is actually the reason I came here. I believe there's not a better leader in the country."
Despite what the group thinks, none of the outside noise will be gone by Saturday. But for an offense that insists its answer to crisis is the same one it's used all year, Ohio State at the Coliseum on Halloween will be the clearest test yet of whether that formula still holds. If it doesn't, Riley's seat will only move from hot to scalding.