Nick Bromberg Senior writer Sun, November 1, 2026 at 2:06 PM UTC · 3 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement USC coach Lincoln Riley wanted to make sure he got the last word at his news conference following the Trojans' win over No. 2 Ohio State on Saturday night.
After questions for Riley concluded, the coach read from a prepared statement before he exited the podium. The statement came after Riley had said in the days before the game that he felt he was the "right person" to be the coach at USC. And he again backed up those sentiments with his prepared remarks.
"I got one other thing I want to say here, I just took a second — I wanted to make sure to articulate my thoughts," Riley said. "This program's not built on internal joy — is, excuse me, built on internal joy. Not external applause. This win is for all the staff members, the players, the leaders, admin, all the people within the walls.
"I said before this game that I'm the right person for this job, and as long as all those people know that, that's all I care about. I appreciate being a part of this university and all it does. I appreciate all our kids and our staff. And I'm going to continue to fight on because that's what being a Trojan is all about."
USC's 30-18 win over the Buckeyes is the biggest win for Riley since his team joined the Big Ten ahead of the 2024 season. USC entered Week 9 on the heels of a terrible loss at Wisconsin and dropped out of the AP Top 25 entirely.
Saturday night, USC broke two big plays against an Ohio State defense that's been exceptional at preventing them. Trent Mosley scored a 69-yard TD on USC's first drive of the game, and Mark Bowman's 70-yard catch-and-run set up the game-clinching score in the third quarter. Those were more than enough against an Ohio State team starting a freshman quarterback in Luke Fahey because of Julian Sayin's shoulder injury.
Had USC lost to Ohio State, the College Football Playoff would have been out of sight and out of mind. Now, USC can at least dream of making the playoff heading into its off week. The Trojans head to No. 4 Indiana and No. 7 UCLA before the end of the regular season. Wins over both the Hoosiers and Bruins plus a victory over a Maryland team that will be a massive underdog will put USC at 10-2. That's a record that could both be enough to make the Big Ten championship game and the College Football Playoff.
"Again, I keep saying it, look at all the craziness across the country," Riley said. "The teams that just hang in there, keep going, get better, stay together are going to be the ones that are there at the end. So that's the nature — you play a schedule like ours, lot of phenomenal challenges but a lot of phenomenal opportunities."
Source: Sports
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