Lincoln Riley says USC is where he wants to be

Riley got the big-picture questions at his weekly press conference, and he did not dodge them.

Shotgun Spratling

@ShotgunSpr

Riley: "Listen, if I didn't want to be at this place, I wouldn't have come here in the first place. If I didn't want to be at this place, I've had plenty of opportunities to leave. This is where I want to be. This is the right place for me. I'm the right person to be here."

Shotgun Spratling

@ShotgunSpr

HC Lincoln Riley on speculation about his fit at USC: I love it here. Like I told you guys -- a lot of times -- there's not many people in CFB history that gave up what I gave up to come here. I don't care if it's 15 years down the line, that should never be taken lightly."

That is about as direct as a coach gets. It also lands at a strange moment. Riley is in year 5 at USC, and the Wisconsin game was ugly. The Trojans scored 7 points in Madison, and the national noise went from mumbling to shouting by Sunday. When columnists start writing about your buyout, which is reportedly around $70 million, the 'I want to be here' question is really a 'do they want you here' question.

That is why the athletic director came up. Jen Cohen did not hire Riley. Mike Bohn did, and Cohen walked into a program that already belonged to someone else. Riley went out of his way to say that has not mattered.

Ben Bolch

@calpostbbolch

Lincoln Riley on relationship with Jen Cohen: "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 & has been incredibly supportive.

Nice words, and probably true right now. But 'incredibly supportive' is what every coach says about his AD until the morning it stops being true. The relationship is not really the issue. The results are. Then there's the play calling, the obvious lever a coach under pressure can pull to show he is changing something. Riley is not pulling it.

Ryan Abraham

@insidetroy

He said he has a great relationship with Jen Cohen even though she wasn't the AD that hired him. He feels fully supported by the administration. Asked about giving up play calling, he feels he can do that and still be the head coach. No indication he would give that up.

Riley did take the blame for the offense at Wisconsin, at least the second half of it. His explanation for the run game falling apart was basically that he quit calling it, which is a strange thing to own while also insisting the play sheet stays in your hands.

Shotgun Spratling

@ShotgunSpr

#USC HC Lincoln Riley on run game woes vs Wisconsin: "In the first half, we blocked some stuff up pretty good. We thought we missed a couple of cuts. We had some solid runs. Then in the second half, the biggest problem was I didn't do a good enough job staying with it."

Now it's Ohio State, and the timing works in USC's favor. The Buckeyes are reportedly coming in without their starting quarterback, which makes this the softest version of a top-tier opponent Riley is going to see. Beat them and the Wisconsin loss turns into a bad afternoon. Lose to a backup quarterback after scoring 7 at Wisconsin and every 'this is where I want to be' quote from this week gets replayed with a different tone.

Riley said his focus is on Ohio State, and anything else is the wrong place to put it. That is the right answer. It is also the only one that matters this week. He has said he is the guy. Saturday is where he has to prove it.