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Lincoln Riley addresses decision to close media access to USC’s practices
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Lincoln Riley and his coaching staff made the decision to cancel all media viewing portions of USC’s practices recently. On Tuesday, he addressed that decision at his weekly press conference.
Originally, the Trojans canceled the open portions of practice during the week of preparation leading up to the Rutgers game. USC was on a short week after a cross-country trip to Maryland before turning around for a Friday night game vs. the Scarlet Knights.
Whatever USC did during that short week, it worked with the Trojans snapping a losing streak with a blowout of Rutgers. Riley also explained the way the team responded to the short-week adjustments made the coaches implement those changes regularly moving forward.
“We evaluated some things last week. We made some changes to the way that we’re handling pre-practice just with the short week, and we liked how our team handled it and responded to it,” said Riley. “So with that, we’re continuing forward with a lot of the things we did last week and it just didn’t make sense to have it, honestly.”
At 4-4 overall, it’s too late for the Trojans to think about competing for the B1G title or a College Football Playoff appearance, but there are 4 November opportunities to go out on a high note. The schedule also sets up for USC to potentially build some momentum.
The Trojans are done traveling east with road games against Washington and UCLA and a pair of home matchups against Nebraska and Notre Dame. This season has been full of disappointments but rallying for a strong finish and knocking the Irish out of a potential Playoff spot would be a nice touch at the end.
November starts with a Saturday night trip to Washington to face the Huskies. That game will kickoff at 4:30 pm PT (7:30 pm ET).
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.