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Lincoln Riley relays level of concern for increased hits on Miller Moss
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Lincoln Riley knows big-time college football can be rough on quarterbacks, and lately his quarterback, Miller Moss, has taken some big-time hits.
The USC head coach saw it happen again last Saturday in a 38-21 victory over Wisconsin that got the 11th-ranked Trojans off the canvas, for lack of a better term, after a bruising road loss against Michigan the week before.
Yes, Moss threw for 308 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Week 5 comeback win over the Badgers, but he threw the ball 45 times, which provided the Wisconsin defense with a lot of chances to come after his junior quarterback. Moss also carried the ball 5 times for 17 yards and a TD, so he was naturally susceptible to hits in those moments, too.
“A little bit of it is just part of playing the position. Sure, you’d love to leave any game with a quarterback not taking hits, but that’s not always reality,” said Riley on Tuesday. “We played two good teams, two good defensive football teams. It’s going to happen some.
“Obviously, it’s something we want to continue to clean up, but everybody’s involved in that. Schematically, we’re involved in it, Miller’s involved in it. Receivers, the backs, the O-line, obviously everybody. Sometimes you’re going to take some hits when people really try to blitz you a lot like what happened the other day. … That’s part of it. We’re not trying to advocate for it, but obviously you can’t always avoid it.”
For the 2nd time in 3 weeks on Saturday, the Trojans will venture all the way to the Midwest, as they take on Minnesota in a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff on Big Ten Network. USC will attempt to take care of the Golden Gophers with Moss taking as little of a pounding as possible before Penn State comes to Los Angeles in Week 7.