USC Coach Lincoln Riley Highlights a 'Shocking' Advantage for Illinois

What Lincoln Riley thinks about Illinois

No. 23 Illinois (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) is indeed reeling after a 63-10 unraveling against the Hoosiers in Bloomington last week, but No. 21 USC (4-0, 2-0 Big Ten), despite its high-flying offense, is still very much in the proof-of-concept stage. After the Trojans notched decent-but-hardly-dominant wins over Purdue and Michigan State in the past two weeks, Riley is leery of the Illini for one particular reason.

"Well, it's a really good football team," Riley said Monday on "Trojans Live" radio show. "When you look back at returning production, the amount of snaps and starts and players that they have back – especially in this age of football – it's almost, honestly, shocking. That's a team that was a double-digit-win team and has played well early this year.

"Listen, I'm sure they would admit, they didn't play probably quite up to their standards last week, and the game got away from them a little bit. That can happen on the road against good football teams."

Riley won't overlook the Illini's experience edge

Perhaps it's just the usual complimentary coachspeak, but Riley's take on Bret Bielema's Illinois program sure seems to track with the product the typical Illini fan saw only a week ago:

"They bring back a ton offensively," Riley said. "The quarterback [Luke Altmyer] is an outstanding player. Experienced O-line. Really good skill guys around them. Challenging scheme.

"And I would say a lot of the same things defensively: a lot of experienced players, really experienced front, some really good players in the back end, linebackers that have been there forever. And Bret and those guys have always been very challenging defensively. And they really challenge in some unique ways."

And Illinois will have to. With defensive back Xavier Scott essentially out indefinitely and much of the rest of the secondary still banged up, defensive coordinator may need to take more chances than usual with the blitz and aggressive (or at least creative) coverages. Maiava is learning to take what defenses give him, and he and receiver Makai Lemon will pick the bones of Illinois' back-end coverage clean if allowed the chance.

Riley, for one, seems to consider it dangerous to underestimate the Illini now."It's a really good football team – I mean, just plain and simple, top to bottom," he said. "And I think, again, it's their experience, to me, that really stands out. You see that in the way they play."