USC Trojans' Lincoln Riley Excited About Direction of the Team After Big Ten Home Win

"I thought our team responded and separated back in a really good way," Riley said. "So that was very positive. A lot to learn from, a lot that's going to continue to get better. But if you're learning lessons as you win, it's hard not to be excited about what you see out of the football team."

"Just see everything I see makes me believe that we're going to continue to grow, learn from our mistakes, because there are so many positive things that are happening out there."

Communication problems in the secondary have plagued the Trojans secondary and continued on the Spartans first possession. Michigan State quarterback found a wide-open Chrishon McCray for a 42-yard touchdown to give the Spartans an early 7-3 lead.

However, Maiava would respond on the ensuing drive, by going untouched for a 15-yard rushing touchdown, his second of the season, to regain a 10-7 lead and never relinquish it at the end of the first. And then, Maiava connected with Lemon for a 40-yard touchdown a few minutes into the second quarter on easy pitch and catch to extend the Trojans lead by double-digits.

It was the Trojans seventh scoring play this season of at least 40 yards, they had only three all of last season.

Just as he's been through the first three games of the season, Maiava was masterful running Lincoln Riley's offense. He orchestrated an 11-play, 88-yard drive just before the half, that was capped off by freshman receiver Tanook Hines first-career receiving touchdown. USC went to the break with a 24-10 lead.

The Trojans offense kept rolling coming out of the locker room in the second half when Maiava hit tight Walker Lyons for a 10-yard touchdown, his second touchdown of the season, to make it a three-score game.

USC appeared in full control after forcing a Michigan State stop on the following possession. But a roughing the kicker penalty gave the Spartans a short fourth down and Trojans were then called for an illegal substitution, giving them an automatic first down. USC committed two more penalties on a drive that was capped off by a Chiles four-yard rushing touchdown.

Penalties will continue to be a topic of discussion, as it has been every week. The Trojans committed 10 penalties for 83 yards against Michigan State.

"There's a balance. You have to play this game aggressive," Riley said. "And I'm not going to put a team out there that does not play this game aggressive. The flip side of that is you've got to handle the self-inflicted ones, and that's where we got to do better."

A fumble by redshirt freshman receiver DJ Jordan gave the football right back to Michigan State in USC territory and all of the momentum. The Spartans capitalized with a 1-yard touchdown pass from Chiles to Jack Velling that made it 31-24 heading into the fourth quarter.

"Turnovers equalize or dominate the football game and turnovers are the great equalizer," Riley said.

Maiava settled the troops and led almost an eight and half minute drive, which included a 13-yard scramble, where he reverses the field on third down and ended with Lemon's first career touchdown. And then a one-yard plunge from Maiava on the next possession stretched the lead back to three scores to keep the Trojans undefeated for another week.

Fan Support

USC coach Lincoln Riley and general manager Chad Bowden sent out a letter to fans, urging support at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, despite the 8 p.m. PT kickoff.

"Our fan base showed up tonight. That was really an electric atmosphere in there," Riley said. "Appreciate everybody that came out. I mean that's what the damn Coliseum has got to be like, and it's got to be freaking better when we get back here in a couple of weeks. We'll see you then, fight on."

Looking Ahead

The Trojans will be back on the road next Saturday to take on Illinois. USC will go from a late kick to the early one for Big Noon kickoff at 9 a.m. PT. The Fighting Ilini are coming off an embarrassing 63-10 loss to Indiana over the weekend. Illinois was ranked No. 9 heading into the matchup, we'll see how far the AP Poll drops them after a lopsided loss.

"We're excited about the win. We're not satisfied," Riley said. "We know we got a big opportunity here coming up this week, another road Big Ten game. Those are like gold and we're excited to get back to the practice field tomorrow night and get ready for Illinois."