Times of Troy: Why Lincoln Riley sensed a change in Trojans at halftime against Iowa
Welcome back to the Times of Troy newsletter. Hopefully, by the time you read this, you will have finally dried off. Or maybe it’s still pouring rain where you are. But whatever the weather, things are looking pretty sunny for Lincoln Riley and USC right now.
The Trojans are now just two wins away from a trip to the College Football Playoff. But the bigger statement Saturday, while rallying in the rain to beat a team like Iowa, wasn’t so much about this season, but rather the program’s trajectory after next week’s marquee matchup at No. 8 Oregon.
Riley said later that he sensed this shift at halftime, just as the team’s Playoff hopes were hanging by a thread. His Trojans were trailing Iowa, 21-10, once again having succumbed to the same slow start that plagued them the last two games. They’d been outplayed, outworked, outsmarted. The run defense was awful. The offense was stuck in the mud.