USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley blamed Caleb Williams for all three interceptions that put the team behind in a lopsided loss to Notre Dame last Saturday night. Williams threw three interceptions in the first half.
It was Williams’ performance during his college career. Many fans and pundits mocked the 2024 NFL Draft top prospect’s request for partial ownership of an NFL team after his performance against the Irish.
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The problems weren’t all on Williams. The USC offensive line struggled against a solid Notre Dame front seven, surrendering six sacks Saturday night.
USC Trojans: Riley takes a shot at his QB1
Luca Evans with OC Register asked Riley on Tuesday if USC wide receivers struggled to get separation from Irish defenders. Riley took the opportunity to put the blame on Williams:
“Separation really wasn’t much of a problem. We had good separation,” Riley said. “The reality is, you go back and look at that tape and all three of those turnovers for example, there’s wide-open people running around. We gotta finish those plays. We had some opportunities to make a few plays, but we didn’t.”
Asked Lincoln Riley today about #USC’s receivers seeming to struggle separating against Notre Dame. He disagreed. Interesting watch.
Again brought up the concept of outside noise: “Outside these walls, you feel like, oh man, we’re so far away. The reality is, no we’re not.” pic.twitter.com/HVNmGsqjNi
— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) October 18, 2023
That should be a wake-up call for Williams going forward. Williams and USC have no time to let last week’s loss affect them. They’ll need to rebound for a top-25 matchup against Utah on Saturday.
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