Lincoln Riley and USC know how important Iowa matchup truly is

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On Saturday, the USC football team will host Iowa at the Coliseum. With the regular season entering the home stretch and both teams in the top 25 of the College Football Playoff rankings, it is a massive game for the Trojans.

So how is USC approaching the hype surrounding the game? In his weekly appearance on USC’s Trojans Live show, head coach Lincoln Riley discussed how important Saturday’s game is.

“Yeah, we haven’t been bashful about that with our players,” Riley said. “This game coming up this weekend is not the same [as all the others]. The more you win, the more important these become.

“You can’t hide from it. You’ve got to embrace it. That doesn’t mean you’re going to go change everything you do, but you also understand it’s hard to get to this point, so if you’re here, let’s go make the most of it.

“This is one of those days where if you care at all about USC football, you do not want to miss this.”

With three weeks remaining in the regular season, the Trojans largely control their own destiny in the College Football Playoff race. If USC can win Saturday, it would set up a massive showdown at Oregon next weekend. First, however, the Trojans must focus on Iowa, who is a very good team that cannot be overlooked.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Matchup with Iowa is huge for Lincoln Riley and USC football

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