Lincoln Riley sounds alarm on USC’s penalties after win over Louisiana

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Lincoln Riley did not appreciate the penalties his No. 14 USC Trojans squad committed throughout the 49-30 win over the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns on Saturday evening.

Riley has been the Trojans’ coach since 2022, making this his fifth year at the helm. He stands out as one of the best coaches in college football and is looking to lead USC to contention for the College Football Playoff.

The Trojans are off to a strong start, having won their first three games. They beat down San Jose State 42-26 and Fresno State 39-0 before earning their latest victory over Louisiana.

The win wasn’t perfect. USC committed eight penalties in the game, which drew serious criticism from Riley during his postgame press conference.

“A little bit of an up-and-down win. Had some really good contributions on all three sides, especially early in the game and the early part of the third quarter. We’re getting a lot of stops defensively. Obviously, the big punt return was a huge play in the game. I thought we did a pretty decent job early in the game after they had a little bit of momentum from grabbing it back and really maintaining it through about midway through the third quarter,” Riley said.

“The penalties are going to be the most alarming thing for us tonight. It was a lot, and they were really at horrible times. There’s never really good times for penalties, but we had some at really inopportune times, and that’s something we have to clean up a lot. There’s no doubt about that.”

How Lincoln Riley and USC performed against Louisiana

Lincoln Riley knows his USC squad is capable of playing a clean game. The penalties will be an area to address throughout the course of the 2026 season.

The No. 14 Trojans started out slowly against Louisiana, leading just 7-3 after the first quarter. They expanded the margin significantly in the second quarter, outscoring the Ragin’ Cajuns 21-7 in that frame. This resulted in a big lead that Louisiana failed to recover from.

Quarterback Jayden Maiava enjoyed a strong offensive performance. He completed 19 of 29 passes for 261 yards and five touchdowns with one interception. King Miller was explosive in the run game, racking up 18 rushes for 128 yards and a touchdown. Malik Bowman led the receiving corps with six catches for 83 yards and two scores, while Zacharyus Williams, Kayden Dixon-Wyatt and Trent Mosley caught TD passes as well.

The Trojans will be taking a cross-country flight for their next game. Their Week 3 matchup is against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Sept. 19.

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