USC’s dream ride continued Saturday night. The sixth-ranked Trojans handled the 15th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish for a 38-27 win and an 11-1 record in coach Lincoln Riley’s first season at the helm. The last time USC went 11-1, it won a Rose Bowl. This season looks like it’ll produce similar fireworks in the postseason.

After the game, Riley met with reporters to break things down. Here’s everything he said, with video of the press conference below:

Opening statement

“Great win. It’s fun seeing the Coli like that. Sitting up there at that press conference almost close to 12 months ago just imagining that, and these guys have brought it to life. I don’t know how long it’s been since it was like that. I haven’t been here before, but man it was electric in there. That’s kind of what I remember watching as a young kid, and to see the Coli like that and see our team playing the way we did — we played really well on all three sides of the ball.

“Defensively, I also kind of got sick and tired of hearing how we were just gonna get pounded in the run game. That didn’t happen. Really proud of the way we stopped the run, tackled, caused turnovers, and made big plays. I thought we played really well defensively. Offensively, made enough plays to certainly win it. Had some tough, gritty plays against a very good defense. And then obviously special teams. Some huge plays on the night.

“Proud of the guys. Proud of the way we finished, separating from a really, really good football team that in the last several weeks had been on a really good run and had a lot of momentum coming in here. I told the guys in the locker room it’s been a tremendous run, but there’s obviously a lot more left out there for us. We’re excited about this, as we should be, but we’ve got a quick week. We’re planning a conference championship game here in six days, so we’ve got to enjoy it but put it to bed here quickly and get ready to head to Vegas.”

On the defense’s development

“This is football. You’re going to go through a whole season. There’s been periods where you can criticize any part of our team, but there’s also been moments of greatness from all parts. The reality is we’re not sitting here 11-1 without our defense. We just wouldn’t be here. Everybody remembers the previous week or what happened. There’s been a lot going into the season and our defense has made some big-time plays in big-time moments and really has for the majority of the year. We wouldn’t be sitting here at all without them. Phenomenal job tonight. Really physical line of scrimmage. We did a good job not letting them get out very often at all in the run game. We got pressure on the quarterback, made some competitive plays in the throw game. Obviously the pick. We just played a pretty complete football game defensively. We talked to our guys a lot about the gap of where we’re at versus what we’re capable of, and we took some steps to close that gap tonight.”

On the program’s turnaround since his arrival:

“You just go to work, and you start putting it together as fast as you can and start building the culture as fast as you can. I can’t say ‘Yes, I knew this was gonna happen,’ but at the same time, I don’t believe in putting limits on what you can accomplish. Especially if you get the right people in the building and everybody decides to be unselfish and work hard for each other. That’s what this group has done. They’re a great example of when you do that, the worst thing you could ever do is put limits on what you can accomplish. You guys know me, I stood right by what I told you our expectations were from day one. A lot of people thought I was crazy, and that’s fine. People within the walls knew what we were about and I think had a sense of what we were building, and it’s been a fun run.”

On if they wanted the opportunity to play Utah again

“It doesn’t matter. We’re just excited to be in that game. It’s a ring game. Those are hard to get to and they’re fun. I’ve had a chance to be in a couple of them and they are a lot of fun. I’m glad our team gets a shot, so whoever qualifies for it is pretty darn good, too. We’ll be ready to go play a big game.”

On QB Caleb Williams’ scramble plays

“I’ve seen him do it a lot. I’m proud of the decisions that he’s making, other than one tonight. The one where he got sacked for a 30-yard loss. We’ll get to that tomorrow, I guess. No, it is impressive. The escapability, the ability to get out of tackles and that combination of quickness with it. I think there’s just a trust there because a high percentage of time he makes the right play on it and has made a lot of big plays in that scenario for us.”

On RB Austin Jones

“I said last week — no surprises. Ask these two. These guys aren’t surprised at what Austin does. Travis (Dye) and Austin (Jones) were 1A and 1B. We’re very fortunate to have some really good backs in there. Austin has stepped up. Boy, he ran physical tonight. You are talking about establishing the run game. That, to me, was the game. They’re a really good special teams unit and we went toe-to-toe with them in every part of special teams. All the phases. We dominated in the run game, played really good in the run game, offensively. We also did a really nice job limiting their run game defensively. That was the game.”