USC blasted Stanford on Saturday night, 56-10, to move to 3-0 on the season. In the final game between the Trojans and the Cardinal as Pac-12 members, USC set a new series record for points scored against the Stanford defense.

The Trojans were red-hot in the first half, scoring touchdowns on six of their seven possessions before coach Lincoln Riley called off the attack and pulled his starters.

Here’s everything Riley said after the game:

Opening statement

“I’m proud of the guys tonight. We played a really, really good first half. All three sides of the ball really surged and got the momentum and kept it. It was fun to see the team really playing at a high level together for a sustained period and continuing to feed off of one another. We did a lot of good things, especially defensively in the second half. We got an opportunity to play a lot of guys, so there were a lot of positives in the game, certainly. I’m proud of the guys for finishing the game. Those situations are sometimes, I don’t want to say awkward — it’s still football — but when you separate that much, you try to walk the fine line between playing good football and also doing it with the respect and class that we would expect out of our program. So, great win, great way to start Pac-12 play. I’m proud of taking advantage of the moment in that this is potentially the last SC-Stanford game for a while. This was a series that in recent years went a little bit of a different way. To get them here today was important to seize that moment and opportunity, and we did it.”

On if this was the best football he’s seen USC play

“It’s probably the best half of football we played this year. It was one of the more complete halves, certainly. I think all three sides were firing on all cylinders, so we took some steps. Guys were really excited to play, really ready to play, really energized, and combined that with some really great football.”

On the offense

“We’re just kind of running our offense. We’ve got some skill guys out there that we think are good players. And we’re trying to be efficient. We were able to get the run game going. I thought the O-line really controlled the game in the first half and that was the key. And I could say the same thing about the defensive line. We really won the game on the heels of how well we played on both fronts.”

On the defense

“It’s pretty good. It looked like good defense. We got pressure on the quarterback. We caused turnovers. We did pretty much everything that a really good defense needs to do.”

On if the offensive tempo was upped in the first quarter

“We were just efficient. It wasn’t some huge plan to do (more tempo). We were just efficient and able to do it. The guys got in a good rhythm, and the front played so well. And we were making some plays in skill group that we were able to use to our advantage.”

On if he’s surprised teams are kicking to Zachariah Branch

“He’s a freshman. I hope they keep doing it. He’s good at it. He deserves a lot of credit for it, but what also deserves a lot of credit is how we blocked on those plays — both the kickoff return and this one. Our guys on those return teams, the punt return team, the kickoff return team, you’re seeing the depth of this roster, and they’re excited because they know we’ve got some dynamic returners back there. They’ve really blocked well, so it’s been a real group effort. In the offseason, the special teams taking a big jump was going to be a big key for us, and you saw that tonight and you’ve seen it through the last few games. Eddie (Czaplicki) was awesome tonight. He just bombed the ball. We covered well. It was a really good special teams performance.”

On this team’s killer instinct

“A team has to have a killer instinct to reach its potential. We’re getting ready to go on the road a lot here in the next several weeks. To go on the road you’ve got to be a killer, that’s just part of it. New challenges are coming up for us. I’m excited about how we’re progressing. But we have to keep doing it and keep getting ready for these challenges. But I believe in this group and I believe we will be.”

On any message the first-half performance sent

“We’re trying to play the game on our own terms. We’re not really concerned with what’s going on on the outside. This team has really adopted that mentality. But everybody across the country — whether they love SC or hate SC — everyone’s checking the score, everybody wants to know what they’re doing. And so there’s always going to be some type of buzz and attention around it. We just decided we’re going to play on our terms and we’ll let the dust settle and we’ll see where we’re at the end of the day.”