Three days after a postgame blowup in which he yelled profanities on the Coliseum subject, USC coach Lincoln Riley was significantly calmer when it came to Ohio State athletics director Ross Bjork.
In truth, Riley said his verbal dustup with Bjork was put behind him nearly immediately after it occurred.
“Yeah, not an issue — I mean, just typical emotions after the game,” Riley said Tuesday. “We squashed it on the way up the tunnel. Ross is a good guy, a really good AD. It’s really a non-issue.”
So what occurred?
“That’s really all I’m going to say about it,” Riley said.
The altercation occurred as the groups were leaving the subject following USC’s 30-18 upset of the then-No. 2 Buckeyes on Saturday night.
Amid a logjam of gamers, athletics staffers, coaches, relations and others heading toward the tunnel as college students rushed the subject, Riley and Bjork crossed paths while the USC coach was ready to proceed with his household.
As security let people go a checkpoint in a trickle, there was congestion — and tempers.
“Are you kidding me? F–k you!” Riley shouted at Bjork as the AD and a pack of Ohio State staffers walked previous. “That’s bulls–t.”
Ohio State seemingly wished to prioritize defensive finish Eddrick Houston leaving the subject with help after getting injured, making others wait. One Buckeyes staffer then made a gesture toward Riley to de-escalate the state of affairs, at which level the temper appeared to soften.
There was another uncommon development about a half hour later when Riley ended his postgame media availability with a ready handle in which he reiterated, “I’m the right person for this job.”
What made him really feel that he needed to do that?
Riley said he was in a position to collect his ideas during an unsually prolonged wait to communicate with reporters.
“It was kind of a unique situation,” Riley said Tuesday, “because I got up to the locker room fairly fast — they got me off the subject fairly fast. I had most likely close to half-hour before we got the complete staff in there, I imply, it was mayhem.
“It took for sure the longest it’s taken to get all the players in there, so I had really like 30 minutes in there to kind of sit down, process it all and I decided to jot down a few notes, and there was just a few things that I wanted to say and after the emotions of the game and all that, I wanted to be able to articulate a few of those things, and that’s why I wrote it down and that’s why I chose to say it.”
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