5 takeaways from USC's loss to Utah: Pac-12 football title still within reach for Trojans
SALT LAKE CITY - In a game that USC dominated early, it was Utah who seized momentum late and rallied for a thrilling 43-42 victory over the previously unbeaten Trojans on Saturday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
The game had a little bit of everything: bad officiating, bad defense, key injuries and tons of offense.
USC quarterback Caleb Williams looked unstoppable at times, passing for 381 yards and five touchdowns and rushing for 57 yards.
But it was Utah quarterback Cam Rising who stole the show. Rising passed for 415 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 60 yards and three touchdowns. His most important carry was the game-winning two-point conversion with 48 seconds left in the game.
The Trojans simply could not stop Rising or tight end Dalton Kincaid, who caught 16 passes for 234 yards.
Here are five key takeaways from the game:
LINCOLN RILEY IS A MASTERFUL PLAY CALLER
Photo by Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports
Let’s start with the good for USC in this one. The Trojans scored touchdowns on their first three drives, ultimately taking a 21-7 lead.
The first two series' by USC were an exposition of play-calling brilliance only possibly contrived through the synthesis of a top-five college football mind in Lincoln Riley and an array of the sport’s best athletes: a top-three quarterback in Caleb Williams, a top-three running back in Travis Dye, a top-three wide receiver in Jordan Addison, and an offensive line that out-performed each of the formers throughout the first quarter.
The first offensive play of the game might have been USC’s best of the night, and it resulted in an incompletion. The pass protection was legitimate enough to write down the words “all day” during the 13 seconds the play lasted, and Tahj Washington was wide open on the seam for an easy 15 yards. Williams chose to throw to Brendan Rice on the sideline, and the two couldn’t make the connection, but the Trojans’ first offensive snap was promising nonetheless.
That one play set the tone for what USC would proceed to do to an ill-prepared Utah defense. The next four plays would total 75 yards and six points, including an easy 55-yard third-down scramble by Williams, the best athlete on the field.
As good as the first drive was, the second one was even better. USC’s second series started with a reverse for 15 yards — yes, that’s correct; USC ran a trick play. Add a couple of well-executed swing passes and some generally magical play-calling from the depths of Riley’s bag and you get 80 yards over nine plays and four minutes to take a 14-0 lead.
This opening script felt like watching Patrick Mahomes play quarterback for the Chiefs: it was simply a different game than anyone else plays.
(Side note: there was a flash of this creativity that didn’t get enough recognition in the Washington State game. Early in the second quarter against the Cougars, USC ran a fly sweep on third-and-short to Addison that got stuffed immediately and resulted in a loss of seven and a punt. Riley cashed in on that setup by faking the same sweep on a third-and-short in the red zone for a first down on a handoff to Dye in the fourth quarter.)
It felt like Riley had been saving a few of these play calls for a worthy opponent such as Utah. It has been known that USC’s offense is special, but it hasn’t felt as spectacular as it did on this drive at any point before this.
Simply immaculate play calling.
THE REFS IMPACTED THE GAME
The Trojans scored a touchdown on their third drive as well, but this is where USC stopped impressing on a Twitter-trending level. Almost like Riley’s brilliant opening game script had reached the end of the page.
But why did one of America’s best offenses only have a quarter’s worth of perfection in it?
Before that question gets answered, let’s take a step back to the moment the Trojans led 14-0 and appeared to come up with a turnover in the end zone.
Just after reaching USC’s red zone, Cameron Rising dropped back and, faced with pressure, delivered a duck into the end zone which Calen Bullock quite easily came down with for what should have been his third pick of the season.
However, Stanley Ta’ufo’ou was flagged for roughing the passer and the Utes scored on the next play.
By all accounts, it was a bad call. Just ask Brock Huard.
“The officiating was really poor tonight, but we still should’ve won the game, like that’s part of football," Lincoln Riley said. "That’s part of football in general, you’re gonna have some nights where the calls don’t go your way, and they certainly did not tonight, but you still find a way, and I thought we continued to keep our composure and fight, and we still should’ve won the game."
“I’m not gonna be the guy up here saying we lost the game because of the officiating, because we didn’t. We’re not gonna be excuse makers here. It was just another thing that we had to overcome tonight, and we were close to getting it done, but just not quite enough.”
Yes, we’re talking about the penalties and seemingly one-sided officiating, but Riley is right. The Trojans have to be better than giving up 43 points without making the necessary adjustments, and penalties didn’t lead to Rising running through USC’s teeth on back-to-back plays for eight points.
CONSISTENCY CONTINUES TO BE AN ISSUE
Back to the disconnect between the Trojans’ first few drives and the rest of the game - consistency was again a problem with USC’s offense Saturday night.
USC averaged nearly 14 yards per play and over 18 yards per completion throughout the first quarter. This isn’t the first time the productivity of the opening script has varied largely from the rest of the Trojans' performance.
Dye feels like the offense just needs to stick to its own identity in order to recreate that nuclear success from the first quarter.
“That’s just playing our football,” Dye said. “Not being too positive, not being too negative. Just being neutral, going to the facts, doing our job. We kinda got away from that a little bit as the game went on. Kinda got back on track and got away from it again, so it’s just a matter of this team figuring out how to put four quarters together.”
Brendan Rice also mentioned the emphasis on putting four quarters together after the victory against Washington State.
THE TROJANS ARE DEEP
Michael Jackson III
Photo by Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports
The “next man up” mentality instilled in this team continues to pay dividends. Just like against Washington State, the Trojans had to overcome some big injuries. And this time, they were on offense.
Former Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison went down with an apparent knee injury in the third quarter and did not return. He had to be helped to the locker room after leaving the sideline injury tent.
Even before Addison's injury, USC’s offense saw big plays from a few players who aren’t heavily involved in the offense. Tight end Josh Falo caught two touchdown passes, Kyron Hudson grabbed his second touchdown pass of the season, and Michael Jackson III took his first reception of the year 20 yards to the house.
“It just shows how diverse our team really is," Dye said. "You know we have a lot of great players, a lot of weapons, and I'm glad that we got to use more than we usually do. Shout out to Josh, shout out to Mike Jack, those guys were playing their hearts out tonight."
PAC-12 TITLE STILL WITHIN REACH
The Trojans dropped in the rankings - to No. 12 in the AP Poll - but a Pac-12 title and a College Football Playoff appearance are still on the table. Either way, all the external rankings and questionable officiating aren’t a focus for this team at all.
“Only thing it means now is just no undefeated season; that’s the only thing we lost,” right guard Andrew Vorhees said. “At the end of the day, there’s stuff we can control and stuff we can’t control right? You can drive yourself crazy worrying about the things you can’t control. At the end of the day, it just comes down to our effort and our execution, just trusting those two things.”
“I think we’ve come a long way, and obviously we’ve got a ways to go, but I think this team really is buying into this culture we’re building here, and I think it’s gonna be really special.”
Perspective is everything. The Trojans came into the game as 3.5-point underdogs, and they covered the betting spread, whatever that’s worth. Maybe this loss is the best thing that could’ve happened to a highly-talented team that had not necessarily faced the adversity needed to bring out its toughness yet.
We'll see how the Trojans respond at Arizona after a bye week. One thing to count on: there’s not a team in the country that can contain this offense the way it was flowing to begin Saturday’s game.
