Caleb Williams dazzles as No. 8 USC holds off Colorado

Trojans QB throws for 403 yards and 6 TDs in a 48-41 win overshadowed by the Buffs scoring the last 20 points

Luca Evans (OC Register)  —  BOULDER, Colorado — Three hours before game time, the overflow lots had long overflown, and USC’s clash in Prime Time was underway.

Pandemonium dawned, with the pink-tinged crest of sun over Colorado morning ridges, staffers and vendors who presumed they’d be getting a head start having to resort to parking cars in grassy areas. Guttural screams and shouts of no language, from Boulder youth presumably off wee hours of sleep and various beverages, echoed through closed-off streets and brick buildings. A small group of CU students, sporting wide white bucket-hats as disciples of Boulder’s salvation, strolled outside Folsom Field holding a sign that advertised the sale of $5 cowboy hats “for charity.”

One by one, celebrities A- through D-list emerged on Colorado’s sidelines pregame. And the clamor grew from an ever-growing sellout sea of Buffs white. There was “All-American’s” Da Vinchi, and former MLB pitcher CC Sabathia, and former NBA stars Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett taking selfie videos. Moths, all, to the Deion Sanders flame that has burned so brightly throughout Boulder.

“Coach Prime brings a energy to Boulder, and to Colorado football,” Colorado Rep. Leslie Harod said, “that we just haven’t seen at the collegiate level.”

For a half Saturday, at least, it seemed as if USC would trample that flame, same as Oregon had in a statement blowout last week. For a half, at least, USC matched that statement, Caleb Williams throwing four first-half touchdowns and the Trojans’ secondary surprisingly stifling Buffs quarterback Shedeur Sanders.

And then USC’s defense folded under a stunning second-half Colorado surge in which Sanders couldn’t be stopped, the Trojans wriggling their way out of Boulder with a 48-41 win in which time simply ran out on the Buffs.

It’s been the same sentiment for the Trojans, amid any defensive inconsistency in a 5-0 start. They’ll fix it. They’ll go back and watch the film. But before long, beware a Trojan-that-cried-wolf situation – with the second half at Colorado on Saturday a compounding of everything that’d gone wrong across the four games previous.

It started before the break, Sanders running right through the heart of USC’s defense unscathed for a 25-yard touchdown. It continued into the third quarter, cornerbacks Domani Jackson whiffing on a tackle and Prophet Brown getting beat in a one-on-one to set up respective touchdowns. It boiled over in the fourth, when Sanders simply shredded the Trojans’ secondary like paper on a 10-play, 78-yard touchdown drive that cut USC’s lead to a single touchdown.

By the time Williams mercifully took a knee to run out the clock, his six touchdown passes in three quarters had somehow been overshadowed by 564 yards of total offense for Colorado, the highest the Trojans have surrendered since Alex Grinch took over as defensive coordinator.

The blame, naturally, will fall on Grinch’s shoulders. Riley insisted postgame that, “to the trained eye,” the same issues from last season weren’t popping up – but despite an overhauled roster and clearly improved defensive line, USC’s general issues Saturday with tackling and inconsistent pass coverage were the same that plagued the Trojans in 2022.

Did he still have trust in Grinch to orchestrate a defensive turnaround, Riley was asked postgame?

“Yes I do,” he answered matter-of-factly.

And Shaw, for one, gave an unprompted and fiery defense of Grinch, an admiring display of accountability in sticking up for a coach who’s drawn nothing but raves from his former players and coaches at previous stops.

“Coach Grinch, he’s doing a great job – we’re letting him down,” Shaw said. “That’s point blank, period. I don’t know what to tell y’all – as players, we’re letting him down. He’s putting us in the right spots. We’re not making plays, we’re missing tackles, we’re not doing our job, I’m not doing my job.”

To restate in the midst of all this, Williams threw six touchdowns Saturday to tie a career-best. It was perhaps the best performance of a five-game start in which he’s been close to flawless, outdueling Sanders long enough to give USC the win.

“People definitely take what he does for granted,” USC receiver Brenden Rice said, “and it won’t be until he leaves that people will really realize the greatness that they’re watching.”

And at the end of the year, Riley said postgame, people would look back and simply see Saturday’s game as a win.

A win, sure. But also the amalgamation of alarm bells continuing to sound that, if left unchecked, could doom these Trojans’ future.

ocregister.com

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