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Utes aiming for back-to-back Pac-12 titles while Trojans seek a first-time spot in the College Football Playoff by avenging Oct. 15 season loss.
John Coon (Athlon Sports) — USC has a shot at reaching the College Football Playoff in Lincoln Riley’s debut season. Utah can win consecutive Pac-12 championships. The stakes are sky-high for both teams when they battle in the Pac-12 Football Championship Game on Friday night.
Cameron Rising seems to have regained the form he showed in the Utes’ earlier comeback win over USC. Rising picked apart Colorado’s defense from the start. He completed 89 percent of his passes and threw for 234 yards and three touchdowns before resting the entire second half. Dalton Kincaid was Rising’s favorite target, racking up 102 yards and a touchdown on five catches. USC is familiar with the damage Rising and Kincaid can do as a duo on offense. Rising threw for a career-high 415 yards against the Trojans earlier this season while Kincaid tallied a career-high 234 yards on 16 catches. Both players were catalysts to Utah eventually dealing USC its only regular-season loss. It is uncertain if Kincaid will be at full strength after he got injured on his touchdown catch against Colorado, but Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham said he expects him to play.
Caleb Williams is a serious candidate to win the Heisman Trophy and his performance against Notre Dame offers the latest evidence building his case. Williams threw for 232 yards and a touchdown while completing 82 percent of his passes against the Irish and also ran for three other touchdowns. He completed a pass to nine different receivers in the game. Strong performances are the expectation for Williams, who has totaled 27 touchdowns and 2,495 yards on offense over his past six games.
Williams has 4,063 yards of total offense on the season and needs 163 yards to pass Sam Darnold and set a new USC single-season record for total offense. If top receivers Mario Williams and Jordan Addison (3) — both of whom have battled late-season injuries — are at full strength, they will help him easily surpass that mark.
Austin Jones (6) has emerged as a star in the backfield since stepping into a larger role with the injury to Travis Dye. Jones is coming off the best game of his career, piling up 154 yards on 25 carries against Notre Dame. It was his third 100-game of the season and the sixth of his career. The senior has totaled 274 yards on the ground over his past two games and is averaging nearly 6.0 yards per carry in that stretch. A third straight 100-yard effort from Jones on Friday could be a difference-maker for USC.
Let’s face it. Avoiding having to play vastly superior GA (from what I have seen at least), which leads outmanned LSU 35-10 at half, may be worth losing to UTAH.
Regardless if it’s TCU or OHIO ST on the Bulldogs’ menu, either will get eaten alive, just like USC would have.
The Cotton Bowl is a much better fit for this USC team, which could actually win that trophy. It would look very good in Heritage Hall or the McKay Center I think.
One thing we all have to remember to be cheered up – we didn’t win the title game but we kept someone else we don’t like OUT of the game and at home on their couches. I think that counts for something.
I have to ask, who runs the team. Riley or Caleb. Riley should have taken him out but says he wasn’t “allowed” to. What the heck does that mean. Moss should have had at least a couple of series to give it a try. With the loss of Vorhees and Neilon it may not have had a difference. But we will never know because Riley obviously is not in charge.
I don’t take LR’s statement as literally. I think it’s a bit of final Heisman posturing, a bit of an obtuse compliment to his toughness and desire, and a bit of justification for dancing with the one who brought you to the dance, admittedly too long.
Yes, I agree, Moss should have been given a chance.
Good response, and I get what you are saying. Riley makes it sound like any decision was out of his hands, which makes him appear not in charge. I hope after this is all over that Moss stays at USC, but I know if it was me I would be gone.
Agreed, poorly expressed by Riley. At least he didn’t use the dreaded “warrior” attribution.
As for Moss, yeah, probably gone given the hotshot recruit Malachi Nelson coming in.
Or love of his live.
😂
I don’t know if the voters will see it this way, but this game highlights WHY Caleb deserves the Heisman. He loses his ability to scramble, be mobile, and elusive, and we become a completely different team. Just awful. He is clearly the reason SC did what it did this year. Normally, I wouldn’t say injury should be an excuse, because there are a number of players that were in contention for the Heisman before they got injured. But Caleb had an amazing first quarter and was spectacular right up until he suffered TWO injuries, and then he was a… Read more »
Whit was playing chess and Riley was playing checkers tonight.
I disagree. Riley didn’t miss 1000 tackles, the players did. Whit didn’t do anything special, his players just outplayed ours. We were not even close to the same up front without Voorhees and with a hurt Caleb it was just too much to overcome for our offense. I’d strongly argue if Caleb didn’t hurt himself Whit and co wouldn’t have stopped us. He certainly didn’t last go around and wasnt even close before he got hurt in this game.
I don’t blame Riley, Utah is just deeper and better. But not for long.
Decisions on 4th down are enough of an example. Kick a field goal on 4th and short but go for it on 4th and 8?
Utah, I did not see it that way. Whit and LR run totally different programs. With Rising, Utah is 9-3; without Rising, my guess is Utah is 9-3. With Caleb, SC is 11-1; without Caleb, SC is 6-6. LR’s approach lead to 11-1, Whit’s lead to 9-3. If Caleb had not gotten hurt, I think we would have beat Utah by about 10. Caleb not only could not run after the first Q, he could not throw. It changed the entire O. Shame it happened, but it did. LR choose to let a one legged Caleb play the 2nd half… Read more »
Wasn’t referring to the season. Was referring to the play calling last night.
While the playcalling wasn’t the best, I think USC lost because Houdini Caleb was forced to limp around and take sacks for over 75% of the game and LR decided Miller Moss wasn’t ready for this spotlight.
I just commented on another post with the way the defense went on vacation before the first qtr was over I don’t even think a healthy CW gets this win. Would have been close.
But ready or not Moss should have had a shot. As much as CW is Superman. He was wearing a kryptonite necklace last night and we just keep falling further and further behind.
I’m not one of those who think we could have won the game with MM. Here, I defer to LR’s handling of numerous great QBs over many years.
LR kept Moss off the field for a reason. Only those two know why that decision was made.
Rock, You nailed it. With a healthy Caleb, SC wins; with a one legged Caleb, SC loses. Basically, after the 1st quarter, we got to see what LR’s O would look like with Kedon or Slovis at QB AND we got to see what happens to the D when your O collapses.
If one football game decides who gets the Heisman, then the value of the trophy is taken down to player of the game status. If these voters look at the season of work and the accomplishments, the value the players have to the success of a football team then Caleb is the guy.
Max Duggan is pretty much the only one that could have taken Caleb over for the Heisman, and even that was a longshot. Duggan played well late and Herbsteit tried to talk him up for it. But then TCU lost to kill the narrative (somewhat). Now it is just that both quarterbacks were up and down in games they lost. I think Caleb is safe.
LR says Caleb pulled a hammy. That takes more than three weeks of recovery. There’s a pretty good chance Miller Moss gets a bowl game out of this, although he may not want it with the offensive line protection he is going to get.
Can it really be called protection? With a new center as well.
I really hope we get the Alamo Bowl rather than a New Year’s Day Bowl. With Caleb, we have an elite team; without Caleb, we are far from elite.
Wherever I look, I see USC projected to the Cotton Bowl. against whom, I don’t know. Hope Caleb is back from his injury, because without him, we’re in trouble.
Agree, but I have to think a 100% Moss is much better than a less than 50% Williams. And if CW is not 100% in 4 weeks, I’d love to see what Moss has for a whole game.
I’ve never really seen Moss take a single important snap, so I have no idea how good he is.
If LR had that much confidence in Moss, he could have put him last night, but he decided not to.
Without Caleb, I don’t see USC winning the Cotton Bowl. But I think he’ll be ready to rock and roll by then.
Grabbing high on the pads instead of going low is terrible attempts of tackling, every 2nd half TD was gifted to them. We weren’t committed to run the ball tonight either. 11-2 not a bad first year, have to fix the D,great at getting TO’s but not stops.
From such a high to such a low. Nothing can break your heart faster than your school looking and losing this bad with everything on the line. Once I’m over the shock and disbelief, I’ll be thankful for the program turnaround and what we have to look forward to. Right now I am most disappointed because of the feeling that we had really gotten better on both sides of the ball, after the last two games, and were rolling toward something big. I didn’t think we would be that exposed in the second half, but that’s the beauty and the… Read more »
Uh and which USC Employee should take the blame for this ??? >>>>> Shotgun Spratling
@ShotgunSpr
#USC HC Lincoln Riley said #Utah did a better job playing together as a team.
That sounds more like a Heltonism.
LR will need to think seriously about whether a change at D coordinator is on deck. He cannot be a Clay Helton, and keep people around just because he is their guy. Grinch may not have the horses here yet, but he had them at Oklahoma and was not much better there. It is time for LR to get out of his comfort zone and consider whether he can do better. There were just no answers.
Up until tonight I would have argued with you on this point.
If you can’t coach defensive players to execute basic tackling technique after at last 9 months of coaching, perhaps it’s time for a career change.
This year USC was pretty much a one horse QB show with some good receivers. Once the Utah line realized our QB was reluctant to run it was lights out. Our OL got exposed big time. The DL and LB’s also showed just how subpar they have been. Overall, considering its his first year I’d give the coach an A……the talent level just was not there for a big run. We were lucky we play in the pac 12 and were able to win 11. Hopefully we load up on transfers on both lines, LB’s and safeties. Looking forward to… Read more »
I take it you assume the B1G is the better conference this year. Problem with that is the polls say different. Defense fell apart as a unit, but how do you explain Tuli and the other guys picked All Americans. One bad game does not define a team, even though is was a really bad game.
Polls…..don’t get me laughing. Who would you bet real dollars on right now LSU or TCU. How bout Bama vs TCU. That Florida team that beat Utah is now 6-6 and not ranked…….plays in the SEC. If Oregon played any other team in the pac 12 on a neutral field right now who would you put cash on. If it is not Oregon we have no reason to talk…….and they got destroyed 49 to 3 playing Georgia. UCLA played nobody. Wash St beat Wisconsin by 3….the same WI team that is near the bottom in the big 10. Washington won… Read more »
How does this team get outscored 44 to 7 in under 3 quarters by anybody?
There’d better be some serious reckoning and work on the defense this off season.
The offense only scored 7 in those three quarters. Usually with three and outs throwing a worn out defense back on the field. And yes the defense was horrible.
Worst game since 13-9. I was worried about a 13-9 like outcome all week, but my imagination was not wild enough to contemplate losing this way and this bad.
Agree.
I was way off about tonight’s game. Where do we land now?
Something better than the Holiday Bowl I hope .
Maybe the Cotton Bowl if we’re still in the top 10. More likely the Alamo Bowl
Too 10 could be generous. UT has to be ahead of us. They beat us twice.
There is still too much Helton in this team (don’t get me wrong, Riley was thoroughly out coached tonight). But I was watching the sideline an by the middle of the third qtr many had given up. Defense was the worst by far I have seen all year. Literally bouncing off of the ball carrier.
Can not put a good SPIN on this ………………………………..
Saved us from a complete beat down by Georgia?
And this wasn’t a complete beat down? Rhetorical, I know. But actually, with a healthy CW, I think we’d have had a decent shot of hanging with uga in a respectable manner.
I just hate that we’ll never know due to the key injuries we suffered. A healthy best men on best men loss is easier to digest because you don’t always wonder What if?
This absolutely was a beat down because our defense decided to leave town before the first qtr was over. CW would have kept the game close, but I don’t think we would have won. Utah wanted this win much more than the Trojan collective did.
Cameron Rising is one tough mutha. That massive hit he took (where he looked like he broke his neck) was amazing, but only seemed to energize him even more.
UTAH played a great game last night against a team that lost its big star fairly early on. Before then, USC was in control. After then, we didn’t stand a chance.
Just a great example of why CFB is so great. So many things can happen at any moment that changes the course of history.
Yep. We just lack defensive nastiness and toughness. Kind of a glass jaw fighter at this point. And, I am weary of all the strutting and posing after a single good play when cumulatively we’re getting it handed to us.
Three times I tried to post and three times it said posting was closed- what gives? I’m disappointed but we’ve had a rough couple of weeks getting here. I just hope Caleb didn’t throw away the Heisman with his interception.
Was it a new comment or a response to someone else’s comment.
I have been monitoring the site the whole game.
New comment. I signed out and back in twice because it said commenting has closed. Once I also had to do the same with a reply.
I will look into it and see if I can figure what might have happened.
It’s my fault I finally changed the picture on my profile from the Helton leading the team with Brutus Thornapple (the born loser) head photoshopped on it, to a picture of the torch at the coliseum. It totally jinxed the team as well as the site.
That’s why the mojo was so out of whack tonight.
Everyone has been saying he was so far ahead. Would not think so. Overall he played better than good. Can’t say the same for the defense.
We are so much better than we were a year ago. So let’s hold our heads high and get ready for whatever bowl game we go to and finish with 12 wins. Our program is back and we will be back to the Pac-12 championship game again.
See you all at the bowl game.
Why not take him out a while ago. Riley, get your head on straight
Hoping Michigan and TCU lose tomorrow
Doesn’t really matter.
I know but I hope they go down.
Misery loves company. So ok.
This team heard nothing but Compliments after UCLA and ND …..Maybe some criticism will be a good thing .
HOF19–this team heard all year long their defense wasn’t any good. They aren’t! But to say they only hear compliments is wrong. This years team was very flawed and still managed to get to the PAC 12 Championship game. I am bummed they lost, but I am applauding their turn around.And I thank each player for an exciting season.
Can we stop with the towel waving. Good programs don’t do those kind of things.
It’s pretty silly looking, agree.
It was like Helton coached this team from the 2nd quarter on.
The TV just summed it up. “They just can’t tackle”
Anybody bet Utah 47 USC 24 ??????????
Didn’t expect this team to quit. That touchdown is proof that at least the defense has. How many guys does he have to bump into for somebody to put their arms around him.
I hope Brock Huard pulls a hamstring on his way out the door.
Me too
Next week let Utah play Ohio State <<<<< Just saying .
Can’t take anything away from the Utes. They beat our ass twice and we rolled over.
My intern is a freshman at Utah; I am going to have to listen to a lot of s- -t for the next few months.
I have to drive back to Utah with my two daughters in the morning. They are both Utes.
They both had a blast so it is all good.
Too many injuries tonight. Voorhies was really missed. Caleb not being able to run on top of it was just too much. Utah is too good to play at 50%
Defense and offensive line should be embarrassed tonight.
This second half almost looks like what Michigan did to Ohio State last week .
Disappointing end to a fantastic season. I never expected 11 & 1 and a chance at the CFP. Riley needs to find physical and athletic defensive players. Kids played hard and much more disciplined than in past years. Fight on Trojans!!!!? Come back next year and finish the job.
Any Thoughts where we play next ? …..Any chance Cotten Bowl ?
They just announced a sellout crowd. Maybe tickets sold. But not close to what showed up. Maybe 60% full.
This game is putting one knife (and twisting it) in my gut ……But there is a second Knife (and twisting) in my gut also ………I CAN NOT STAND Ohio State …………………….
Gotta give Utah credit. They came to play and beat us mentally and physically.
Bullick has been dragged into the end zone on two touchdowns in a row.
He is a good safety, but in a bad position back there tonight
He has no idea how to tackle. He just jumps on the guys back and holds on for dear life.
why is he an all american then
I can only pass along what I am seeing tonight. He is no all American.
Tonight I have to agree
Our defensive back field is made up of finesse players not a power player anywhere
Good night everyone. see you at the taco bowl or where ever we end up.
We were 4-8 last year and 11-1 so far. The program is back but we’re not a CFP level team yet.
Just out-coached and out-played. We played better at SLC in October.
Sadly so true.
Even the towel waving on the sideline has stopped
Ballgame
Game ……………………………………………….
Well it was a good run.
couldn’t happen at a worse time, naturally
Who is down?
Our Center I believe.
Damn. I can’t see a number.
oh crap
Bringing out the cart. He can not get up
Neilon
See that? 22 missed tackles by USC so far
We do not score this possession this is over .
If you don’t think Lincoln needs to get rid of his defensive staff, you’re not paying attention. Utah is exposing the weaknesses of the whole crew. Somebody needs to teach tackling.
I don’t think so
And i guarantee he won’t.
Then you’re not paying attention. That touchdown was a gift from the defense and their lack of tackling. Lincoln doesn’t give a hoot about defense. He’s all about offense. That’s history and he needs to take care of both sides of the ball.
How many of us in July thought we would be here tonight. come a long way, but not there quite yet
Yeah, but the team dared us to dream big and now they wet the bed.
We are crapping it
Problem is I bought into the hype. The emperor has no clothes.
It’s off to the taco bowl for the trojans
You do not tackle in this game of football At ANY LEVEL…..You can not win ………….. and that is NOT debatable !