USC defense collapses late and suffers first defeat in gutting loss to Utah marred by penalties…
Adam Grosbard (OC Register) — SALT LAKE CITY — After the Utah offense had gashed USC to the tune of 562 yards and six touchdowns, the last on a Cam Rising keeper on fourth-and-goal from the one, the Utes gave the Trojans one last chance.
Down by one with 48 seconds left, Utah opted to go for two and the win. All USC needed was a stop to escape the rocking Rice-Eccles Stadium with a win.
But as Rising sat in the pocket looking for an open receiver, he there was none to be found. So he took off himself and reached the ball across the goal line to put the Utes ahead for the first time all night.
The Utah defense took care of the rest, knocking down Caleb Williams’ heave at the buzzer as the 20th-ranked Utes ended the seventh-ranked Trojans’ undefeated season, 43-42.
“We were one inch away on a lot of different occasions from winning this game,” head coach Lincoln Riley said after his first loss at USC. “And several times very close to running away with it.”
As close as USC (6-1, 4-1 in Pac-12) came, it was a game the Trojans probably didn’t deserve to win. Yes, the offense gained 556 yards, but the defense was abysmal and USC committed 11 penalties leading to 88 yards.
Many of those were suspect calls from an officiating crew that struggled to control the game. The worst was a roughing-the-passer flag in the first quarter in which Stanley Ta’ufo’ou shoved Rising in the back. The pass had been intercepted, but on the next play Utah scored its first touchdown of the game.
It was one of those “close to running away with it” moments that Riley lamented.
“The officiating was really poor tonight,” Riley said. “But we still should have won the game.”
In the swirl of the defeat, it might be difficult to remember how hot USC was at the start.
After the Utes took away on the first three plays of the game, Williams escaped for a 55-yard scramble. Two plays later, Travis Dye punched it in for a touchdown.
Williams bent over as he howled into his clenched fists, savoring the taste of the first blood drawn in this contest, and the sounds of silence of the 53,609 fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium, a record for the venue.
With Utah (5-2, 3-1) choosing to take away deep and intermediate routes, head coach Lincoln Riley began attacking the flats in the second drive with masterful play calling. A reverse to Jordan Addison, a play-action screen pass to Dye, a flat pass to Mario Williams and another to Tahj Washington after being sent in motion got USC to the goal line.
On first-and-goal came the coup de grace.
USC lined up trips on the left side of the ball and no one wide on the opposite. Addison went in motion and Caleb Williams found him sweeping to the left. Josh Falo’s block cleared two tacklers and Addison found the end zone.
That opened it up for deep passes, particularly to Mario Williams for 66 and 36 yards on his next two catches, the latter a Willie Mays-esque snag.
But the Utes got back into the game when a roughing-the-passer penalty erased an interception and allowed Utah to score on the next play. Utah closed the half with two touchdown drives. The first moved 60 yards in four plays, the second 70 in five.
When Rising found Devaughn Vele for a 16-yard score with 1:16 left in the half, the black-clad crowd was jumping up and down.
Rising repeatedly punished the USC defense with his arm, feet and even his hands for his first career reception. He threw for 415 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for 60 and three.
The Ventura native went to tight end Dalton Kincaid every chance he got for 15 receptions and 217 yards as USC struggled to find any defender that could match up with the 6-foot-4 senior, or even just to tackle him.
“It was probably the game we tackled the worst,” Riley said. “The yards after contact, the yards after catch.”
It was a touchdown pass to Kincaid that tied the game at 28, then a Rising rush that tied it again at 35 with 10:55 to play.
USC went back ahead on a screen pass to Michael Jackson III for his first catch and touchdown of the year.
But the Trojans left 6:15 on the clock, far too much time for the Utes against the USC defense. And USC didn’t have enough firepower to get in field goal range with Addison knocked from the game with a leg injury.
As the fans stormed the field around him, Williams still lay on the field before slowly exiting to the locker room. When he appeared at the post-game press conference, his eyes were red.
“I hate losing,” he said. “We aren’t going to go undefeated, but that’s not the end all, be all for this team.”
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Watched Mark Sanchez on Cowherd today. He is always a good interview to me. Great personality and insight. He offers tidbits about teams and players that others don’t. Represents SC very well. I also noticed how quickly Colin has backed off the Pete Carroll has lost his way, got fired twice, defensive minded coach, etc. narrative since Russell has greatly underperformed in Denver. Pete knew that Russ’s skills were deteriorating, and got a haul for him. Colin was dumbfounded before the season that Seattle would move off of him and that Pete didn’t know what he was doing anymore. I’ve… Read more »
Colin’s the first guy to admit Seattle has been better than he predicted, and Russell Wilson’s deteriorating and suddenly missing skills have been a high-priced mystery, not only to most of us, but to the poor drowning Broncos as well. Bronco big shot John Elway must wonder how he used to do it. As you point out, Hackett can’t do the job. Maybe he’ll learn, maybe not. Doubt it. Both the Chargers and the Broncos looked absolutely abysmal last night I thought. I’m still not sold on Carroll’s marginal 3-3 Seahawks either. Let’s see how they do against the Giants,… Read more »
The Seahawks have a lot of work to do, and a couple of good drafts in the next few years, before they get better than average again, IMO. The Chargers have as much talent as almost anyone, and are underperforming and treading water, IMO. I know they have had injuries, but the defense has been terrible, and I don’t think Brandon Staley is head coach material. If I’m ownership, and I know that Sean Payton has already said the Chargers were one of the teams he’d be interested in, I would seriously consider making that change at the end of… Read more »
I’d love to see Payton come to the Chargers. Talk about a shot in the arm for the underachievement kings of the western hemisphere! If LR can land at USC, I’m convinced anything can happen.
USC DT Tuli Tuipulotu is the only Trojan to make The Athletic’s 1st or 2nd team Mid-Season All-America squads.
He’s a first-teamer and is currently second in the nation with 12.5 tackles for loss, following up a first-team All-Pac-12 season in 2021 with a dominant campaign in 2022. The 6-foot-4, 290-pounder also has seven sacks and a forced fumble.
not losing is the most important thing in the college football world. We are not going to lose for the next 4 weeks, that a big deal. UCLA or Oregon will lose this week. That is the same for Ole Miss, Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Tennessee, and Ohio State. I also believe that TCU will lose in those 4 weeks. I predict by the time we play UCLA that we will be a top 5 team simply by not losing. We will have three more wins over garbage teams, but we will not lose. If we beat The bRuins and win… Read more »
We have to take account of Alabama, being not in the top 4 just means the committee has to find a way to move them up, because if they don’t the SEC will explode.
The Athletic’s staff grades out a few teams USC: A The Trojans won four games in 2021. Lincoln Riley surpassed that win total in five games and has had USC in the top 10 for a majority of the season. The Trojans are certainly flawed, particularly on defense, but the fact that so many new coaches and players have jelled this quickly is impressive, and USC essentially still controls its own destiny in the Pac-12 title race despite a hard-fought loss to Utah last weekend. Like UCLA, the Trojans are in a good position to win double-digit games. — Antonio Morales… Read more »
It dawned on me this morning that we are bowl eligible and so caught up in the way we have turned around, we don’t care. It’s expected for the first time in so long that I completely missed that fact. We aren’t playing the next 4 games for bowl eligibility, we’re competing for the best bowl placement. I think that deserves to be mentioned.
I know it has been a long time since SC had a coach the fanbase believed in, but I never want to be a fan who gets excited when his team becomes bowl-eligible. Call me a snob. I deserve it.
I can see where come November 20, we will have 4 teams with one loss in the Pac12, USC, UCLA, Utah and Oregon. Some deep in the weeds tie breaker scenarios. Guess we want Oregon to beat the Bruins this week and Utah to beat Oregon Nov 19.
Of course, if Oregon beats UCLA and Utah, they are undefeated and in the CCG. USC beats UCLA they are in with one loss. It’s the Pac12 they tend to beat each other up with upsets likely from nowhere.
It’s gonna be a wild race to the finish, and anybody’s guess as to who will win the Pac-12. When was the last time we saw four Pac-12 schools ranked in the top 15, with UCLA (9), ORE (10), USC (12), and UTAH (15)? I just hope USC can get into the newly formatted P12 championship game where the top two teams play regardless of division. Gotta beat UCLA. A loss to the Bruins on Nov. 19 would hurt worse than what just happened this weekend in SLC. At least our bye comes at a perfect time. USC is already… Read more »
or Kiffin next time they play … good to see Kiffy being the slapdick on social media he is rather than pretend being a big time coach (spare me the 7th ranked even Suckisian could beat those teams)
Before the season started, I thought that we would end the regular season 9-3 and would lose to Utah. Last night I was devastated. That is good because I have not felt that way for a loss since 2012. All losses since then were depressing but expected. Now, even with this loss (refs were the biggest reason) I am very happy and hopeful. 2023 and 2024 are going to be epic! Btw, am very happy to be tied for third place!
SR UTAH TE Dalton Kincaid (from Las Vegas and transferred from USD) had 234 yds on 16 catches vs USC which must be some kind of record somewhere in the universe.
I personally am glad the hype will die down some and expectations will drop to a normal human level. It may be now they can just concentrate on improvement instead of protecting their standing in the rankings. I hated this loss because it was so contaminated with the worst officiating I have seen in years, and I do believe the two roughing calls were bogus and they came at very strategic times. Coaching had some flaws last night in game management and adjustments. How that TE could continue to run free ALL night long was beyond what I could comprehend… Read more »
Oh, absolutely! Especially when it seemed obvious to everyone except the coaching staff that Utah was going right down the field to score the tying/go ahead TD. Should have let them score with 3:30 left.
No – what kind of message is that. Had two chance to stop on 4th and 2 pt conversion and didn’t. Maybe a TO at the 1:48 mark.
But we all knew after the RP on the pick at 14-0 and then another on 3rd and long …. SC was hosed
Just for good measure the same ref threw the F U SC on the KO hold
Penalties, as much as anything can lead any team towards a loss. That shoving the Ute QB getting a flag right after a pick, giving them the ball back and a play or two later they get a gift TD, is a killer that’s really hard to swallow. I know I know, the emotion of the game just takes a player’s mind away and loses it. But none the less, without that shove in front of the ref, it could have lead to a comfortable lead and maybe-probably, the game ends differently. When you have a suspect defense that is… Read more »
My view, for what it matters. None of us really expected SC to win that game. I was surprised at how well the team played. On a neutral field with decent refs, we win that game by 14. In SLC with bad refs, we lose by 1. That game was Utah’s season. It was not SC’s. If SC can win in Tucson and then at home against Cal and CO (we should be able to win all of those), SC’s season will come down to the UCLA game. Win it and we probably go to the Pac 12 Championship game.… Read more »
Riley — “A lot of our staff, we’ve been there, we know what it looks like to make a run. This team has a real shot. If we handle this like I think we will, we got a real shot. I’m pissed right now. They fought their guts out. Well s—, I’m ready to go practice right now.”
Oh, I had somehow already forgotten about The Cat’s standard “I’ve got to look at the tape first,” post-game ridiculousness. It makes me shudder just to think of it.
That quote brings back fond memories of Pete Carroll, after his first loss at SC, to nationally ranked Kansas State, 10-6. He was asked if he was pleased his team had played K State tough and responded he was pissed they lost. I loved that.
“USC lost to UTAH, but it played a relevant game against a quality opponent in prime time. This is where USC expects to be. The Trojans and Utes put on a show. USC has enhanced its brand. The Trojans don’t have a complete team, and yet they’re still one or two plays from being 7-0…”
I readily admit our defense was poor last night, but we had our way with their defense too. No way to get around it, PAC 12 referees are horribly incompetent, and their malfeasance
cost us a win last night.
We can’t get into the BIG 10 soon enough!
I think it’s because UTAH needed egregious help from the refs to beat USC by one single point with a big-time home-field advantage already, and has also lost to UF and UCLA. I think it’s a fair placement of the teams.
This game just makes me happier that USC leaving the PAC relegates the rest to WAC status. The remaining team will be a mid major conference at best. The commissioner was on hand to see that the officials were following his orders last night.
The officials were definitely following orders.
And were biased by the game conditions.
The rulings were not fair.
The injuries right now are the big concern.
Especially to Addison and Gentry.
After a restless night sleep lamenting the Trojan/Dodger double disappointment, I rewatched parts of the game and highlight/lowlights, and when I saw how much time Rising had to throw and decide to run if he wanted, and how open the receivers were, it wasn’t surprising we lost. It was really the first time all season where half time adjustments, or lack of, did absolutely nothing to improve the situation. I haven’t heard anything about the severity of injuries, but the bye couldn’t have come at a better time. The top teams in the conference are giving up huge chunks of… Read more »
Stewart Mandel (The Athletic) — “I wouldn’t think it possible for a Lane Kiffin-coached SEC team to be a “quiet 7-0,” but here we are. Kiffin does a great job adapting to his personnel from one year to the next, and he’s riding one heck of a running game this season. In Saturday’s 48-34 win over Auburn, three different players — freshman Quinshon Judkins (25 carries, 139 yards, two TDs), TCU transfer Zach Evans(21 carries, 136 yards, one TD) and QB Jaxon Dart (14 carries, 115 yards) — went for triple-digits as the Rebels racked up 448 rushing yards.”
A one-point loss on the toughest place to play in the PAC (imo); where the players on the field stood at 11 vs, 11 plus zebras. I wish we had won, but we all knew that we didn’t really have a defense worthy of our top-ten ranking.
They say you are only paranoid when someone is after you. That’s how I feel after watching a referee aided Utah come from behind victory, last night. I had more questions than answers about the integrity of the PAC 12 as a conference. It was apparent from the mid-second quarter that the field was slowly tilting in Utah’s favor with the aid of the referees. How else can you explain the roughing the passer calls, which in one case negated an interception and in the other kept a drive advancing toward the end zone. You can blame the defense If… Read more »
If we could fill the schedule, I would absolutely be in favor of a 2023 as an independent. It is reasonable to assume that we will be the class of the PAC in 2023, but with the screwball weeknight games, bad officiating, and the rest of the conference resentful at their meal ticket leaving for greener pastures; who know what kind of shenanigans our football team would be exposed to.
Have to agree with Rialto that it was a referee aided win.
Even the announcers were saying that it was not a roughing the passer.
It was as if the refs were protecting the Utah QB and team.
The Trojans played a great game and was cheated by the refs.
No wonder want to leave this bad conference.
Travis Dye takes the positive approach — “I feel like it’s going to fuel the fire a lot. Just seeing the guys in the locker room right now, nobody’s head’s down. We have everything we want in front of us.”
But as Rising sat in the pocket looking for an open receiver, he there was none to be found. So he took off himself and reached the ball across the goal line to put the Utes ahead for the first time all night.
“The officiating was really poor tonight,” Riley said. “But we still should have won the game.”
But the Trojans left 6:15 on the clock, far too much time for the Utes against the USC defense. And USC didn’t have enough firepower to get in field goal range with Addison knocked from the game with a leg injury.
As the fans stormed the field around him, Williams still lay on the field before slowly exiting to the locker room. When he appeared at the post-game press conference, his eyes were red.
Watched Mark Sanchez on Cowherd today. He is always a good interview to me. Great personality and insight. He offers tidbits about teams and players that others don’t. Represents SC very well. I also noticed how quickly Colin has backed off the Pete Carroll has lost his way, got fired twice, defensive minded coach, etc. narrative since Russell has greatly underperformed in Denver. Pete knew that Russ’s skills were deteriorating, and got a haul for him. Colin was dumbfounded before the season that Seattle would move off of him and that Pete didn’t know what he was doing anymore. I’ve… Read more »
Colin’s the first guy to admit Seattle has been better than he predicted, and Russell Wilson’s deteriorating and suddenly missing skills have been a high-priced mystery, not only to most of us, but to the poor drowning Broncos as well. Bronco big shot John Elway must wonder how he used to do it. As you point out, Hackett can’t do the job. Maybe he’ll learn, maybe not. Doubt it. Both the Chargers and the Broncos looked absolutely abysmal last night I thought. I’m still not sold on Carroll’s marginal 3-3 Seahawks either. Let’s see how they do against the Giants,… Read more »
The Seahawks have a lot of work to do, and a couple of good drafts in the next few years, before they get better than average again, IMO. The Chargers have as much talent as almost anyone, and are underperforming and treading water, IMO. I know they have had injuries, but the defense has been terrible, and I don’t think Brandon Staley is head coach material. If I’m ownership, and I know that Sean Payton has already said the Chargers were one of the teams he’d be interested in, I would seriously consider making that change at the end of… Read more »
I’d love to see Payton come to the Chargers. Talk about a shot in the arm for the underachievement kings of the western hemisphere! If LR can land at USC, I’m convinced anything can happen.
USC DT Tuli Tuipulotu is the only Trojan to make The Athletic’s 1st or 2nd team Mid-Season All-America squads.
He’s a first-teamer and is currently second in the nation with 12.5 tackles for loss, following up a first-team All-Pac-12 season in 2021 with a dominant campaign in 2022. The 6-foot-4, 290-pounder also has seven sacks and a forced fumble.
theathletic.com
not losing is the most important thing in the college football world. We are not going to lose for the next 4 weeks, that a big deal. UCLA or Oregon will lose this week. That is the same for Ole Miss, Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Tennessee, and Ohio State. I also believe that TCU will lose in those 4 weeks. I predict by the time we play UCLA that we will be a top 5 team simply by not losing. We will have three more wins over garbage teams, but we will not lose. If we beat The bRuins and win… Read more »
We have to take account of Alabama, being not in the top 4 just means the committee has to find a way to move them up, because if they don’t the SEC will explode.
Marcus Freeman moves up to #5 on the Hot Seat list. David Shaw drops to #7, Brent Venables to #10.
coacheshotseat.com
After seven weeks of the season, Athlon Sports predicts USC’s bowl status
Rose Bowl (Jan. 2)Tie-In: Big Ten vs. Pac-12
Projection: MICH vs. USC
athlonsports.com
That would be awesome – who needs that horse crap SEC invite playoff garbage
old fashion SC vs Michigan is perfect
It would be more fun if Bo was still coaching, I loved to see him after a Rose Bowl loss. Beating down on Harbaugh is a close second though.
The Athletic’s staff grades out a few teams USC: A The Trojans won four games in 2021. Lincoln Riley surpassed that win total in five games and has had USC in the top 10 for a majority of the season. The Trojans are certainly flawed, particularly on defense, but the fact that so many new coaches and players have jelled this quickly is impressive, and USC essentially still controls its own destiny in the Pac-12 title race despite a hard-fought loss to Utah last weekend. Like UCLA, the Trojans are in a good position to win double-digit games. — Antonio Morales… Read more »
It dawned on me this morning that we are bowl eligible and so caught up in the way we have turned around, we don’t care. It’s expected for the first time in so long that I completely missed that fact. We aren’t playing the next 4 games for bowl eligibility, we’re competing for the best bowl placement. I think that deserves to be mentioned.
I know it has been a long time since SC had a coach the fanbase believed in, but I never want to be a fan who gets excited when his team becomes bowl-eligible. Call me a snob. I deserve it.
I can see where come November 20, we will have 4 teams with one loss in the Pac12, USC, UCLA, Utah and Oregon. Some deep in the weeds tie breaker scenarios. Guess we want Oregon to beat the Bruins this week and Utah to beat Oregon Nov 19.
Of course, if Oregon beats UCLA and Utah, they are undefeated and in the CCG. USC beats UCLA they are in with one loss. It’s the Pac12 they tend to beat each other up with upsets likely from nowhere.
It’s gonna be a wild race to the finish, and anybody’s guess as to who will win the Pac-12. When was the last time we saw four Pac-12 schools ranked in the top 15, with UCLA (9), ORE (10), USC (12), and UTAH (15)? I just hope USC can get into the newly formatted P12 championship game where the top two teams play regardless of division. Gotta beat UCLA. A loss to the Bruins on Nov. 19 would hurt worse than what just happened this weekend in SLC. At least our bye comes at a perfect time. USC is already… Read more »
I would not want to be around Saban the last couple days.
or Kiffin next time they play … good to see Kiffy being the slapdick on social media he is rather than pretend being a big time coach (spare me the 7th ranked even Suckisian could beat those teams)
I see (on some websites ) Oregon is a 6 or 7 points favorite vs UCLA next weekend …..Fight On !
Gutties are going to get the SC at Utah treatment – no way in hell are they going to be allowed to win that game
Before the season started, I thought that we would end the regular season 9-3 and would lose to Utah. Last night I was devastated. That is good because I have not felt that way for a loss since 2012. All losses since then were depressing but expected. Now, even with this loss (refs were the biggest reason) I am very happy and hopeful. 2023 and 2024 are going to be epic! Btw, am very happy to be tied for third place!
SR UTAH TE Dalton Kincaid (from Las Vegas and transferred from USD) had 234 yds on 16 catches vs USC which must be some kind of record somewhere in the universe.
I hope someone in the media asks Grinch why they didn’t even try to shut down Kincaid.
or the refs why he was continually allowed to run directly into the defender
I personally am glad the hype will die down some and expectations will drop to a normal human level. It may be now they can just concentrate on improvement instead of protecting their standing in the rankings. I hated this loss because it was so contaminated with the worst officiating I have seen in years, and I do believe the two roughing calls were bogus and they came at very strategic times. Coaching had some flaws last night in game management and adjustments. How that TE could continue to run free ALL night long was beyond what I could comprehend… Read more »
Clock control wasn’t LR’s strong point last night. He wasted a lot of seconds that would have really come in handy.
Oh, absolutely! Especially when it seemed obvious to everyone except the coaching staff that Utah was going right down the field to score the tying/go ahead TD. Should have let them score with 3:30 left.
No – what kind of message is that. Had two chance to stop on 4th and 2 pt conversion and didn’t. Maybe a TO at the 1:48 mark.
But we all knew after the RP on the pick at 14-0 and then another on 3rd and long …. SC was hosed
Just for good measure the same ref threw the F U SC on the KO hold
Penalties, as much as anything can lead any team towards a loss. That shoving the Ute QB getting a flag right after a pick, giving them the ball back and a play or two later they get a gift TD, is a killer that’s really hard to swallow. I know I know, the emotion of the game just takes a player’s mind away and loses it. But none the less, without that shove in front of the ref, it could have lead to a comfortable lead and maybe-probably, the game ends differently. When you have a suspect defense that is… Read more »
My view, for what it matters. None of us really expected SC to win that game. I was surprised at how well the team played. On a neutral field with decent refs, we win that game by 14. In SLC with bad refs, we lose by 1. That game was Utah’s season. It was not SC’s. If SC can win in Tucson and then at home against Cal and CO (we should be able to win all of those), SC’s season will come down to the UCLA game. Win it and we probably go to the Pac 12 Championship game.… Read more »
Yes … LR proved this team and his program is for real with that start and overall game for most part
Amazing quote by LR
Riley — “A lot of our staff, we’ve been there, we know what it looks like to make a run. This team has a real shot. If we handle this like I think we will, we got a real shot. I’m pissed right now. They fought their guts out. Well s—, I’m ready to go practice right now.”
J Brady McCollough (LAT)
What, no accolades for his warriors and commitment to go watch tape?
Oh, I had somehow already forgotten about The Cat’s standard “I’ve got to look at the tape first,” post-game ridiculousness. It makes me shudder just to think of it.
That quote brings back fond memories of Pete Carroll, after his first loss at SC, to nationally ranked Kansas State, 10-6. He was asked if he was pleased his team had played K State tough and responded he was pissed they lost. I loved that.
Me too. I was beyond weary of hugs, participation cookies, and gold stars for trying.
Super positive article about USC football
“USC lost to UTAH, but it played a relevant game against a quality opponent in prime time. This is where USC expects to be. The Trojans and Utes put on a show. USC has enhanced its brand. The Trojans don’t have a complete team, and yet they’re still one or two plays from being 7-0…”
Matt Yemek/Yahoo Sports
I readily admit our defense was poor last night, but we had our way with their defense too. No way to get around it, PAC 12 referees are horribly incompetent, and their malfeasance
cost us a win last night.
We can’t get into the BIG 10 soon enough!
USC ranked #12 by the AP. Not bad.
AP Poll
1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. Tennessee
4. Michigan
5. Clemson
6. Alabama
7. Ole Miss
8. TCU
9. UCLA
10. Oregon
11. Oklahoma State
12. USC (also 12 in the Coaches Poll)
13. Wake Forest
14. Syracuse
15. Utah
16. Penn State
17. Kansas State
18. Illinois
19. Kentucky
20. Texas
21. Cincinnati
22. North Carolina
23. North Carolina State
24. Mississippi State
25. Tulane
Much better than expected. Not sure why Utah is behind us.
I think it’s because UTAH needed egregious help from the refs to beat USC by one single point with a big-time home-field advantage already, and has also lost to UF and UCLA. I think it’s a fair placement of the teams.
I do as well but fair is the last thing I expect to ever see with USC.
This game just makes me happier that USC leaving the PAC relegates the rest to WAC status. The remaining team will be a mid major conference at best. The commissioner was on hand to see that the officials were following his orders last night.
The officials were definitely following orders.
And were biased by the game conditions.
The rulings were not fair.
The injuries right now are the big concern.
Especially to Addison and Gentry.
After a restless night sleep lamenting the Trojan/Dodger double disappointment, I rewatched parts of the game and highlight/lowlights, and when I saw how much time Rising had to throw and decide to run if he wanted, and how open the receivers were, it wasn’t surprising we lost. It was really the first time all season where half time adjustments, or lack of, did absolutely nothing to improve the situation. I haven’t heard anything about the severity of injuries, but the bye couldn’t have come at a better time. The top teams in the conference are giving up huge chunks of… Read more »
Current Standings After Week 6
Chris – 28500
San Diego Trojan- 28000
Satyrdancing – 22000
DubPar22 – 22000
Rialto Trojan – 19500
Troy5543 – 19000
Trojan RJJ – 13750
BUS83 – 11000
Golden Trojan – 9500
M/M SteveG – 2500
Rock2112 – 1000
It is quite obvious I can’t pick a dang thing this season so ignore any predictions I may have.
Jaxson Dart running well for Lane Kiffin
Stewart Mandel (The Athletic) — “I wouldn’t think it possible for a Lane Kiffin-coached SEC team to be a “quiet 7-0,” but here we are. Kiffin does a great job adapting to his personnel from one year to the next, and he’s riding one heck of a running game this season. In Saturday’s 48-34 win over Auburn, three different players — freshman Quinshon Judkins (25 carries, 139 yards, two TDs), TCU transfer Zach Evans (21 carries, 136 yards, one TD) and QB Jaxon Dart (14 carries, 115 yards) — went for triple-digits as the Rebels racked up 448 rushing yards.”
Can’t resist – Ole Piss hasn’t played anyone period
A one-point loss on the toughest place to play in the PAC (imo); where the players on the field stood at 11 vs, 11 plus zebras. I wish we had won, but we all knew that we didn’t really have a defense worthy of our top-ten ranking.
They say you are only paranoid when someone is after you. That’s how I feel after watching a referee aided Utah come from behind victory, last night. I had more questions than answers about the integrity of the PAC 12 as a conference. It was apparent from the mid-second quarter that the field was slowly tilting in Utah’s favor with the aid of the referees. How else can you explain the roughing the passer calls, which in one case negated an interception and in the other kept a drive advancing toward the end zone. You can blame the defense If… Read more »
If we could fill the schedule, I would absolutely be in favor of a 2023 as an independent. It is reasonable to assume that we will be the class of the PAC in 2023, but with the screwball weeknight games, bad officiating, and the rest of the conference resentful at their meal ticket leaving for greener pastures; who know what kind of shenanigans our football team would be exposed to.
Have to agree with Rialto that it was a referee aided win.
Even the announcers were saying that it was not a roughing the passer.
It was as if the refs were protecting the Utah QB and team.
The Trojans played a great game and was cheated by the refs.
No wonder want to leave this bad conference.
Travis Dye takes the positive approach — “I feel like it’s going to fuel the fire a lot. Just seeing the guys in the locker room right now, nobody’s head’s down. We have everything we want in front of us.”