Trojans dominate Stanford early, withstand late Cardinal push to win 41-28
USC dispatched Stanford behind QB Caleb Williams, an explosive offensive supporting cast, and a defense that had trouble tackling but forced four turnovers.
Stanford S Jonathan McGill brings down USC RB Travis Dye during the first quarter of the Trojans’ 41-28 win Saturday in Palo Alto. (Godofredo A. Vásquez / AP)
USC WR Mario Williams scores on a 15-yd TD catch against Stanford during the first half Saturday. (Godofredo A. Vásquez / AP)
Steve Henson (LA Times) — Chapter two of the Lincoln Riley era lacked much suspense or a surprise ending, but it was compelling stuff for USC fans who figure dominating Stanford ought to be a given.
Dominate the Trojans did until the fourth quarter. Behind quarterback Caleb Williams, an explosive offensive supporting cast, and a defense that had trouble tackling but forced four turnovers, USC won 41-28 on Saturday in Palo Alto.
Stanford trailed 41-14 entering the fourth quarter and scored two touchdowns while it seemed USC was content to milk the clock and get to the locker room. After Stanford sacked Williams on third down with just under three minutes to play, USC needed to snap out of it and finish off the Cardinal.
After a punt, Stanford took possession at its four-yard-line with 2:30 to play. The Trojans’ defense stiffened, and consecutive sacks on third and fourth down gave the ball back to USC at the Cardinal 10-yard line with 27 seconds to play.
Williams, who followed Riley from Oklahoma to USC, completed 20 of 27 passes for 341 yards and four touchdowns.
Jordan Addison and Mario Williams looked for all the world the best receiving tandem in college football. Addison, the 2021 Fred Biletnikoff Award winner at Pittsburgh last season, had seven catches for 172 yards and two touchdowns. Williams, who along with his quarterback and coach left Oklahoma for USC, caught four balls for 71 yards and a touchdown.
The running game was to Dye for, spearheaded by Travis Dye’s 105 yards and one touchdown in 14 carries. Dye, who rushed for 3,111 yards in four years at Oregon, transferred to USC and established himself Saturday as a reliable every-down option.
This Pac-12 Conference opener clearly left USC as a team to beat. Sure, everyone but defending champion Utah, Colorado and Oregon won their non-conference openers, but the ease with which the Trojans dispatched the Cardinal — who beat them last season and triggered the firing of coach Clay Helton — signaled that Riley’s resuscitation of the program is underway.
“Look at 12 months ago,” Riley said. “For us, it’d be great to raise the ceiling of our play, but more than anything we’ve got to take the bottom part of our play, the not good plays, we’ve got to raise those up.”
latimes.com
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One area not discussed a lot was the officiating. It was apparent they were helping Stanford in the 2nd half as much as possible. Some flags were very very borderline and should not have been thrown. It is to bad the Pac12 cannot have qualified and fair officiating for not just USC games but for all games. Another reason to end the Pac and move on.
Through it all I feel LR is the gift that keeps on giving. What a great job he has done so far.
Steveg, I agree on the refs. I thought at least two of the PI calls in the 3 straight PI calls that gave Stanford a TD were off. The last one was awful. He ref said it was in the end zone. If it was a PI (which I did not think it was) is was at about the 5. The ball may have landed in the end zone, but was overthrown. We got a couple of calls, but those appeared to me to be legit. The PI on the DE covering Dye was clearly PI (the DE arrived about… Read more »
Props to Allen for just about nailing the score in his prediction. Stanford made some adjustments at halftime that may have slowed us down a bit ……But LR can handle that as this season progresses ….. FIGHT ON !!!!!
Nebraska HC Scott Frost is a gonner!
Losing to The Cat and Georgia Southern in Lincoln has to be an all-time low for Frost and Nebraska. I don’t think he will survive the season.
Frost is gone … probably today. Micky Joseph will be interim, they will lose about every game. Bill O’Brien will be the target.
If Frost survives the termination announcement today, I will be surprised. The Cat LIVES!, in Lincoln no less. Stunning to me. Good for The Cat. For once, a job well done.
You should not be if Frost is not. Per Stu Mandel, his buy out is $15 Million if he is terminated prior to October 1. It is $7.5 Million if he is terminated October 2 or after. I would expect an October 2 termination. My guess is Frost spend most of the week prepping for OK. So, I would not be surprised of NE gives the Sooners a tough game after struggling against two far weaker opponents.
Even The Cat had a nice early run at USC, and a fantastic Rose Bowl win. But then his culture starting setting in, and the program eroded.
Still honeymooning down there in Georgia, give him time, he’ll revert to his mean.
Talking about losing, I am elated TAM and ND both lost. Neither team, no matter what their recruiting records were, was top 10. At least now they have been exposed and will drop considerably in the polls, which are very slowly becoming somewhat accurate and honest. Another 3 weeks and we should have some semblance of accuracy in both polls.
Jamaica, I agree, but on Oct. 2. See my post below. On Oct. 2, his buy out drops by $7.5 Million.
Pre-game I hoped for 175 rushing yds, and USC got 164. Not bad at all.
Good balance of rushing and passing, especially in the first half!
A clinic. LR is elite. After a decade of Kiffy’s bubbles, Suck’s garbage and Gomer’s whatever … this is exciting as hell.