Thuc Nhi Nguyen (LA Times) — BERKELEY — Safety Jaylin Smith broke up a two-point conversion attempt with 58 seconds remaining to seal USC’s 14-point fourth-quarter comeback against California as the No. 24 Trojans temporarily halted their mid-season slump with a 50-49 victory on Saturday at California Memorial Coliseum.
USC (7-2, 5-1 Pac-12) scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, forced four takeaways, and saved their Pac-12 championship hopes after a two-game skid.
MarShawn Lloyd led the Trojans with 115 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries and set up USC’s game-winning drive with a 56-yard rush in the fourth quarter. Fellow running back Austin Jones finished the drive with a seven yard rush with 3:33 remaining.
Quarterback Caleb Williams threw for 369 yards and two touchdowns and added two more scores on the ground as the Trojans clawed back from an 11-point halftime deficit.
Halftime was delayed by 10 minutes while Riley argued with referees that the Trojans had one second remaining when Lake McRee was tackled at the 16-yard line. Both teams were already in the locker room. Cal’s marching band was in the middle of its halftime performance. But officials called Cal head coach Justin Wilcox back from the locker room and announced the Trojans would get one more play from the first half after halftime.
After players returned to the field for warmups, USC kicker Denis Lynch practiced 23-yard field goals toward the north end zone for several minutes before retreating to the other side of the field, where the rest of his teammates were warming up. If the almost 30-minute break in game action wasn’t long enough, Wilcox added more pressure by calling a timeout when USC lined up for the kick.
Lynch missed it wide.
The comedy of errors was a suitable official end to a nightmare first half for the Trojans.
Jaydn Ott, the Pac-12’s leading rusher, feasted on the Pac-12’s worst rushing defense and rushed for three touchdowns. Led by 145 yards on 13 carries from Ott, Cal ran for 177 yards in the first half, easily eclipsing USC’s average of 164.3 rushing yards allowed entering the game.
The Norco alumnus scored touchdowns on runs of 43 and 61 yards in the first quarter. After the second long run, he held up USC’s victory sign to the crowd and turned his fingers upside down. Defensive coordinator Alex Grinch gathered the defense on the sideline and tore into the embattled group, yelling and waving his arms.
USC bottled up Ott in the second half and jumped ahead by scoring two touchdowns on its first three drives of the third quarter, but for the second consecutive week, a backup quarterback stepped up against the Trojans. Fernando Mendoza, a redshirt freshman making his third career start after starting the season third on Cal’s depth chart, threw for 292 yards and two touchdowns on 25-of-39 passing.
After giving up a back-breaking quarterback scramble to Utah’s Bryson Barnes in the fourth quarter last week, USC failed to contain Mendoza’s scrambling ability on critical downs. He wiggled past linebacker Mason Cobb on a 13-yard rush on fourth-and-four in the third quarter and finished the drive with a two-yard touchdown that put the Bears back in front by seven with a successful two-point conversion.
He doubled the lead with a one-yard touchdown run on Cal’s first drive of the fourth quarter.
Mendoza put the Trojans in position to tie with 58 seconds remaining after a 13-yard screen pass to Jaivian Thomas, but the Bears opted for the go-ahead two-point try instead of the extra point. Smith soared through the end zone to bat the pass away.
USC players celebrate after a failed two-point conversion pass intended for CAL WR Brian Hightower during the second half in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group via AP)
Current Contest Standings as of 10/29/2023:
Full Game Accounting is available by clicking on the post link.
https://trojandailyblog.com/tdb-contest-week-9-2023/
Some rumors floating that Baylor may be looking for a new HC soon. The same for Illinois. If Allen or Aranda come available either would be a great replacement for the current DC. That is if Leonhard is not available.
Tahj Washington, aka “the best chef in college football”, landed a new partnership with La Victoria. #16, one of my favorite Trojan players, dropped a promo video on his Instagram where he gives his fave salsa to willing dance partners at USC.
“It’s about to get spicy!”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cy2CP01MiWC/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again
Eric Gentry’s drop into coverage pick in the 3rd Q reminded me a lot of Korey Foreman’s to beat UCLA last year.
https://youtu.be/hQ_3ntTXQlw
😂😂😂😂 49 pts!!!! What a joke!!!! Let’s dissolve the PAC-12 and move to the Big-10 that’ll make it better!!!! Fire 🔥 Grinch!!! DC’s Norton, Fisher, Del Rio, Knowles Ohio St, Minter Michigan!! It’s a culture and a defensive coaching problem. All HC’s have tendencies. That is why you hire Coordinator’s that are very strong to complement the opposite of what your HC is!! Grinch has produced like one decent defense with Riley at OU he is not renowned by any means. You need a DC that compliments Riley in the area’s that he lacks. Which is obviously culture, discipline, mental… Read more »
USC remains at #24 in AP Poll
1. Georgia
2. Michigan
3. Ohio State
4. Florida State
5. Washington
6. Oregon
7. Texas
8. Alabama
9. Penn State
10. Oklahoma
11. Ole Miss
12. Notre Dame
13. LSU
14. Missouri
15. Louisville
16. Oregon State
17. Air Force
18. Utah
19. Tennessee
20. UCLA
21. Tulane
22. Kansas
23. James Madison
24. USC
25. Kansas State
I’m a bit surprised SC is still ranked.
Frankly, I’m surprised UW hasn’t dropped more. When USC looked bad in marginal wins, we deservedly dropped consistently.
#5 UW has escaped looking very mediocre against ASU at home and at STAN, yet hasn’t been docked. Their 36-33 win in Seattle over ORE is clearly propping them up hugely, especially since the Ducks destroyed UTAH.
WA has a defense, SC does not.
WA defense is better than USC but not real good.
USC remains at #22 in the Coaches Poll while OU drops five spots to #11 1 Georgia 2 Michigan 3 Ohio State 4 Florida State 5 Washington 6 Texas 7 Oregon 8 Alabama 9 Penn State 10 Ole Miss 11 Oklahoma 12 Notre Dame 13 LSU 14 Missouri 15 Louisville 16 Tennessee 17 Air Force 18 Utah 19 Oregon State 20 UCLA 21 Tulane 22 USC 23 Kansas 24 James Madison 25 North Carolina Others receiving votes: Kansas State 85; Oklahoma State 62; Fresno State 51; Miami (FL) 35; Duke 33; Iowa 20; Arizona 18; Liberty 15; SMU 6; Florida… Read more »
Per Bill Walsh, “The most devastating turnover in football is the fumbled punt return.”
Freshman Tackett Curtis strips the ball loose from punt returner Jeremiah Hunter’s grasp with 7:35 to go and he also recovers on the Bear 18-yd line with USC down 43-36.
Marshawn Lloyd scores three plays later on a 9-yd up-the-middle dart.
My three favorite stats from yesterday’s game
1) Leading Pac-12 rusher Jaydn Ott brutalized the Pac-12’s worst rushing defense for 145 yds on 13 first-half carries. USC held Ott to only eight yds in the second half.
2) MarShawn Lloyd rushed for 115 yds and two TDs on 17 carries. The 56 yder down the sideline in the 4th Q was a beauty, showing his amazing burst and effort.
3) LBs Tackett Curtis and Eric Gentry each cause fumbles in the second half putting USC in position to make the comeback when the game was definitely slipping away.
Bear is our only interior lineman. The rest just don’t do anything. It would be awesome to have another next to him.
I do think Byrd, Muhammad, and Height present a stong presence. I really like when they are all in with Bear. Cobb had 15 tackles.
Agreed, our Edge guys are good. In the middle we have one guy. The rest get shoved around.
Well somebody still likes us .The RPi poll ( which is the least regarded poll) now has USC ranked # 12 .
Deion gets it….it’s all about linemen. Well past time to upgrade our lineboys.
https://sports.yahoo.com/colorado-coach-deion-sanders-is-blunt-about-buffs-offensive-line-struggles-in-loss-to-no-23-ucla-114936984.html
Wow, that was embarrassing. How much to pay off and release Riley? Grinch should voluntarily resign before someone calls the Tony Soprano Relocation Program. Hopefully Riley may have realized SC has a run game. The end of the first half reminded of when I lost all hope for Lame Kitten – end of a game w/ Stanford, SC has the ball on 35 +/-, about 12 seconds left with 2 timeouts, Lame tells the Offense the play, a pass is completed and as the WR tries to get to the sideline, time runs out … same exact scenario at the… Read more »
Coach O lol … that would be Suckisian 2
Ed is done all coke and hookers now
Why do people keep bringing him up? He was carried for one year by great assistants and Joe burrow. Before and after he was a horrible head coach. I’d rather have Helton back, at least his personal life isn’t a train wreck.
I want him as an assistant and recruiter for lineman!
lol … a bunch of $$$$ for a half ass effort. Just like the past 4 coaching staffs at SC. Ya that’s what we need.
ass
Helton, seriously?
SarkCoorsian is doing okay at TX and Lame Kitten is doing alright at Ole Miss. Young HCs have a tough learning curve as we saw with those two and now w/ Riley. Orgeron is defensive minded and a seasoned coach and he did not “suck” finishing the season 6-2 with the team he inherited. Ideally SC should get Del Rio or Jeff Fisher, anyone that gives emphasis to the defense, but those guys don’t seem to have an interest. You don’t need a super offense if you can hold other teams under 20 whereas allowing 40+ per game not even… Read more »
Perhaps a younger guy which is more in tune to what is going on in college football. The Fisher, Orgeron, and Del Rio days are long gone as far as coming to USC. Thinking guys like Tom Allen is he gets released from Illinois, or the great one Jim Leonhard if the pros don’t take him.
https://youtu.be/mlX0prjp2Hk
Luca Evans has a way with words Evans (OC Register) — “Here Alex Grinch was, on the sidelines as a game against Cal rapidly slipped away from USC, pumping his fist, yelling, with arms wildly fluctuating, at a run defense that was getting put through a paper shredder. Visibly smacking the turf in passion, Grinch’s very job seemed to hang by a thread. Public perception of Grinch is at such a low that former Trojans receiver Keyshawn Johnson – explicitly affiliated with USC-supporting NIL collective The Tommy Group – tweeted “I dislike our DC” in the first half. “He seemed impervious… Read more »
540 in game comments I wonder if that’s a record? It is clear from everything I can read about the game the same comments are showing up: Not a championship team, which is okay, but we’ve gone backwards on defense.
A unique take on Grinch came to mind, maybe he’s intimidated by being second fiddle to a offensive genius. I tried this idea on Mrs. Rialto, but she pointed out there hasn’t been an offensive genius around lately either. So I’m throwing out to the blog for comments.
He coached under Mike Leach with success. I think everyone now has the book on him and his shifts and zone blitzes don’t work. He’s been figured out and refuses to change.
It seems college ball has figured out how to stop, or at least slow, the offense. The zone and blitzes have exposed our O line for what it is, not very good. Riley, being a genius, needs to devise how to overcome these defenses and get them back on their heels. A strong run game would be a great start.
Defensive substitutions is another way to slow offenses that play fast. Wittingham used this to great advantage last weekend at the Coliseum. I wonder what Oregon did in response yesterday?
Mule Jr.