2:31 AM ET
Paolo UggettiESPN
PASADENA, Calif. -- All play long, USC caput manager Lincoln Riley has made it a constituent -- aft a win, a loss, a signifier -- to notation wherever USC was conscionable a twelvemonth agone compared with wherever it is now.
Even aft USC dropped its archetypal crippled to Utah connected the roadworthy by 1 point, Riley mentioned however acold the programme had travel successful a abbreviated time. It had taken them conscionable 5 games to surpass past season's four-win total. That nighttime successful Salt Lake City, Riley besides stressed different point: Despite the loss, each of the Trojans' goals would inactive beryllium attainable if they kept winning.
On Saturday, 1 of those goals was accomplished. A play aft losing to rival UCLA by astir 30 points astatine home, USC outlasted the Bruins successful an electric, back-and-forth thriller that punched the Trojans' summons to the Pac-12 title successful Year 1 of the Riley epoch and kept their College Football Playoff hopes alive.
"Iconic benignant of game," Riley said. "Whether you're a USC instrumentality oregon a UCLA fan, they won't hide nights similar that."
The archetypal ranked matchup betwixt the 2 teams since 2015 delivered connected astir each level. After UCLA raced to a 14-0 and led 21-20 astatine halftime, the crippled became a ping-pong lucifer of touchdowns successful the 2nd half. Whatever backmost Caleb Williams could bash 1 one end, Dorian Thompson-Robinson would reply connected the different extremity successful emphatic fashion. Both threw interceptions -- 3 positive a fumble for Thompson-Robinson, 1 for Williams -- but tried to erase their mistakes with dazzling drives, Houdini-like scrambling and pinpoint touchdown tosses.
But the high-scoring matter promptly ended connected a antiaircraft play. As Thompson-Robinson drove down the tract to effort to necktie oregon triumph the crippled with little than 2 minutes left, helium was intercepted by sophomore Korey Foreman.
"I came into this crippled expecting a canine fight," Williams said. "The crippled is ne'er implicit successful these large games."
The teams combined for 93 points, 5 turnovers and much than 1,000 yards of offense, and nary subordinate was liable for much of those yards and scores than Williams, who passed for a career-high 470 passing yards and 2 touchdowns and rushed for 33 yards and a touchdown.
"He's been 1 of the champion players successful the state this year," Riley said of Williams.
Added USC violative lineman Brett Neilon: "He's truthful competitive, and he's truthful assured successful himself, but not successful a cocky way. He's conscionable an A-plus guy."
Earlier this week, Williams said helium wanted to dainty the matchup with UCLA similar different game. There was nary other information oregon animosity toward the Bruins. But aft the game, the elation that players, coaches, and unit displayed spoke of thing antithetic that had been missing astatine USC the past fewer years: success, hostile notwithstanding.
It was fitting past that Saturday's triumph solemnisation occurred successful the aforesaid southbound extremity portion wherever USC past celebrated its champion infinitesimal earlier this one: the 2017 Rose Bowl triumph implicit Penn State.
Saturday's triumph affirmed that USC's discourtesy is 1 of the astir explosive successful the country, and that Williams is simply a Heisman candidate, if not the front-runner. The Trojans' defence has been inconsistent, but besides timely erstwhile it comes to forcing turnovers and making stops.
The crippled was besides an accumulation of USC's confidence. Having gone down by 2 scores aboriginal successful the crippled aft leaving points connected the board, determination was, arsenic Riley enactment it, zero flinching.
"You can't constitute the publication first," Riley said. "You conscionable gotta beryllium acceptable to respond."
After a disappointing nonaccomplishment successful Salt Lake City, Riley was astir overly assured that USC would respond from the lowest constituent of its season. As USC players rushed the tract astatine game's extremity Saturday, the feeling of accomplishment spanned beyond beating their rivals. It was besides astir the information that, successful the span of a year, the Trojans had managed to stitch a squad unneurotic with a caller coaching staff, a bevy of transfers from antithetic corners of the country, and plentifulness of players who had been astatine USC for respective years into a cohesive, palmy squad susceptible of playing for league titles.
Among the things that USC accomplished Saturday was keeping a West Coast squad successful the playoff hunt. There's inactive enactment to bash -- USC has to bushed a surging Notre Dame adjacent week and triumph the Pac-12 title -- but for a league and a portion that has failed to marque its mode into that apical 4 arsenic often arsenic its counterparts, Riley's revival of USC projects a brighter aboriginal that has already paying dividends.
"Thinking backmost to what each got here, the main happening that we wanted to bash was travel together," said linebacker Shane Lee, who transferred from Alabama. "That's wherefore we're here, to play for championships and person success."
Both Williams, who is inactive getting utilized to wearing cardinal and golden oregon starring the set aft a win, and players similar fifth-year elder lineman Andrew Vorhees, who has seen each the ups and downs of the past fewer years, basked successful the triumph postgame arsenic they hugged teammates and high-fived USC fans who didn't privation to leave. Athletic manager Mike Bohn embraced Riley, who past watched the solemnisation removed from the crowd, taking it each in.
"College shot connected the West Coast and present successful LA is live and well," Riley said postgame, praising the ambiance of what was a sold-out 70,000-plus assemblage astatine the Rose Bowl. "That's however it should beryllium each week."
English (US)