Utah wins Pac-12 title, ends USC's playoff hopes

LAS VEGAS -- The lone blemish successful USC's 11-win regular play had been a one-point nonaccomplishment to Utah successful October. Thanks to the Pac-12's determination to crook its title crippled into a matchup betwixt its 2 champion teams alternatively of part winners, the Trojans had an accidental to marque that nonaccomplishment moot and beforehand to their archetypal College Football Playoff quality successful Lincoln Riley's archetypal play arsenic caput coach.

But 1 blemish turned into 2 connected Friday night, arsenic No. 11 Utah played spoiler and proved it has USC's fig this season.

The Utes scored 24 consecutive points astatine 1 constituent and went connected to predominate No. 4 USC 47-24 to triumph their 2nd consecutive Pac-12 rubric and apt support the Trojans retired of the 4th playoff spot.

"You travel arsenic acold arsenic this squad has travel and this programme has travel successful the past 12 months, and evidently to not get it done, it's a pugnacious pill to swallow," Riley said aft the game. "They were decidedly the amended squad tonight. They deserved it."

"Our players ne'er stopped believing," Utes caput manager Kyle Whittingham said. "We had a spot connected our shoulder. We got the connection large and wide that radical were underestimating us."

In what felt similar a tangential mentation of the matchup betwixt the teams earlier this season, the Utes' dilatory commencement did not clasp them back. USC dominated the archetypal 4th and raced to a 17-3 pb aboriginal acknowledgment to a fewer much Heisman-worthy plays by backmost Caleb Williams, who finished the crippled with 363 passing yards, 21 rushing yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception.

But it each unraveled successful a hurry for USC. After pulling disconnected a miraculous 59-yard tally that had him gasping for aerial and walking gingerly, Williams ne'er rather looked the same.

Afterward, Riley said that Williams "popped" his hamstring connected that agelong first-quarter run.

"I asked him astatine 1 point, I was like, 'Are you 50 percent?'" Riley said. "And I mean, helium was not adjacent adjacent to 50 percent. I decidedly thought astir taking him out. ... He wouldn't person fto me. He wouldn't adjacent fto maine instrumentality him retired astatine the end."

Riley called the show 1 of the gutsiest helium has witnessed. Williams, meanwhile, described the feeling of his wounded arsenic that of an aged rubber band.

"The remainder of the crippled I felt it," Williams said. "But a idiosyncratic that I respect is Kobe [Bryant], and helium ever said the crippled is bigger than what you're feeling."

As Williams was nursing the injury, Utah was settling in. During the 2nd quarter, backmost Cameron Rising enactment unneurotic 2 touchdown drives astatine the extremity of the fractional to necktie the people astatine 17.

In the 2nd half, it became wide Williams was hurt. He favored his near broadside and was visibly limping. He showed immoderate hesitation arsenic helium dropped back, and erstwhile the USC defence was connected the field, helium rode the stationary motorcycle connected the sideline to enactment loose. At 1 point, backup backmost Miller Moss grabbed his helmet and appeared to lukewarm up, but Williams remained nether center.

Though Williams stayed successful the game, helium was nary longer the subordinate that spearheaded 1 of the astir explosive offenses successful the nation. Having been incapable to found the tally early, a hobbled Williams looked frozen successful the pocket, and it each but sapped USC's scoring prowess. Williams was uncharacteristically sacked 4 times, and his throws lacked the pinpoint accuracy and spot they person had each season.

The Utes took advantage. Whittingham said postgame that Utah "smelled humor successful the water" erstwhile the squad noticed Williams was wounded successful the 3rd 4th and made a concerted effort to bring much pressure.

Utah not lone pressured Williams plenty, but connected discourtesy it went backmost to its astir reliable enactment against the USC defense: choky ends. Dalton Kincaid and Thomas Yassmin combined for 121 yards, including a 60-yard touchdown walk from Rising to Yassmin that pushed the pb backmost to 10 aft USC had chopped it to 3 successful the 4th quarter.

By the clip moving backmost Ja'Quinden Jackson broke disconnected a 53-yard touchdown tally to enactment the Utes up by 16, the effect was each but acceptable successful stone.

"I felt we took it a small personal," Rising said. "We saw each that arsenic disrespect. We wanted to spell retired and beryllium a point."

Rising, a senior, finished with 310 yards passing to six receivers and 3 touchdowns. He continued to person occurrence against USC and was selected the game's astir invaluable subordinate postgame arsenic the Utes erstwhile again did what nary different squad could each season: outscore and outgain the Trojans. Utah finished with 533 full yards to USC's 411. The Utes besides finished with a rubric that Rising leaned into during the postgame ceremony: "Trojan killers."

The triumph sends the Utes backmost to the Rose Bowl. The Trojans, meanwhile, were near with not conscionable 2 losses to the aforesaid team, but a wounded backmost and nary rubric to amusement for their turnaround season.

"We're not going to locomotion astir similar this is immoderate funeral. We made a batch of advancement to get to this point," Riley said. "Part of it is erstwhile you get to these moments, these large games, is groups that person been determination before. [Utah] surely have. A batch of our squad has not."

The prevailing sentiment from Riley aft the crippled was that the Trojans had tally into a squad that not lone outplayed them, but besides had much experience. The Utes so supply a stark opposition to USC's roster makeup. The transportation portal has defined Riley's archetypal twelvemonth astatine USC, and it's evident that Utah's continuity is its strength.

Yet arsenic Riley debriefed connected the nonaccomplishment and talked astir preparing for USC's vessel game, helium was definite to look up toward adjacent season, erstwhile the Trojans mightiness person immoderate continuity but won't shy distant from utilizing alteration to summation an edge.

"There's going to beryllium a batch of changes. That's assemblage shot successful this time and age," Riley said. "We cognize what our ngo is -- to beryllium successful that aforesaid locker country and feeling a full helluva batch antithetic than we bash close now. We'll bring successful a mates pieces who volition assistance america connected that journey."