Las Vegas Stripped: Trojans’ Errors, Defense Lose CFP Chance

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The USC Trojans let the CFP fall right through their fingers with a disastrous performance against the University of Utah.

Visualize the dismantling of the then-fourth-ranked USC Trojans by the then-eleventh-ranked Utah Utes in the Pac-12 championship game as the process of watching a horse get sent to the glue factory. The 47-24 blowout by Utah started out as a full-blown track meet with USC up 14-3 and five yards from a 21-3 lead in the second quarter. The goal line stop lead to a 17-3 lead that the Utes erased by halftime. 

The Injury Bug Bites

Ironically, the Heisman candidate QB Caleb Williams had the play of the first half with a 59-yard scramble on the Trojans’ second drive of the game. Sadly, Williams “popped” his hamstring on that run and his body broke down the rest of the game despite going 28-41 for 363 yards and three touchdowns with a bad fourth-quarter interception that was the result of not being able to press off his injured hamstring let alone stand firmly on his leg. The anguish on his face postgame displayed the true agony of defeat. Head coach Lincoln Riley said it was “the gutsiest performance he’d ever seen.” Riley later admitted postgame that Williams and other players refused to come out of the game and fought to the bitter end. 

Atrocious Defensive Effort

Based on how badly the Utes hemorrhaged an inconsistent Trojan run defense, they counted on that. The long touchdown catch from tight end Thomas Yassmin broke the Trojans’ defense. Despite that, the Trojans’ last gasp of air was a Mario Williams Jr touchdown catch that cut the lead to 27-24. Running back Micah Bernard’s 23-yard touchdown was beating a dead horse with 1:27 left in the game. Williams took a plethora of sacks and senior center Brett Neilon had a horrible foot/ankle injury on the dreaded turf on their last offensive drive before Williams threw an interception. 

Accountability For Grinch

Defensive coordinator Alec Grinch has a lot to answer for with how porous the Trojans run defense was. A converted quarterback shouldn’t run for over 100 yards and two touchdowns on a defense that shut down Notre Dame the week before. The tackling of the USC defensive backs was a bigger Achilles heel to the team due to how many interceptions the defensive backs dropped and the 40-plus missed tackles that took place. From the Rice game to now USC has not been able to stop the run between the tackles and has a bad habit of letting too many key completions occur by opposing teams to let them hang around. The inconsistent play of the defense is an albatross on their 11-win regular season. 

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Running Through Vegas

The run game has been dominant all year for the Trojans but without senior guard, Andrew Vorhees’ pass protection suffered greatly. Senior running back Austin Jones appeared ineffective because USC abandoned the run game and became predictable once Williams’ leg failed. The receivers started dropping passes. Plus, the only sin the Trojans offense has been guilty of reared its head on a Friday night in Allegiant Stadium. The Oregon State game and various other games had the Trojans’ offense go through long periods of inefficiency. Those shortcomings were the undoing of what could have been a national championship contender. 

The Silver Lining

USC laid to rest the failure of a 4-8 campaign to incite a transcendent season. Eleven wins and two losses away from a perfect season will damper the hopes of the fanbase. Yet, the improvement of the program with what were the remnants of the Clay Helton era shows a baseline level of excellence. Lincoln Riley and Caleb Williams remain the perfect antidote to a fanbase sick of mediocrity. The accountability brought to the program is reinforced by the eleven wins and the potential for a twelfth. Who the Trojans play in a bowl will have a drastic effect on how the senior class cements its legacy. Moreover, the expectations for what could be back-to-back Heisman campaigns for Caleb and a national championship window. The Trojans fell apart in the Pac-12 championship, but this team is no one-trick pony in the slightest.