by LAS VEGAS — At the end of a 59-yard rush on USC’s ninth offensive game of the Pac-12 championship game on Saturday — an evasive, tackle-busting sprint that should have convinced any last doubters about the deserving Heisman Trophy winner – Caleb Williams – felt something unmistakably bad in his thigh muscles.
“Ever have an old rubber band?” Williams said with a smug smile. “That’s what it felt like.”
An old rubber band breaks. According to USC coach Lincoln Riley, his quarterback “cracked a hamstring” during the game. It was the beginning of a series of disasters that would ultimately cost the Trojans a Pac-12 title and a place in the College Football Playoffs. After USC grabbed a 17-3 lead on their first three possessions, it all came crashing down in a 47-24 collapse against nemesis Utah that was wildly celebrated by Ohio State fans everywhere. The horse chestnuts appear to have retired to the CFP as a result of this result.
As Williams hobbled through the rest of the game, he said he was trying to follow something Kobe Bryant once said: “The game is bigger than what you feel.” Williams stuck with it and moved on. Riley once asked him if he was even 50 percent healthy and if replacement Miller Moss needed to come into the game. “He wasn’t even close to 50 percent,” Riley said. “He wouldn’t let me take him out. He didn’t even let me go out with him in the end [after the game was out of hand]. … S— this is one of the bravest performances you will ever see.”
USC QB Caleb Williams was injured early in Saturday’s game but continued to play.
Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
All the guts of Williams, no glory for USC. And no defense. No tackling. No packing. Don’t bring runners to the ground. No hope of fighting for a national championship unit whose defense is being repaired.
USC has come a long way under Riley and his talented band of transfers, rocketing from 4-8 last year to 11-1 and a No. 4 ranking heading into this game. But in the end, the Trojans resembled many of Riley’s Oklahoma teams, running through defensively and passing them without the physical strength necessary to win national championships. Utah, on the other hand, averaged a staggering 9.4 yards per play.
Riley will have to think long and hard about retaining defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, who has also been his DC for the past three seasons at Oklahoma. This has been a shaky unit all season, completely collapsing over the course of that game against the hard-working Utes. Just like when Utah upset USC 43-42 in Salt Lake City in October, the Utes have scored on five of their last six possessions. They just kept hitting the Trojans until the Trojans stopped attacking.
“We talked about getting our way,” said Utah quarterback Cameron Rising. “And we did.”
Both quarterbacks were brilliant on Saturday. Williams threw for 363 yards and three touchdowns and dragged a leg through much of the game. Rising threw for 310 yards and three TDs, showing his own toughness by missing just one play after scoring a vicious (but clean) hit in the third quarter that sent his helmet flying off. But Williams was the one with a message on his fingernails that ended up haunting him. He drew “F — Utah” on his fingers, something Rising said he didn’t realize when asked about it.
“I don’t give a fuck,” Rising said. “He can wear what he wants there, it is what it is. … I hope he enjoyed it.”
In the end, USC was penalized by playing in that game. This year’s conference championship games only serve as a double jeopardy for the regular season champions of the SEC (Georgia), Big Ten (Michigan), Big 12 (TCU) and USC here in the Pac-12. They made the top 4 in the college football playoff rankings while their closest pursuers — No. 5 Ohio State and No. 6 Alabama – had already played their last games last weekend. The best teams could only play their way down the leaderboard, opening up a chance for someone who hadn’t made a title game to sail in.
And now Ohio State appears to be the beneficiary of USC’s loss. “Coach [Ryan] Day, you are welcome,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said of the Buckeyes’ leader during the national TV post-game interview. After beating Michigan by 22 points in their last game at home, Ohio State is sneaking into the playoffs through the back door.
Still, it’s impossible to feel too sorry for USC after being absolutely ridden by Utah with three losses. It would have been unfair for the Trojans to lose by touchdown while Williams was limping for three-quarters. If you give up 47 in a game, you know you have to win – that’s a she problem, not one system Problem. All of the playoff talk swirling around USC and the fact that the Trojans were favored despite losing at Salt Lake City was exactly the kind of motivational fodder Whittingham has always craved from a program close to his Bootstraps pulled up.
For the second straight season, Utah will play the Rose Bowl as the Pac-12 champion.
Steve Marcus/AP
“We had a team briefing and voted on whether we should even show up for kickoff because they were already going into the playoffs,” Whittingham said. “We had a little chip on our shoulder.”
For the second straight year, the Utes rule the Pac-12 and play the Rose Bowl. They are a popular champion in the league after beating a school that has the ticket to throw the Pac-12 for the Big Ten in 2024.
And with all the progress USC has made under Riley, it’s clear how much work remains to be done. His three Oklahoma playoff teams lost semifinal games in which they gave up 63 points to LSU, 18-45 to Alabama, and 17-54 (in overtime) to Georgia in 2019. Riley is the pre-eminent quarterback developer in the sport and an offensive savant, but it takes more than nice ball games and points to win by the end of the season.
It also counts to stop the other guys.
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