USC quarterback Caleb Williams and his teammates vowed the Trojans will fight on after a one-point loss at Utah marked by penalties and injuries.
As the weeks progressed, Caleb Williams punctuated each of his postgame press conferences with a joyful declaration of USC’s unblemished record. The numbers climbed: 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, all the way to 6-0 — the best start for a USC team since 2006.“Fight on,” Williams said as he rose from his press conference chair, his eyes red and swollen.USC’s famous rallying cry couldn’t be more fitting for a team confronted with its first major adversity during a mostly charmed season.
Without the big-play Band-Aids of takeaways and sacks, USC gave up a season-high 43 points and 562 yards during the shootout. Even the team’s typical fallback of a game-changing third quarter failed as Utah tied the Trojans 7-7 in the third and outgained them 173-82.What was supposed to officially herald USC’s return to the elite echelons of college football turned into a nightmare for Lincoln Riley in a loss to Utah.
USC’s defense struggled, in part, because penalties extended drives. Stanley Ta’ufo’ou’s roughing the passer penalty negated a USC interception in the first quarter and kept Utah on the field on the next drive that ended with a touchdown. A second roughing flag on Nick Figueroa in the fourth quarter negated a third-down stop, one of three accepted USC penalties during Utah’s first drive of the fourth quarter.
Eric Gentry stayed in the middle of a late-game huddle, right where you’d expect to see a middle linebacker, but Gentry was dressed in a black hoodie and hopping on one foot after suffering a first-half leg injury. He tried to hype the USC defense up on third-and-goal in the fourth quarter.
Back in 2017, it seemed Josh Falo might emerge as the next fixture at tight end in USC’s passing offense. But that offense changed hands several times while an array of injuries derailed his development, leaving Falo to wait the better part of three years before he would make an impact again.
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