Perfect season hopes sink in Salt Lake

Sophomore quarterback Caleb Williams lobbed the ball in the air, to no one in particular, and was smacked by a Utah defensive lineman as his pass fell short and the clock ran out on the Trojans’ perfect season. 

USC lost to Utah 43-42 in an offensive showcase that ended in a gutsy two-point conversion by the Utes for their first lead of the night. With Williams and an offense missing junior star wide receiver Jordan Addison, Trojan offense had 49 seconds to come back, but the normally high-octane offense had run out of gas.

“I thought our guys really battled tonight,” said Head Coach Lincoln Riley. “It came down to it as they made one more play than us or we made one more mistake, however you want to look at it.”

Williams threw for 5 touchdowns and 381 yards, both career highs. The Heisman hopeful added 57 yards on 8 carries — but was pressured by the Utah defensive front, who sacked Williams 4 times. 

“I’ll be honest, I hate losing,” a teary-eyed Williams said. “I love this game, I love playing with these guys over here that I get to play with… The only thing that we can promise you is that we aren’t going to go undefeated, but that’s not the end all be all of this season and of this team.”

Redshirt senior running back Travis Dye, who finished with 119 total yards and a touchdown, held out hope despite the game’s tumultuous finish. 

“Throughout the last second, I thought we were still going to win the game,” Dye said. “[Williams] played phenomenal tonight. He’s a wonderful quarterback and he will bounce back from this game.” 

Penalties proved to be the turning point in the Trojans’ loss as USC amassed 12 flags for a total of 93 yards. Two roughing-the-passer calls on key third downs led to Utah touchdowns instead of fourth-down situations. 

Utah’s first touchdown of the game came after an interception was negated by a roughing-the -passer penalty called against redshirt junior defensive lineman Stanley Ta’ufo’au. On the Utes’ penultimate drive, the Trojans were again flagged for roughing the passer after a stop on third down. Utah would go on to score on that drive. 

“We didn’t get off the field on a couple of those key third downs,” Riley said. “The penalties, however they played out, were obviously a huge factor there — you had one take a turnover off the board.”

Riley, as well as members of the media, were critical of some of the calls made in the game. 

“The officiating was really poor tonight, but we still should have won the game,” Riley said. “That’s part of football in general. You’re going to have some nights where the calls don’t go your way, and they certainly did not tonight.”

Riley said that one of the biggest issues he saw with his defense was their inability to tackle. 

“It was probably the game we’ve tackled the worst,” Riley said. “The yards after contact, the yards after catch — and that’s been a strength of our defense right now. There was a little bit too much hitting… not enough wrapping up.”

Senior tight end Dalton Kincaid was perhaps the biggest challenge for the Trojan defense, racking up 16 receptions for 234 yards and a touchdown. 

While the defense struggled to keep up with junior quarterback Cameron Rising’s dynamic offense Kincaid, USC put on an offensive clinic of their own. 

On the Trojans’ first drive, Williams took off on third and long for a 55-yard gain. From there, it was all Dye, who took a pair of handoffs, the latter of which resulted in an 8-yard score to put the Trojans ahead early. 

Later in the first quarter, USC went up 14-0 after a reverse sweep to Addison led to a quick passing clinic from Williams — who eventually found Addison for his seventh receiving touchdown of the season. 

Redshirt senior tight end Josh Falo caught his first ball since 2019, scoring two touchdowns on both of his two targets. 

“Josh has been working his butt off ever since I got here,” Dye said. “He’s been really waiting for his chance just to see that he got the opportunities that he did tonight; I’m really stoked for the man.” 

Both the defense and offense saw key contributors exit the game with injuries. Addison left in the third quarter with a leg injury and was seen using crutches on the sideline. Sophomore linebacker Eric Gentry exited the game with an injury to his left ankle and was wearing a walking boot. 

After being tended to on the sideline, Gentry hopped back to his teammates on one leg to give them a pep talk before a third-down play. 

“I could point to so many guys that want to just give their all, and Eric’s one of them,” said redshirt senior defensive lineman Nick Figueroa. “We know he would [want to] be out there fighting with us.” 

The Trojans will have an opportunity to recover from both the loss and their injuries with no game next week. They will return to action the following week in Tucson against Arizona.