Trojans hold off Cal for second straight win
Behind 24 unanswered points and sophomore Adoree’ Jackson’s first career pick-six, the USC Trojans notched their second straight win with a 27-21 victory over Cal on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.
The Trojans beat the Golden Bears for the 12th straight time, and have not lost to them since 2003.
“Wow, what a fun win that was for our football team,” interim head coach Clay Helton said. “It was a tremendous team effort. We’re playing very consistent football right now. We’ll work to make sure that continues.”
The Trojans held off a late rally by the Golden Bears, who cut a 17-point lead down to a one possession game late in the fourth quarter. But holding a 27-21 advantage, USC was able to run out the clock with two big runs on third down by Justin Davis and Tre Madden behind a solid offensive line.
“We put it on our offensive line as it was a power run … It was either us or them … Our guys gave [Madden] a little bit to get the edge,” quarterback Cody Kessler said on Madden’s 14-yard run on third-and-one. “This game was won by our offensive line.”
USC came out in the second half firing on all cylinders. On their first drive of the half, Kessler led a 13-play, 68-yard drive that lasted over five minutes and ended with a Madden touchdown run on fourth-and-goal from the two-yard line. The drive — and a majority of the game — consisted of a steady diet of runs by the trio of freshman Ronald Jones II, Davis, and Madden.
Jones led USC with 80 yards on 11 carries. Madden had 62 yards on 14 carries and Davis recorded 42 yards on 15 carries.
“We have a formula right now to run the ball, stop the run, and don’t turn the ball over,” Helton said. “A huge part is the trust you have in your runners and your offensive line. This is Trojan football. When it’s time to run the ball, we have to take care of our opponent.”
Jones and Madden both played through sore knees. Sophomore wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who reportedly underwent X-rays at halftime, sustained a fractured hand.
The momentum swing continued in the second half as Jackson intercepted Cal quarterback Jared Goff on the Bears’ ensuing drive. Goff threw a poor ball to the middle of the field, and Jackson fought his way into the end zone after a 46-yard return. Jackson’s first interception of his career gave the Trojans a 24-7 lead early in the third quarter.
“Since this was my first [interception], I figured I might as well try to score,” Jackson said. “I had great blocking by the defense.”
The Golden Bears responded with a touchdown drive finished off by a six-yard touchdown run by Daniel Lasco to claw within 10 points. But the Trojans picked up a field goal set up by yet another interception – Kevon Seymour stepped in front of Kenny Lawler and returned it 27-yards down the sideline to give the Trojans good field position.
Cal struck first in the game as Goff completed his first six passes. On 4th and inches at the Trojans’ six-yard line, Goff rolled right and found Bryce Treggs in the end zone to put Cal up 7-0 in the first quarter.
But USC responded early in the second quarter with the help of some trickery. For the third straight game, the Trojans attempted a double-pass, and redshirt freshman wide out Jalen Greene found freshman Deontay Burnett for a 34-yard gain down to the Cal 29-yard line. This set up a 13-yard run up the middle by Jones for the game-tying touchdown.
The Trojans went ahead 10-7 at the half on a 22-yard field goal by redshirt junior kicker Alex Wood, who nailed both of his field goal attempts against Cal.
Both Kessler and Goff were 11-of-14 passing at halftime. Kessler finished 18-of-22 for 186 yards and no touchdowns, and he was happy to sacrifice stats for a win.
“I could care less about stats,” Kessler said. “I really do want to win the game, whether that’s me making one pass on a third down on a drive to keep it going, or having to tuck it and run, or us just running the ball the whole time – I’m 100 percent ok with that.”
Helton was impressed with his quarterback’s selflessness.
“I’m proud of a senior that played extremely poised, especially down the stretch,” Helton said. “He kept me calm. He did a tremendous job.”
It was Helton’s third game as the interim head coach this season, and he said that he is still learning on the fly.
“I still wasn’t perfect today,” Helton said. “There are still some things I have to get corrected, but thank goodness for a bunch of great players and a great staff. They hide a lot of the things I may mess up on.”
Helton is now 2-1 since taking over for Steve Sarkisian, and has a chance next week to lead the Trojans to their first three-game win streak of the season.
USC returns home next week to take on Arizona at the Coliseum on Saturday night.