In spite of their record USC has been surviving on three major elements this season, their head coach Lincoln Riley, their brilliant QB Caleb Williams, and their terrific transfer from Oregon–RB Travis Dye who is responsible for half of USC’s rushing total. Sadly and unfortunately for the Trojans Dye, a beloved locker room team leader and inspiration, suffered an injury to his leg in the 2nd Qtr and won’t return this season. Down 3-2 after the 1st Qtr one might be inspired by the Trojan defense that finally woke up this game and, “held Colorado to 158 yards over the final three quarters, notched three sacks and forced two turnovers,” as Ryan Kartje noted for the Los Angeles Times. But before you get all pumped up over that you do need to consider that out of 130 FBS teams Colorado is 128th in total yards of offense per game.
Unable to score more than a safety in the first quarter against a Colorado team whose defense gives up the most total yards of offense and points per game, USC finally got it going in the 2nd Qtr scoring three TD’s in a row, one after a Buffalo fumble, and a field goal before the break to go up 26-3—well on their way to the 55-17 blowout that this game would become. Holding Colorado to one TD in each quarter of the 2nd half, USC scored two in each and coasted to victory.
Trojan QB Caleb Williams was for 14-of-26 for 268 yards, 3 TD’s and 1 interception while also picking up two more TD’s on the ground. Their backup QB in training, Freshman Miller Moss, came in to start the 4th Qtr in place of Williams and led them on their last two drives of the game while connecting on 6-of-7 for 78 yards, 1 TD, and no picks. Junior RB Darwin Barlow picked up the other USC rushing TD while four different Trojan receivers, Junior WR’s Brenden Rice and Tahj Washington, Senior RB Austin Jones and Freshman RB Raleek Brown all collected a touchdown each. USC rushed 41 times for a total of 185 yards and the three TD’s noted.
For Colorado QB J. T. Shrout was 11-of-21 for 124 yards, no TD’s and 1 pick. Besides a field goal in the 1st Qtr by Sophomore Place Kicker Cole Becker, the only other scores the Buffaloes picked up came on the ground, one by Shrout himself and the other by Senior RB Alex Fontenot who carried the majority of the load—rushing 20 times for 108 of Colorado’s 135 total yards. The stats for the game looked even further apart than the final score with USC leading in 1st Downs, 27-to-14; Passing Yards, 346-to-124; Total Yards, 531-to-259; third down conversion percentage of 75% compared to 25%; and nine more minutes time of possession.
Having already lost a conference game and with just one remaining, dropping another to UCLA this coming weekend would put USC on the outside regarding playing for the PAC-12 Conference Championship. Lincoln Riley’s going to have to pull a lot of magic out of his hat against a Bruin team who leads the conference in rushing yards as well as get some help from Chip Kelly to get it done. As far as Colorado goes they’ll stay on the road to record their next loss at Alaska Airlines Husky Stadium and then finish the season at home against Utah—brutal.