I can’t believe I watched two games on Saturday that were so close the entire way. First Alabama at Tennessee, and then this one where you knew in your gut that the winner was going to be the team that had the ball last. Tennessee wins at home on a field goal with time expiring and breaks a 15 year losing streak to the Crimson Tide as the 100,000+ fans in attendance start pouring onto the field. Utah wins on a 15 play 75 yard drive ending in a TD run and two point conversion by their QB Cam Rising with under a minute left—Wow! What a game and what a great job by both teams. Gutsy call by Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham to go for the 2-point conversion to win at the end of regulation instead of the easier point after and overtime at home—one of those decisions that no one criticizes when it works. Whittingham said this about the play afterwards; “We were going to keep the ball in Cam’s hands, and if we scored and time was close to expiring, we were going for 2, no question. That certainly had to be one of the most exciting games in Rice-Eccles history. What a performance by our [guys] and it’s a really good team we beat, very talented and the quarterback’s tremendous.”
Utah got behind early in this one. After winning the toss and deferring to the 2nd half USC got the ball first and took the ball 75 yards in five plays under two minutes to go up 7-0 on a Travis Dye 8 yard TD run. Nine plays later Utah is sitting 4th and 7 at the USC 16 yard line but miss their field goal attempt. The Trojans come right back, this time a nine play 80 yard drive ending with a Caleb Williams TD pass to Jordan Addison to go up 14-0. Utah finally gets on the board on their next possession a nine play 75 yard drive, aided by a 15 yard roughing the passer penalty, on a Micah Bernard 12 yard TD run. With a minute left in the 1st Qtr It’s 14-7 and the game was on. It took Utah all the way until their 1st possession of the 2nd half to finally catch the Trojans at 28 a piece and pretty much every minute after that to finally seal the victory.
Both QB’s were amazing, each picking up over 400 yards, each responsible for 5 TD’s. USC’s Caleb Williams connected for 381 yards and 5 TD’s, with a couple going to his 6’ 6” 255lb Senior TE Josh Falo, as well as rushing eight times for another 57 yards. Utah’s Cam Rising connected on 30-of-44 for 415 yards and 2 TD’s while also rushing eleven times for 60 yards and three more TD’s in addition to his 2-point conversion run to win the game. Utah Senior TE Dalton Kincaid had a career best game while collecting 16 of Cam Rising’s passes for 234 yards and 1 TD—averaging almost 15 yards per catch—while WR DeVaugh Vele averaged over 12 yards per reception while picking up 62 yards and the other Rising TD. Sophomore WR Mario Williams and Junior Jordan Addison collected 11 passes and over 250 yards for UCLA with Jordan, Sophomore Michael Jackson III, and Freshman WR Kyron Hudson picking up Williams’ other three TD passes. On the ground Utah rushed 32 times for 138 yards and 4 TD’s with Sophomore RB Micah Bernard picking up 1 TD to go with Rising’s three. For the Trojans Senior RB Travis Dye did the bulk of the work rushing 11 times for 76 of his teams 175 yards as well as their only TD on the ground.
Of the two defenses, Utah was more disruptive with 58 tackles, 4 sacks, and 5 tackles for loss. As you can imagine the team stats were pretty close with Utah picking up three extra 1st downs with their three extra minutes of possession, 31-to-28, and led by just six Total Yards of offense at 562-556. They both picked up third downs with an efficiency right at 50% but the Utes, in a game they had to win in order to stay in the hunt for the PAC-12 championship, converted all three of their fourth down attempts while the Trojans were 0-2. Regarding mistakes, Utah fumbled once and lost the ball but the Trojans were unable to capitalize on their next drive and did hurt themselves with 12 penalties for 93 yards which played a part in two of Utah’s TD drives.
With the North and South divisions eliminated and the PAC-12 Championship game being contested this year between the two teams with the best conference record, Utah played themselves back into the hunt with their win against USC. With UCLA and Oregon both at 3-0 in conference and the Bruins on the road to Eugene next Saturday to take on the Ducks, there will only be one team left undefeated in conference after that match-up. Utah, USC, and the loser of that game will each have 1 loss. It’s going to be a scramble to see who gets that second spot in the playoff after next weekend, but for USC and Utah they have to both win the rest of the way. They’re both on the road with Utah probably facing a tougher game against the Cougars in Pullman after a bye week on Saturday October 29th while the Trojans will head for the desert after a bye week of their own to take on a much scrappier Arizona team under their new coach on Thursday, October 27th.