After this past Saturday can we just officially declare USC’s bid for a national title this year over. I think Lincoln Riley is going to discover that the USC boosters don’t have the same level of patience as Oklahoma. I mean Lane Kiffin got fired and he had a record of 10-2 in a year USC was on probation and were only allowed 51 scholarship players. Two plus years after his firing he was working for Nick Saban as Offensive Coordinator and leading Alabama to the National Title. So yeah, the Trojans don’t care if you’re good, they’ll dump you anyway. I’m sure Riley has plenty of time to correct the situation—plenty of time meaning the rest of this year and next—but that’s it. And it has to start with him getting rid of the Defensive Coordinator he brought with him from Oklahoma, Alex Grinch. Last year, Grinch’s first, the Trojans gave up 29.2 points-per-game and 159.8 yards rushing–94th out of 131 teams nationally—and had what has been referred to as, “glaring tackling issues.” This year they are ranked in the bottom 20% of all FBS teams while giving up 394.8 total yards of offense per game. They are giving up 3.8 yards and 2.2 points-per-game less than last year—no significant improvement. The only PAC-12 teams worse on defense are Stanford and Colorado. If you look at Grinch’s record the total yards of offense allowed on defenses he has coached has actually gotten worse over the years from place-to-place. While at Washington State from 2015-2017 they allowed 323.3 yards-per-game, while at Oklahoma from 2019-2021 they were allowing 350+ yards. He’s strong on take-aways but at some point you can’t just hope and pray that the opponent makes enough mistakes for you to get the ball back and outscore them. To give you a comparison, Chip Kelly over at UCLA early this year hired D’Anton Lynn from the Baltimore Ravens to be his Defensive Coordinator. Last year the Bruins were allowing 29 points-per-game, 129.9 yards rushing, and 386.8 total yards of offense. This year they are allowing just 12.2 points-per-game, 64.6 yards rushing, and 231.8 total yards of offense. Lynn has cut their numbers basically in half. Grinch has to go—I’d dump him yesterday. I know I get a little dramatic but I have to entertain myself a bit while writing these things up knowing that it’s quite possible that just myself and a couple of others (if I’m lucky) actually read this stuff.
Where exactly would the USC offense be without the brilliance of Caleb Williams who was pressured all game long, getting sacked four times, and yet still was able to throw for 200+ yards, 1 TD, and no interceptions, while running out of trouble 12 times for 41 yards and 3 rushing TD’s. On the ground RB’s Junior Marshawn Lloyd and Senior Austin Jones combined for 20 carries, 110 yards, and another TD each while Sophomore WR Kyron Hudson was the beneficiary of Williams’ lone TD in the air. Connecting with five receivers multiple times it was Senior WR’s Brenden Rice and Tajh Washington combing for over 70% of the 219 yard total while averaging over 20 yards-per-catch.
With Arizona’s starting QB Jayden de Laura still out after getting injured in the conference opener at Stanford, backup Freshman QB Noah Fifita stepped in again completing over 70% of his passes for 5 TD’s—two in overtime–and one critical interception early in the 2nd Qtr from his own 28 yard line leading to a 24 yard run back and a 4 yard TD run by USC’s Caleb Williams less than two minutes later. At the time the Wildcats were up 17-0 having held the Trojans scoreless in the 1st Qtr and then scoring again early in the 2nd and could have scored again after Isaiah Ward forced a Caleb Williams fumble. But two plays later Fafita was intercepted by USC’s Jacob Covington who returned the ball 24 yards to the Arizona 12 yard line which led to the TD run by Williams to make it 17-7. After forcing the Wildcats to punt on their next two possessions the Trojans would score again at the end of a 6 play 65 yard drive resulting in a 5 yard TD pass to Kyron Hudson. With just enough time left in the half to punt, USC goes in at the break down by just three at 17-14.
Arizona widened the gap to 20-14 right after the break on a Tyler Loop 22 yard field goal less than five minutes into the third quarter. Determined to not let the game get away from them the Trojans came right back on an 8 play 75 yard drive and 9 yard Marshawn Lloyd TD run to finally take a 21-20 lead with less than six minutes left in the 3rd Qtr. Forcing the Wildcats to punt on their next possession, USC widened that lead at the end of an 11 play 76 yard drive on a Caleb Williams 1 yard QB sneak into the end zone to go up 28-20. Not to be denied, Arizona came roaring right back with a 10 play 75 yard drive and 3 yard TD pass from Fafita to Jacob Cowing followed by another Fafita pass to Tetairoa McMillan for a two-point conversion to tie the score at 28-28. Both teams had an opportunity over the last eight plus minutes of the fourth quarter to kick a field goal to go ahead. But both place kickers missed, Tyler Loop for Arizona from 50 yards and Dennis Lynch from 25 yards with time running out.
So a little on the overtime rules here before I finish: Overtime begins with a coin toss to determine which teams starts with the ball in overtime, with the visiting team calling the toss. The winner of the coin toss can either play offense or defense to start, or can opt to choose which side of the field it wants to start. There is no deferral. The team that loses the toss has to make the remaining decision, and then has the first pick to start the second overtime. The team that won the first coin toss will pick for any even-numbered overtime periods, and the team that lost the coin toss will make the decision in every odd-numbered period. Play in the first and second overtimes starts at the opponent’s 25-yard line, barring a penalty that forces them to be pushed back. The offense has its choice of where to put the ball along the line of scrimmage on or between the hash marks. Teams get one timeout per overtime period, and timeouts do not carry over between regular or overtime periods. Teams have possession of the ball until they fail to score, turn the ball over on downs or have a turnover. Once the second overtime begins, teams have to go for two points every time after a TD. When the third overtime starts, teams only attempt two-point conversions instead of full offensive possessions until one team makes it and the other doesn’t.
USC had the ball first to start the overtime and scored three plays later on an 18 yard scamper by Caleb Williams into the end zone. Arizona matched the Trojans seven point lead on the first play of their possession on a Noah Fafita pass to Jacob Cowing. In the second overtime the Wildcats got the ball to start and five plays later Fafita connected again with Cowing in the end zone with the two-point conversion failing this time. Three plays later the Trojans tied it back up at 41-41 on an 11 yard Austin Jones run into the end zone. USC’s two-point conversion attempt also failed which took us to the third overtime. Starting the third overtime USC got a two-point conversion on a Caleb Williams run across the goal line and then stopped Arizona’s RB DJ Williams on their attempt to squeeze out the 43-41 win. Both teams hit the road this coming week with the Trojan’s taking on Notre Dame while the Wildcats head out to the Palouse to take on the Cougars in Pullman.