Going into this game USC, having not lost a single game in conference, was sitting a-top the PAC-12. With Utah having already lost a conference game I felt they would be more desperate to win but that they just wouldn’t be able to score enough points—especially without their still injured starting QB Cam Rising—against a USC team that would be highly motivated to get the ugly taste of the Notre Dame defeat behind them. But as it turned out and what no one realized was that Head Coach Kyle Whittingham had his own version of Mr. Irrelevant in the form of back-up Bryson Barnes. Barnes was brought up on a pig farm in a small town in Utah where he played QB and Safety for Milford High School, throwing for 11,344 yards and 137 TD’s while also, on the other side of the ball, recording 115 tackles, nine pass deflections, four interceptions, and a forced fumble in the process of winning two state championships. Barnes received two FCS scholarship offers but none from FBS schools and in 2020 decided that he would attend the University of Utah as a walk-on. He didn’t see any action his first year but found himself in the 2021 Rose Bowl game against Ohio State after an injury to starter Cam Rising with less than ten minutes left in the game and trailing 45-37. Although having never thrown a pass in a college football game, he led his team on an eight minute drive that ended with a 15 yard TD pass to Dalton Kincaid to tie the score at 45 a piece with less than two minutes left. Ohio State would go on to win that game by a field goal on a day that their QB CJ Stroud—now an NFL starting QB for the Texans—would pass for a school record 573 yards and record-tying six TD’s. But one thing was clear to coach Whittingham that day, Bryson Barnes had properly prepared himself and was not afraid of the big moment.
In 2022, finding out just 30 minutes before the game began, Barnes got his very first start in a game against the Washington State Cougars which he won. His next start wasn’t until this year against Florida in Utah’s opening game of the season. On the very first play of the game Barnes went deep for a 70-yard TD pass to Money Parks and rushed for another score as the Utes beat Florida 24-11. In Week-2 Barnes started again and Utah beat Baylor 20-13. His next start was Week-7 at home against Cal, a game the Utes won 34-14. Getting the picture? Just like the start of Brock Purdy’s career for the 49er’s, which began with 9 consecutive wins, Barnes hasn’t lost a game that he has started for Utah. And although it took every second of their match-up at the Coliseum against the Trojans to get it done, his record is still intact as Utah’s Cole Becker hit a field goal with time expiring to deal a crushing blow to a team that many felt at the start of the season were the odds on favorite from the PAC-12 to make it into the national playoffs. After the game Coach Whittingham’s comments were priceless; “We really took over there for a while, and we got a little soft at the end. But you know, they’ve got a Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback, so they’re going to make some things [happen], and that’s just the way it is. But we’ve got ourselves a pig farmer at quarterback, and we’re proud of that guy, too. What a warrior he is.”
The game started out with each side scoring a TD on their first possessions. Utah at the end of just a three play drive and 53 yard TD pass by Barnes to WR Sione Vaki and the Trojans on a five play drive and 45 yard TD run by Marshawn Lloyd to make it 7-7 with just under twelve minutes still left in the 1st Qtr. Holding Utah to a three-and-out on their next possession USC took the lead at the end of an eight play, 84 yard drive and Zachariah Branch 1 yard run into the end zone. Utah would following that up with an eight play drive of their own ending with a Bryson Barnes 10 yard run for a TD to make 14-14 with just under two minutes left in the first quarter. Neither team scored any more points until after the break as the 2nd Qtr consisted of five punts and one turnover on downs.
USC got the ball to start the 3rd Qtr but was held to a three-and-out by Utah who went back out in front 21-14 nine plays later on a 59 yard 5:31 minute drive that ended with a Bryson Barnes 6 yard TD pass to WR Landon King. On the third play of USC’s next possession Marshawn Lloyd would fumble and lose the ball at the Utah 45 yard line. Less than three minutes later Barnes would connect with Sophomore Safety Sione Vaki for his third TD in the air, fourth of the game to go up 28-14 with 3:28 left in the 3rd Qtr. The Trojans would finally get some points up on the board in the second half on a Dennis Lynch field goal with time expiring in the 3rd Qtr to make it 28-17. And then three plays later, in what felt like a huge momentum shift, Junior Safety Caleb Bullock would intercept Barnes and run it back to the house to make it 28-23 after a failed two-point conversion. But with the lead and already into the 4th Qtr Whittingham saw no reason to panic or rush and after Barnes first play of their next possession, a 36 yard pass to Sione Vaki for a 1st down at their own 48 yard line, Utah ran the ball the next eight straight plays while eating up six minutes of the clock–putting the Utes in position for a 33 yard Cole Becker field goal to make it 31-23. The Trojans would make it all the way down to the Utah 8 yard line on their next drive but on a 3rd and 4 Caleb Williams would run the ball and lose 11 yards leading to a 36 yard Denis Lynch field goal to make it 31-26 with just a few ticks over three minutes left in the game. The Trojan defense did their job and held the Utes to a three-and-out to get the ball back and, in what looked to be like a miraculous comeback, Caleb Williams was back in the end zone on an 11 yard run with 1:46 left and a 32-31 lead—their first of the game. But Utah and their version of Mr Irrelevant weren’t done. On the 9th play of what turned into an 11 play drive and as reported by the AP in their recap for ESPN; “Bryson Barns dropped back, stepped up through the Southern California rush and took off downfield. The Utah quarterback ducked, dodged and finally went down inside the USC 20 with 5 seconds to play and putting the Utes in perfect field position for the winning field goal. Caleb William could only watch and admire while Utah’s third-string quarterback essentially ended the Heisman Trophy winner’s national championship dreams. Cole Becker made a 38-yard field goal as time expired, and No. 14 Utah blew an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter before rallying for a thrilling 34-32 victory over No. 18 USC on Saturday night.”
Utah sacked Williams three times and although he didn’t throw a single interception and connected on 70 percent of his passes, he didn’t connect in the end zone either going 24-of-34 for 256 yards with 112 of those on just five receptions collected by Senior WR Tahj Washington—an average of 22.4 yards per catch. Sophomore Tight End Lake McRee, Junior WRs’ Dorian Singer and Mario Williams, along with Senior WR Brenden Rice combined for most of the rest of those yards in the air, collectively picking up 129 yards on 14 catches—an average of slightly over 9 yard per catch. On the ground the Trojans rushed 23 times for 145 yards and a TD each by Junior RB MarShawn Lloyd, Junior QB Caleb Williams, and Freshman WR Zachariah Branch. For Utah, Junior QB Bryson Barnes connected on 14-of-23 for 235 yards, 3 TD’s, and 1 interception as well as running it 10 times for 57 yards and their only rushing TD. Sophomore RB Ja’Quindon Jackson would pick up the lion’s share of the yardage rushing 26 times for 117 yards with Safety, and Barnes favorite target in the air this game, Sione Vaki picking up another 68 yards on nine attempts—an average of 7.6 yards per carry.
Neither team was very good on 3rd down conversions, Utah under 30% and USC under 40% although the Utes converted their 4th down attempts two-out-of-three times. Utah led in 1st Downs, 23-to-18; Total Yards of Offense, 482-to-401; as well as in Time-of-Possession by over nine minutes. The Utah defense recorded three sacks of Williams and 4 tackles for loss while the Trojans only got to Barnes once but did pick up six tackles for loss. Here is Trojan Head Coach Lincoln Riley’s take on the game afterwards; “It was a good heavyweight battle. Two good football teams going at it, and it came down to the last play. Locker room is pretty torn up right now, as it should be. Had two tough losses in a row, and not how any of us scripted this. But you can’t script it. It’s college football. Comes down to little things here and there, and we haven’t played clean enough in the last couple of weeks.” USC goes on the road to California this next weekend while Utah’s schedule just seems to get harder—but at least they’ll be able to host Oregon at home.
The AP offered the following as The Takeaway; “Utah: Few West Coast programs can measure up to the Utes’ tenacity and consistency over the past two decades, and Whittingham’s dominance of Riley’s rebuilding project underlines these programs’ current states. Utah does more with less than just about any elite program, and a third straight Pac-12 title is still in play. USC: The Trojans’ season has fallen apart with back-to-back losses, but hints of their downfall were obvious in poor defensive performances earlier in the year. The late comeback aside, USC’s inability to stop a well-coached Utah team with a third-string quarterback and a safety playing tailback says all that needs to be said about the quality of coordinator Alex Grinch’s defense.”