LOS ANGELES — The moment it dawned on Justin Dedich that this USC season was destined to be special came seven weeks ago in Salt Lake City, amid the devastation of its first and only defeat.
USC’s 43-42 loss to Utah last month landed like a gut punch. As the Trojans filtered into the visitor’s locker room of Rice-Eccles Stadium, the senior captain was struck by the scene. Emotions from the last-minute defeat lay bare. Players sat at their lockers in tears. But behind their puffy eyes, Dedich saw something he’d never seen in his previous four seasons at USC.
Not sorrow or indifference in defeat, but determination.
