PASADENA, Calif. — A calm settled over Caleb Williams, on a night when that could be said about few others.
Touchdowns had been traded back and forth. Turnovers too. Field goals were missed. Response after response after response was mounted, in the most dizzying night of the crosstown rivalry in recent memory, a roller coaster that USC rode to a 48-45 victory Saturday night and a berth in the Pac-12 title game.
The Trojans’ star quarterback had come to USC precisely for moments like these, with every chest in a sold-out Rose Bowl thumping and the stakes heart-stoppingly high. He’d put up more than 500 yards of offense, and now, it was up to him to put the game away. But the pocket promptly collapsed, USC’s star was sacked, its hopes suddenly uncertain with time left for UCLA to mount one final drive.
