SALT LAKE CITY — Six weeks of making the extraordinary seem easy had brought Caleb Williams to this climactic crescendo, with a sea of black roaring from enemy stands and any high hopes for USC’s season hanging impossibly in the balance.
All night — and all season, really — he had successfully side-stepped danger at every turn, powering USC to a spotless, 6-0 start through a sequence of stunning escapes and dazzling downfield passes you would need to see to believe. In the process, he had done everything possible to help USC escape.
But never had he quite been cornered like this, with less than a minute remaining, the entire field in front of him and USC trailing by one point, the first deficit this season it wouldn’t escape, as Utah pulled off a stunner 43-42.
This time, it was the Utes who managed to deliver the most devastating of blows at the worst possible time, driving through thick and thin when it mattered the most, navigating three third downs and an even fourth at the goal line before quarterback Cam Rising broke the plane and broke the game open. A do-or-die, two-point conversion run by Rising gave Utah its first lead of the game with just 48 seconds left.
USC needed a miracle. For once, it was too much to ask of its quarterback.
To that moment, he had done his damnedest. Williams completed 25 of 42 passes for 381 yards and five touchdowns in one of the most dynamic performances of his college career.
He had kept USC alive to that point in spite of a defense that was steamrolled for a season-worst 43 points and 562 yards by Utah and its own dynamic quarterback, Rising. Not since November 2017 had USC allowed more than 400 yards through the air, but Rising managed 415.
The Los Angeles native ultimately made mince meat of USC’s defense, accounting for five touchdowns, including three on the ground.
Ultimately, it was too much for USC to outlast. The Trojans couldn’t get past their season-high nine penalties, including two brutal roughing-the-passer penalties that twice kept critical Utah scoring drives alive.
Still, USC was in control for almost the entire game, up until it gave Utah the ball back one last time. Williams had already led one drive that, on a different night, might have been the game-winner.
He found Michael Jackson on a screen pass in the face of an all-out blitz. Jackson scampered 20 yards for a go-ahead score, leaving Utah with more than four minutes left to make its final statement.
It turned out to be too much time.
As the clock wound down, Trojans coach Lincoln Riley chose to let it run, crossing his fingers that his defense could make a decisive stop. But the decision backfired.
It shouldn’t have gotten to that point, not with USC setting Utah’s defense ablaze through most of Saturday’s loss.
Williams seemed primed for a magical game from the start. On third and long, on USC’s opening drive, Williams wriggled loose from the pocket to find only green grass in front of him. He took off, sprinting 55 yards before he was finally tripped up. Two plays later, running back Travis Dye scampered eight more yards for the game-opening score.
Any concern over a clunky start had disappeared by USC’s next drive, as the Trojans’ quarterback stood comfortably in the pocket, side-stepping rushers and firing passes all over the field. In a dizzying array of decoys, motions and play fakes, USC’s offense came to life, led by its quarterback and a coach determined to dig deep into his bag of tricks.
Williams led one scoring drive without needing a third down, capped by a two-yard Jordan Addison touchdown. He led another in just four plays, scrambling free before spotting Mario Williams wide open downfield for a 65-yard gain. Williams’ next pass went for another two-yard score to Kyron Hudson.
With its offense rolling, it seemed as if USC might once again sprint to an insurmountable lead, leaving its opponent in its dust. Utah had already missed a field-goal try, and late in the first quarter the Utes appeared to throw a back-breaking, red-zone interception to USC safety Calen Bullock. But a roughing-the-passer call on Stanley Ta’ufo’ou negated Bullock’s pick, and Utah ran in a score on the next play.
A turnover that might have turned the tide entirely toward USC instead left Utah just enough room to get its foot in the door. Soon enough, it kicked it open.
It took just 45 seconds for Utah to score in the waning seconds of the first half. It didn’t waste much time after halftime either, marching down the field on a third consecutive touchdown drive and tying the score at 28.
Nothing seemed to stop Utah’s offense through that stretch, until Eric Gentry collided with Utah’s Micah Bernard inside the Trojans’ five-yard-line and the ball popped out. The fumble seemed like a moment where USC might take advantage.
It never did.
Instead, a night that was circled as a fork-in-the-road moment for USC and its suddenly plausible playoff dreams ended with the Trojans taking a wrong the turn at the worst possible time.
