USC overtakes UCLA in horror, heading for Pac-12

PASADENA, Calif. — During the whole season, USC Coach Lincoln Riley made a point — after winning, losing, practicing — referring to where the team was just a year ago compared to where it is now.

Even after USC lost at Wyoming At one point in October, Riley mentioned how far the show has come in such a short time. It took only five games for Trojans to surpass last season’s total of four wins. That night in Salt Lake City, Riley also emphasized another point: Despite losing, all of the Trojans’ goals were achievable if they continued to win.

On Saturday night, one of those goals was accomplished. A season after defeat to the opponent UCLA nearly 30 points at home, USC overcame Bruins 48-45 in an electronic horror movie, back and forth won a ticket to the Trojans’ Pac-12 championship match in Year 1 of the Riley era and raised hopes of the College Rugby Qualifier. surname.

“The iconic kind of game,” said Riley. “Whether you’re a USC fan or a UCLA fan, they won’t forget nights like that.”

The first ranked match between the two teams since 2015 takes place at almost every level. After UCLA took a 14-0 lead and a 21-20 lead after halftime, the game turned into a ping pong match of second-half touches. Which midfielder? Caleb William can do at one end, Dorian Thompson-Robinson will answer on the other end of the line unequivocally. Both made interceptions — three times plus a fumble for Thompson-Robinson, once for Williams — but managed to erase their mistakes with blinding steering, scrambled shots. like Houdini and his precise touch throws.

But the high scoring situation quickly ended in a defensive play. When Thompson-Robinson drove down the field to try to draw or win the match with less than two minutes left, he was stopped by the sophomore Manager Korey.

“I went into this game expecting an air battle,” Williams said. “The game never ends in these big games.”

Teams add up to 93 points, five spins and over 1,000 fouls, and no player is more responsible for those yards and points than Williams, who has passed at 470 yards in his career. and two touches of the ball, and dash for 33 yards and a TD.

“He’s one of the best tennis players in the country this year,” Riley said of Williams.

As a USC offensive conductor Brett Neilon added, “He’s very competitive and very confident in himself, but not complacent. He’s just an A-list guy.”

Earlier this week, Williams said he wanted to treat the UCLA game like any other. There was no further motivation or hostility towards the Bruins. But after the game, the excitement shown by the players, coaches and staff spoke to something different that USC had missed over the past few years: success, despite the opponent.

It is fitting, then, that Saturday’s victory celebration takes place in the same south end region where USC (10-1) last celebrated its greatest moment before this moment: victory at Rose Bowl 2017 Penn State.

The victory over UCLA (8-3) confirms that USC’s offense is one of the most explosive in the country, and Williams is the Heisman Trophy candidate, if not the frontrunner. The Trojan’s defenses were inconsistent but timely when forced to change direction and stop.

The game is also an exhibition of USC confidence. Having dropped two points early in the competition after leaving points on the board, as Riley put it, didn’t falter.

“You can’t write the script first,” Riley said. “You just have to be ready to respond.”

After a disappointing defeat in Utah, Riley was almost too confident that USC would respond from the lowest point of the season. When his players hit the field late in Saturday’s game, the sense of accomplishment went beyond beating their opponents. It is also about the fact that, in the span of a year, the Trojans tried to put together a team with new coaching staff, a series of transfers from different parts of the country and a lot of players who had at USC for many years. several years into a cohesive, successful unit capable of competing for congress titles.

Among the things USC achieved on Saturday was keeping a West Coast team on the hunt for the playoffs. There’s still work to be done — Trojans must defeat proliferation Notre Dame next week and win the Pac-12 championship — but for a convention and a region that can’t make the top four as often as its counterparts, Riley’s resurgence to USC is expected. ​a brighter future has paid off.

“Thinking back on all that was achieved here, the main thing we wanted to do was come together,” said USC linebacker. Shane Leewho moved from Alabama. “That’s why we’re here: to compete for the championship and be successful.”

Both Williams, who moved from Oklahoma State and is still getting used to wearing cardinals and gold and leading the band after winning, and players like fifth-year queuers Andrew Vorhees, who have seen all the ups and downs over the past few years, basked in victory as they hugged teammates and fervent USC fans who didn’t want to leave. Athletic director Mike Bohn embraced Riley, who later saw the celebration removed from the crowd, taking it all.

“College football on the West Coast and here in LA is alive and well,” Riley said after the game, praising the atmosphere of the more than 70,000-sold-out crowd at the Rose Bowl. “That’s how it should be every week.”