First-and-10: Reactions and reflections from USC's wild win over UCLA

USC fans surely could have done without the drama, 18-point second-half deficit and tense final minutes, but really, this is what rivalry games should be.

And the circumstances only made the final result all the more satisfying as the Trojans authored yet another late-game rally to stun UCLA, 43-28, in the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

As the back-and-forth and big moments resonate a day later, we bring you the weekly First-and-10 -- our breakdown of the 10 most important takeaways, opinions, revelations and reflections on the Trojans' performance.

As always, everything for this USC team begins, and ends with Kedon Slovis.

It began poorly. Slovis turned it over on the Trojans’ first offensive possession, firing an ill-advised pass on third-and-16 straight to a Bruins defender by the sideline. Neither he nor the rest of the USC offense got going through the early stages of the game, and quickly enough the Trojans found themselves in a 14-0 hole. The defense was being tested as it hadn’t been in weeks, and the offense had no answers through the air and even fewer on the ground. Slovis was playing well, but not well enough to keep his team in the game. The Trojans seemed to be on the brink of an embarrassing blowout loss to their hated rivals halfway through the second quarter; another scoreless possession from USC followed by another UCLA score would likely have been a death knell.

Without warning, Slovis ripped off the longest play of the year for USC, stepping up through the pocket to find Drake London deep downfield, with London subsequently running around and through what felt like half the UCLA defense on his way to the Trojans’ first touchdown. Instantly, the tenor of the game changed, and Slovis began to click. He dominated the remainder of the game, feeding each of his top three receivers and amassing 344 passing yards and 5 touchdowns. Though he threw a couple of bad balls reminiscent of the kind he had in the early weeks of the season, Slovis was mostly on the money just as he was last week. He was brilliant navigating the pocket and making good progressions, avoiding costly decisions after he got the game-opening pick out of his system.

His trademark accuracy was on display again as he placed his passes with the kind of precision we’d come to expect from him last year. He hits serious NFL throws every week; throws that a number of quarterbacks at the highest level still struggle to make. Watch the way he placed the deep balls for Tyler Vaughns, the way he zips the ball all the way up the sideline to Amon-Ra St. Brown on a deep out without letting it dip, or the way he finds receivers across his body as he did on the go-ahead touchdown to London. Slovis’ gifts make him one of the best quarterbacks in college; his mental makeup gives him the potential to be much more. His veins are ice; the sophomore seems unshakeable in the biggest of moments. Slovis was cold-blooded once again in the final frame of the game, making big-time throws without fear and delivering time after time.

Down by 1 with under a minute remaining, he twice called his own shot to audible into a pass play, resulting in the 35-yard bomb down the sideline to Vaughns and the touchdown to St. Brown that followed. Once again, Slovis delivered for USC when it mattered most. Three times now just this year, he’s exploded in the fourth quarter to bring the Trojans back from the brink of disaster. He’s simply a different kind of beast in the final quarter.

Slovis’ guts, composure and confidence in himself are up there with almost any other signal-caller in college football. He’s the real deal, and no matter how many flaws riddle this USC team, he always gives them a shot to win.

After only handing the ball off 16 times for 25 yards last week, it didn’t seem likely that the rushing attack was going to be a significant part of USC’s efforts against UCLA. The Bruins had been stout against the run all year, allowing only 3.68 yards per carry, so the Trojans' struggles on the ground seemed fated to continue. In the early going Saturday, it indeed seemed that would be the case once again. The Trojans skewed dramatically pass-heavy, and what run game there was wasn’t very productive. From the jump however, Vavae Malepeai found ways to generate yardage on his carries with his vision. His ability to be patient behind blocks and to see cutback lanes as they form is his best attribute, and it allowed him to find success against the Bruins run defense. He thrived against the 6 and 7-man boxes UCLA was in throughout the night, showing trust in his blocking and winning with his reads. Whether by prior design or by virtue of simply feeding the hot hand, the USC coaching staff decided to ride Malepeai as the Trojans’ lead back for the night. The senior wound up with 19 carries, the most of any USC back this season, and took them for 110 yards, becoming the first Trojan to cross the hundred-yard mark on the ground this year.

He was instrumental to the resurgence of USC’s offense in the second half, providing the team with a legitimate rushing option, contributing at a high-level in pass protection, and coming up with a key touchdown in the waning phases of the game. Though the rest of the backfield remained unproductive and the net rushing total for USC remained a paltry 100 yards, Malepeai’s impact on the game showed the potential of USC’s running backs. This rushing offense is not very good and that won’t change anytime soon, but USC’s backs are still talented enough to change the complexion of games when given opportunity to do so. When given the right situation, there might be something to be gained by leaning on one rusher or another. This was the case with Malepeai and a UCLA defense vulnerable to the kind of cutback lanes his vision allows him to exploit. In another matchup, it might be Markese Stepp’s power against a smaller front-7 -- so on and so forth. One way or another, I’m inclined to think sticking to the idea of a lead back would help this offense, even if who that is changes from game to game.

USC’s headline trio of receivers were so dominant against the Bruins that it was hard for me not to give each of them their own subheading. Each of St. Brown, London and Vaughns had a “player of the game”-type outing, combining for all of Slovis’ 5 passing touchdowns and 298 of his passing yards.

London was a force from start to finish, catching 5 balls for 97 yards and 2 TDs. London is an athletic freak -- his second quarter touchdown almost looked like a receiving imitation of Marshawn Lynch’s “Beastquake” run. That touchdown jumpstarted a badly-struggling offense and broke that 14-0 deficit, and the sophomore continued to perform in the clutch, securing a key go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter. London shows up in the biggest of moments; he’s built for the spotlight.

St. Brown continued to pile on the touchdowns after not finding the end zone through the first three games, adding another 2 against UCLA after snatching 4 last week. St. Brown was a consistent target for Slovis all night, leading the team in catches with 10. He had a critical drop-turned-interception on a third quarter third down that looked like it might threaten any dreams of a USC comeback, but he found redemption to seal the win with a touchdown that was nearly identical to the fade he caught against Washington State.

Despite the performances of his teammates, the oft-overlooked Vaughns refused to be forgotten, amassing 128 receiving yards to lead the team on 8 catches. Vaughns has always had a penchant for making jaw-dropping contested catches; it’s only that his inconsistency reeling in the easy ones have often made him a frustrating talent. Drops weren’t an issue at the Rose Bowl, where TV snagged almost everything thrown at him, from slants and screens to deep outs and streaks. Despite his lack of top-end speed, Vaughns has a talent for winning on go-routes, and he came through on two of them for a pair of the game’s most critical moments. The first was an open touchdown down the sideline early in the second half, and the latter was a critical 35-yard reception over two defenders to put the Trojans on the spot from which they’d win the game shortly thereafter. It was an exceptional performance, every bit as good as London’s and St. Brown’s. It was nearly as dominant of a showing as you could imagine of from a single position group (hello North Carolina running backs). A year after USC had four receivers each top 100 yards vs. UCLA, this trio turned in one of the most complete outings you might ever see from a receiver corps to beat the Bruins again.

Last week I noted the coaching staff’s obvious efforts to get freshman wide receiver Gary Bryant Jr. involved in the game. This week, the 18-year-old’s only touch on offense was a toss that lost 4 yards, but he left his mark on the game with what was easily the biggest play of his young career so far. Trailing by one with 52 seconds remaining in the game, Bryant ran back the UCLA kickoff 56 yards to put the Trojans at the UCLA 43, on the cusp of field goal range. The Trojans would of course go on to score a touchdown to win the game, and Bryant couldn’t have had a bigger moment to help set it up. His explosiveness with the ball in his hands is spectacular -- he was bound to come up with a big play sooner or later.

Drake Jackson continues to win games for the Trojans. He and the other Drake remind me of one another; both legitimate stars in only their sophomore years who shine in the biggest moments. Against Arizona, Jackson sealed the win with a crucial sack of Grant Gunnell in the last seconds. In his second career UCLA game he again came up huge when it mattered most, stuffing Dorian Thompson-Robinson behind the line of scrimmage on a key third-and-2 with less than a minute left in the game. His stop forced a field goal and gave USC the time on the clock to squeak out another score to win the game. Jackson was a force all night long, finishing with 5 tackles, 2.5 of which were for loss, along with other QB pressures that disrupted the Bruins' offensive plans. He’s a foundational piece on the USC defense already, and he still has a long way to go before he nears his ceiling. Jackson’s future is bright; he might be the Trojans’ best D-line prospect since Leonard Williams.

Talanoa Hufanga has found the zone. For the past three games, he’s arguably been USC’s best defender, putting together the best string of play in his career. The junior safety has mastered his role in the Trojan defense, making the most of his mobility in that structure to impact plays on seemingly every snap. Hufanga was everywhere once again against UCLA, stacking 17 tackles (two of which were for loss), forcing a fumble on a failed punt and picking off a pass and running it back for what would have been a touchdown were it not for a penalty. Hufanga now has 36 tackles in his last three games -- leading the team by a wide margin. Never having caught one before this season, he also has 4 interceptions now on the year, good for best in the conference. Hufanga is still prone to the occasional mistake, but he’s providing the Trojans with a brilliant execution of the roving safety position. He’s one of the teams’ best players, period.

Freshman Tuli Tuipulotu was a big topic of conversation in the preseason, with the coaching staff expressing faith that he’d be able to make an impact on the pass rush from the jump. He’s played more and more snaps as the season has gone on, and as he’s done so Tuipulotu has started to make a real impact for the USC defense. Despite being considerably smaller than his 300-pound brother, the younger Tuipulotu showcases the same kind of power moves as Marlon up front, often driving back offensive linemen and catching them off-balance. Tuipulotu had his biggest game as a Trojan against the Bruins, notching a career-high 9 tackles. He was a huge part of the Trojans’ improved situational defense in the second half, helping to limit the UCLA rushing attack and to contain DTR. Tuli’s role in the defense is only going to grow going forward; his rapid development is a welcome sign.

Todd Orlando’s defense continued to bank on its turnover-creating prowess against UCLA, adding 3 more to a count that had grown by 8 over the previous two games. Each of the starting Trojans safeties contributed an interception, with Isaiah Pola-Mao batting down a pass and diving to catch it in the air, and both collaborated on the forced and recovered fumble in the third quarter. USC now has 15 turnovers forced; head and shoulders above the rest of the conference, and producing as many per game as any other team in the country. After five games it’s clear that it’s not just coincidence or chance; the Trojan defense has a legitimate aptitude for creating takeaways. That’s a foundational cornerstone a defense can build its identity on, and it’s the one place where Orlando has made the most noticeable impact so far.

This week’s special teams shoutout goes to Ben Griffiths, who punted well against the Bruins on Saturday. Griffiths punted three times for 153 yards, including a long of 57 on his best try of the night. The Australian has been quietly nice for most of the year, averaging nearly 46 yards per punt on the season. We’ve had high hopes for Griffiths for a long while now; it’s nice to see him performing well on a regular basis. As a bonus, Griffiths also logged a tackle on a punt return today -- his first of the season. Not a bad day.

That USC has now pulled wins out of three almost-certain defeats in five games has mostly been the subject of scorn, and rightfully so. The Trojans have in each case been inconsistent and sloppy, letting inferior teams hang around, coming within a hair’s breadth of being 2-3 right now. Instead they’re 5-0 somehow, and something absolutely should be said for the grit it takes to pull off victories like that. In each of the three games in question, the Trojans faced perilous fourth-quarter deficits. In each of them, they trailed with less than two minutes remaining. Traditionally, these are not winnable games; especially not for teams who’ve arrived at that point by underperforming for three quarters. And yet, this USC team has found a way to do it time after time.

There is an attitude of resilience and hunger that permeates the culture of this team, an apparent and obvious communal faith among the players and the coaches. Whatever the many justified criticisms of Clay Helton and his program are, the fostering of a team environment like that is a feat deserving of commendation. For years, whatever the outside pressure has been upon the coach and the team, we’ve consistently seen unity from within the roster. That shared sense of purpose is evident in what we’ve seen from both sides of the ball in crunch time this year. The big names and team leaders are all locked in when it matters most; the Trojans’ stars have all come up big in the most crucial moments. It doesn’t excuse this team of nearly losing thrice, but it speaks to an edge that USC teams have not carried in a long while.