COLUMN: Strong start, tense finish no surprise for these Trojans
TEMPE, Ariz. -- So much about USC's game at Arizona State on Saturday reinforced the unfortunate themes of this tumultuous season.
The inability to sustain early success. Significant injuries. A potentially devastating turnover. Back-breaking penalties. Even some special teams miscues for good measure.
And yet, the Trojans overcame it all this time, holding on for a 31-26 win over the Sun Devils on a game-sealing interception by defensive end Christian Rector in the final minute.
That said, style points don't really matter at this point as USC is simply trying to avoid a repeat of its 2018 late-season collapse and maximize what it can from these final games (while, sure, hoping that Utah trips up along the way and opens the door in the Pac-12 South).
With the win, the Trojans (6-4, 5-2 Pac-12) became bowl eligible and surpassed last season's 5-7 finish.
That won't be cause for much celebration among the USC fan base, however.
Reserve defensive back C.J. Pollard ran past the post-game interview room reminding reporters that the Trojans were bowl eligible -- he often has a message for the media after games -- but even within the team it was offset by more reasoned reaction.
"It's cool to be bowl eligible, but six [wins] isn't a lot to me. I don't celebrate six game wins, so it's not much to me," wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said.
Head coach Clay Helton reiterated that point as well, but that was only part of his postgame message.
"Our kids had said, 'Hey, we're bowl eligible,' but we have higher standards and we have more to play for," he said. "We have two games left. Next week could be win No. 7, the following week could be win No. 8, who knows if a Utah team slips up can you go get No. 9, can you go get No. 10 in a bowl game. We will keep on coming out and fighting each and every week until they tell us not to anymore."
Say this for the Trojans, they did play for their embattled coach to the end.
But, again, as has often been the case for USC the last couple seasons, it wasn't clean or comfortable -- even when it looked like it had a chance to play out that way early.
Freshman quarterback Kedon Slovis, playing close to his hometown of Scottsdale, started out 15-of-17 passing for 297 yards and 4 touchdowns in the first quarter alone, including a beautiful 95-yard touchdown pass that whistled through a tight window to St. Brown down the middle. Those are real stats.
"It was a lot of fun, but I think it just shows what we can do with this offense when we execute," Slovis said. "Obviously late in the game we didn't execute as well, but like I said it was a lot of fun. When we execute and everyone does their job that's what it can look like."
Yeah, that's kind of the thing, though. This team simply hasn't been consistent in any phase of the game over the course of this season.
USC was up 28-7 by the end of that first quarter (even while giving up a 97-yard kickoff return to set up that first Sun Devils score). The Trojans were cruising. The response from that crushing loss to Oregon last week was impressive. Everything was ...
Well, then it turned, as it so often does. USC scored 3 points the rest of the way while a mediocre Arizona State offense playing with its untested backup freshman quarterback started chipping away.
QB Joey Yellen, seeing his first real action in place of injured fellow freshman Jayden Daniels, hit Frank Darby for a 62-yard touchdown pass to beat cornerback Isaac Taylor-Stuart midway through the second quarter.
Slovis threw an interception on an overthrow deep downfield to Michael Pittman, but Pittman tackled the defender Evan Fields at the 2 and USC soon got it back when Talanoa Hufanga forced a fumble on ASU running back Eno Benjamin.
All was still relatively OK at that point as the visitors took a 28-13 lead into halftime, but there would be late drama because of course there would be for this team..
Arizona State started the second half with a 7-play, 57-yard touchdown drive (aided by a 15-yard pass interference penalty on cornerback Olaijah Griffin) to make it 28-20.
Slovis would be forced out of the game midway through the third quarter with cramping in his calf (along with center Brett Neilon, lost to a calf strain on the same play), forcing third-string QB Matt Fink into the game. He'd finish off an eventual field goal drive, thanks to an incredible catch by wide receiver Drake London to rip a bad pass away from a defender and set up Chase McGrath's 41-yard kick to make it 31-20.
But the Trojans were just hanging on at that point.
Running back Kenan Christon -- who had a big game while totaling 144 yards and 2 touchdowns receiving and rushing -- fumbled early in the fourth quarter while taking a hit from a second defender as he was already being pulled down. Arizona State took over at the USC 37, and while it couldn't move the ball at all that time, neither could the Trojans on their ensuing possession after a false start on third-and-1 (more untimely sloppiness).
Getting prime field position again at the USC 40, this time Arizona State did find the end zone -- with a little more help. Hufanga looked to have a pivotal interception, but Jay Tufele was flagged for roughing the passer after landing on top of Yellen following the release of the throw.
Yellen eventually found Darby for a 15-yard touchdown that made it 31-26 after a failed two-point conversion.
Slovis returned to the game while the teams were trading three punts, including a disappointing late USC possession that had started at the hosts' 41 and was undone by yet another 15-yard penalty (for a crackback block). Arizona State then took its final possession in the closing minutes to the USC 32 to inject that familiar panic into a Trojans road game.
Helton was asked afterward what changed -- this time -- after the strong start?
"Probably losing Caleb Tremblay, Erik Krommenhoek, Brett Neilon, Tyler Vaughns, EA [Palaie Gaoteote] not playing, Marlon [Tuipulotu] not playing, down bodies and having to play a lot of snaps on both sides," he said. "It felt like -- and I'll have to watch the tape -- it felt like we were backed up a bunch offensively too. It felt like longer drives up until that last one. If I got anything we can do better on offensively, that last drive I was hoping to just put the nail in the coffin, but we didn't get it done."
Again, though, this time it still worked out for the Trojans. Tommy Hudson dropped a perfect pass up the middle with room to run and two plays later Rector batted Yellen's pass at the line and dove for the ball to secure the game-sealing interception. The play was upheld on review to the dismay of ASU fans and the relief of the Trojans.
Nothing comes easy for this team — it sure didn’t Saturday.
Slovis finished 29 of 39 for 432 yards, 4 TDs and 1 interception, while Christon had 62 rushing yards and 4 receptions for 82 yards and 2 touchdowns. St. Brown set a career-high with 173 receiving yards on 8 receptions, including that long touchdown. And Pittman led USC in catches, with 13 for 146 yards.
USC outgained Arizona State 547 yards to 339 and allowed just 47 rushing yards, yet needed that late turnover to escape with the win. The 11 penalties for 93 yards might have had something to do with that.
That's Trojans football these days. Helton found Rector on the field afterward for a big celebratory embrace, and early in his postgame news conference seemed to be playing to new USC athletic director Mike Bohn in his opening comments.
"Not only did they Fight On, but I thought they fought on to victory -- that's our motto," Helton said, quoting the extension of the program's mantra that Bohn had used emphatically in his introductory news conference Thursday.
Helton later doubled down on his message, perhaps intended for the ears of those presuming an impending end to his coaching tenure with the program.
"The season's not over. There's a lot of it left. Some people want to write us off. Don't write us off quite yet," Helton said. "This team's going to keep on winning ballgames and keep on fighting."
That may be. The Trojans could very well win out the remaining two games on the schedule at Cal and against UCLA, but that doesn't mean anything has changed -- not in the way USC fans want.
The victory aside, Saturday looked and felt all too familiar.
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