Kedon Slovis and Drake London explain what happened on final INT

PROVO, Utah -- After the defense saved one of its best series for overtime, USC looked to have some timely momentum -- an ever-tenuous term when applied to the Trojans on Saturday (or in general these days).

Marlon Tuipulotu and Drake Jackson sacked BYU quarterback Zach Wilson on second down and cornerback Isaac Taylor-Stuart batted away a pass in the end zone on third down, forcing the host Cougars to settle for a field goal while giving USC's offense a chance to end it.

Unfortunately, the Trojans did just that.

After Vavae Malepeai was stuffed for a loss of 1 on first down and carried it for 5 yards on second down, USC put the ball in the hands of true freshman quarterback Kedon Slovis on the pivotal third down -- hoping either he could make a play to keep the drive going or at the least send the field goal unit on for a potential tie.

Instead, Slovis worked through his progression and fired at freshman Drake London down the seam in double coverage. The pass hit London's hand, but the two defenders also converged almost instantaneously on the receiver -- who was short of the first-down marker anyway -- sending the ball up into the air where cornerback Dayan Ghanwoloku corralled the interception to seal a 30-27 win.

It was a sudden, jolting and humbling moment for both the No. 24-ranked Trojans -- fresh off that momentous win over Stanford last week -- and for Slovis, the freshman QB who had earned Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors in his first start.

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"I just saw grass. It's a progression read," Slovis said afterward of his ill-fated final throw.

Said head coach Clay Helton: "We'll have to watch it on tape. It was a spacing play to try to hit one of the voids and we'll have to be able to see where it was. My gut tells me they went strong rotation, I think the backside might be a little bit more open, but we'll see."

London tried to place the blame on himself, meanwhile.

"I sat down in the wrong spot and I just dropped the ball," he said. "It was just a regular progression play, but I take blame for it, like I said."

Asked if it hit his hands or the defender's first, he offered further perspective.

"Honestly, right when it hit my hands he hit my hands with his helmet as well, but no matter if he touched my hands I didn't catch it," London said.

To be really honest, the game probably shouldn't have come down to that moment.

Slovis couldn't repeat his near-flawless performance from last week -- 28 of 33 for 377 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INT vs. Stanford. He was picked off twice in the first three series Saturday and had a couple other balls get tipped around or end up in precarious positions.

He'll have better days, but this one was mostly a learning experience.

BYU was bound to build its gameplan off what it saw from Slovis and the Trojans in that win over Stanford, and the Cougars indeed tried to force USC to move the ball on the ground or to at least complicate Slovis' opportunities through the air.

"Eventually they went to drop-8 and that's when we started running the ball more," Slovis said, noting that the Trojans expected to need to lean on the ground game. "That's another frustrating thing when they go drop-8, there's less space in the defense and I just need to hit the check-downs a lot more. That gets frustrating as a quarterback when you want to push the ball downfield."

Everything started well. USC got the ball first and went 74 yards in 10 plays and 4 minutes, 21 seconds for the first touchdown -- an 8-yard strike from Slovis to Michael Pittman. Slovis was 6 of 7 on the series for 59 yards.

After a quick BYU punt, he looked to get the Trojans moving again, but on third-and-7 he tossed a pass out to the ride sideline for Tyler Vaughns that Payton Wilgar made a diving play for, picking it off.

It wasn't an egregious error and seemed like one the young QB would quickly shake off, even as BYU capitalized on the prime field position to score a game-tying touchdown.

Three plays into the ensuing drive, though, Slovis was picked off again, this time down the left seam by Isaiah Kaufusi. It appeared the QB didn't see the linebacker.

"Coach [Graham] Harrell was like, 'I saw what you saw on the first one. On the second one you've just got to see that backer and keep playing,'" Slovis shared afterward.

He bounced back on his next series, scanning downfield on the move and finding tight end Erik Krommenhoek wide open for a 60-yard completion that likely would have been a touchdown with a faster receiver.

But after having 15 pass attempts in that first quarter, Slovis' workload would soon drop off. Later that same series, he had a pass into traffic batted around before falling incomplete and on third-and-goal he had his pass tipped at the line to bring on the field goal unit.

Slovis did have another nice moment midway through the second quarter when he scanned all the way through to his last read to find Tyler Vaughsn for 11 yards on third-and-5 down to the BYU 5. That set up Malepeai for a 5-yard game-tying touchdown to make it 17-17 late in the first half.

Slovis had just 1 pass attempt in the entirety of the third quarter, though, as USC tried to lean on the run -- mostly ineffectively. (That's a whole different topic).

"As you saw tonight it was a ton of drop-8, trying to force the run game and we end up I think with 170-plus yards on the night. It was one of those where they were going to force the issue there," Helton said.

Vaughns also said Slovis' early struggles weren't the impetus for the shift from the Air Raid to the plod-and-pound after halftime.

"No, it didn't change the game plan. We changed the game plan based upon the defense, not towards anyone's play," he said.

Slovis also said he didn't think the early setbacks affected him -- or at least that was his intent.

"You try to stay positive. One thing you can't let happen is you can't lose your confidence -- if you do that then you're screwed," Slovis said. "You've got to try to do your best to keep throwing the ball and keep playing your game and trusting what you see. ...

"I tried not to make it change my approach. It might have, but that's the thing, you've got to stay the same person through the good and the bad."

Slovis did keep firing when given the green light. He converted to Vaughns on third-and-2 early in the fourth quarter and to Pittman on third-and-7 that same series. That drive would end with his best pass of the game, a 30-yard touchdown to Pittman in the back left corner of the end zone that at the time gave USC a 24-17 lead -- more fleeting momentum.

"It's a different feel for sure," Slovis said of his first road start. "It's a hostile environment, but at the end of the day you've just got to play better."

Said left tackle Austin Jackson: "It's his first away game. He's a freshman, a freshman quarterback's going to have those knocks. He responded well, he was resilient the whole time, he accepted his coaching, coaches made the adjustments and he'll pick it up next time -- I'm sure he will."