9/14/2019 football Edit

BYU tops USC on game-ending INT in overtime

Ryan Young • TrojanSports

Publisher

PROVO, Utah -- USC didn't look at all like the team that overwhelmed Stanford a week earlier. Quarterback Kedon Slovis looked a lot more like a freshman this time, the Trojans abandoned their Air Raid passing attack for most of the third quarter and still they couldn't move the ball on the ground against one of the worst rush defenses in college football. The defense had its own struggles.

This was ugly on both sides of the ball for USC, which needed a 52-yard Chase McGrath field goal in the final two minutes to tie it and ultimately force overtime.

The Trojans might well have delivered their best defensive sequence in the first overtime. Defensive tackle Marlon Tuipulotu, with late help from defensive end Drake Jackson, swarmed BYU QB Zach Wilson for a sack on second down. And Isaac Taylor-Stuart made a textbook pass break-up in the end zone on third down, forcing the Cougars to settle for a field goal. It was right there for USC to take it.

But three plays later, Slovis tried to force a third-down play into double coverage to Drake London. The ball popped up in the air and was intercepted the Cougars' Dayan Ghanwoloku to end the game.

BYU 30, No. 24 USC 27.

"We had the opportunity to close the door, and you know what, the ball bounced the wrong way and that happens sometimes in football," Trojans coach Clay Helton said.

Slovis finished 24 of 34 for 281 yards, 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, and unfortunately for the Trojans, it was a fitting outcome.

Slovis threw two early interceptions and nearly a third, and a combination of his own reticence to let the ball fly or more conservative play calling led to a grounded Air Raid. Slovis had just one pass attempt in the third quarter. The Trojans had three straight punts after 5 plays, 3 plays and 4 plays from late in the second quarter to late in the third and rushed for just 171 yards against a defense that had given up an average of 252 on the ground in the first two games.

"Just minor details in the game. We left some things on the field that we should have got through and everything like that. It's just on us. … We just didn't execute at the end," wide receiver Tyler Vaughns said.

The USC defense never looked in control Saturday, but it did hold the Cougars scoreless during the Trojans own lulls to give the offense chance after chance to do something -- anything.

Then came a bizarre sequence. Linebacker Palaie Gaoteote knifed around the right edge to tackling running back Ty'son Williams for a 1-yard loss on third-and-1 in the red zone. USC then tried to call timeout when it looked like it wouldn't get players off the field in time before the snap. The refs gave the timeout back to USC, saying the "substitution process hadn't been completed." And on fourth-and-2, the Trojans appeared to stuff BYU over the pile.

But that play was negated as well with the same explanation given about the timeout being negated. So BYU got another chance on fourth-and-2, and again USC stuffed the Cougars just short of the first-down marker. BYU challenged the spot and lost, confirming a turnover on downs with 1:12 left in the third quarter.

And the USC offense finally came back to life -- barely.

Little-used but very effective running back Markese Stepp came in to convert a third-and-1. Slovis later hit Tyler Vaughns for 7 yards on a third-and-2. The Trojans then faced a fourth-and-1 from the BYU 32. USC lined up for a long field goal, but backup quarterback Matt Fink was in as the holder. BYU sniffed out a potential trick play and called timeout, and Stepp came in again and picked up 2 yards for the first down.

On the next play, Slovis connected with Michael Pittman for a 30-yard touchdown that the receiver caught while falling backward in the back of the end zone. Pittman had stepped out of bounds before catching it, but under review the refs ruled he had been forced out and reestablished himself before the catch. USC had a 24-17 lead with 10:15 left, but the Trojans never truly had any handle on the proceedings.

Wilson had completions of 17 and 30 yards on the ensuing BYU possession to quickly move downfield before settling for a 32-yard Jake Oldroyd field goal to cut it to 24-20.

And on USC's next series, the refs worked against the Trojans this time as Pittman appeared to land his foot in bounds on a third-and-8 pass deep in Trojans territory. The officials reviewed it and maintained he did not.

"Of course, yes, but obviously they didn't say so," Pittman said when asked if he thought he was in.

BYU would get the ball at its own 48, and waste no time delivering another momentum change. The refs again did the Trojans no favor, missing a seemingly blatant holding call as Wilson scrambled around and eventually found Gunner Romney wide open down the seam for a 35-yard gain to the USC 17. Two plays later Wilson took off on a designed QB keeper up the gut for an easy 16-yard touchdown and a 27-24 BYU lead.

USC mounted a response, getting a 5-yard rush from Stepp on fourth-and-1, but the drive later stalled at the BYU 34 after an incomplete pass to Pittman on third down. The Trojans sent McGrath out for a 52-yard field goal from the left hash, and he nailed it to tie the game with 1:43 on the clock.

Neither team did anything with its final two drives of regulation, setting up overtime.

And a crushing ending for a Trojans team that badly needed to show it's performance last week was for real. Instead, USC enters the most daunting stretch of its schedule -- home Friday vs. No. 11 Utah on a short week, on the road at No. 23 Washington and after the bye on the road at No. 7 Notre Dame -- again looking to prove its not the same team that stumbled to a 5-7 finish last fall.

"Just go in there and work hard like this never happened and just use it to our advantage because I know we're way better than what we just showed," London said.

Said Helton: "That's what I told them in there. This team is built for this, to have adversity and then overcome it. This is a nonconference game early in the season that we'll have to dig our way out of. We've got a big game next week again. … We don't have any time to sulk -- it's Friday night. We've got to get on this plane and we've got to get right back to work tomorrow morning."