See how PFF College graded the USC offense in the win at Colorado

Whether senior wide receiver Michael Pittman ends up getting his due national recognition come season's end, he's certainly deserving of being in the discussion of top wide receivers nationally.

Defenses have given him that respect with multiple opponents this season making an emphasis to limit his opportunities and Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly going so far as to say it was the Fighting Irish's top priority defensively.

That led to some relatively quiet games statistically for Pittman of late, with USC's wide receiver depth not necessitating anything be forced his way when he's double covered, but he delivered another sterling performance Friday night in the Trojans' 35-31 win at Colorado.

Pittman finished with 7 receptions for 156 yards and 2 touchdowns, completing USC's late rally with touchdown catches of 44 and 37 yards in the fourth quarter.

"Pittman balled. He's a beast," fellow receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said afterward.

That essentially summed it up, and Pittman himself has mostly gone mum with the media of late (since one of his comments before that Notre Dame game created more buzz than he would have liked).

His game-winning touchdown came on a simple catch over the middle from QB Kedon Slovis as he took off toward the right corner and found a way to outrace the Buffaloes' remaining defenders before diving for the pylon.

"Honestly, the line just held up and Kedon just threw a great ball and it just kept me in stride and I just kind of ran around the defense," Pittman said, summing it up briefly.

And on his mindset entering the fourth quarter?

"Win, that's it. I was just focused on winning the game," he said.

He was definitely a driving force in securing that outcome with a crucial rally from down 10 points, allowing USC to maintain control of its path to the Pac-12 championship game.

It was Pittman's third huge game of the season, following his performances vs. Utah (10 catches for 232 yards and 1 TD) and BYU (9-95-2). It was the second best stat line of his Trojans career, and interestingly it almost mirrored his 2018 line vs. Colorado (6-155-2).

Overall, Pittman now ranks 10th nationally with 755 receiving yards (on 50 catches with 7 touchdowns). So the numbers alone put him in that conversation of best wideouts in the country, but considering he was the key in USC's biggest win of the season (Utah) and helped lead an essential comeback Friday night (104 yards, 2 TDS in the fourth quarter alone), his value to this Trojans team goes beyond the raw numbers.

With that, here's our weekly deep dive into the PFF College data and how their analysts graded USC's offensive players vs. Colorado."

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