AUSTIN, Texas -- Thirty-four straight points for Texas -- 34. And if one were to attempt to keep such a stat, that total might equal the number of miscues and head-scratching moments USC strung together Saturday night to allow it to happen.
That's how an early 11-point lead built on a wave of momentum turns into a 37-14 loss to an unranked and unintimidating Texas team.
That's how a USC football season launched with expectations -- fueled by the excitement for the next potential star quarterback -- quickly devolves into whatever this is presently, with the Trojans sitting at 1-2 and the critiques of the coaching staff growing stronger and sharper.
The spiral Saturday night started early in the second quarter with a huge missed tackle by Ajene Harris on the 47-yard Longhorns touchdown pass from Sam Ehlinger to Lil'Jordan Humphrey. That was immediately followed by an interception on an ill-fated decision from freshman quarterback JT Daniels, and soon a Longhorns field goal. Then came the two failures from the Texas 1-yard line on a goal-line stand for the hosts.
But again, all of that was just the start.
USC looked to have Ehlinger down in the end zone, but the officials ruled he got the ball out to the 1 and upheld the call on review. The refs didn't help, but the bigger problem is that the Trojans couldn't help themselves Saturday night.
They had gone up 14-3 late in the first quarter, with Daniels slinging the ball seemingly at will across the field, Stephen Carr running straight through the Texas defense for a 23-yard touchdown and Vavae Malepeai delivering a tough 3-yard touchdown run to seemingly set the tone for a bounce-back performance after the ugly loss at Stanford last week.
But no, that was not the narrative Saturday night. Not at all.
Back to the spiral ...
After the non-safety, the Trojans overcame a roughing the punter penalty on freshman Talanoa Hufanga, but they never could get out of their own way.
The rushing game became non-existent. The intermediate passing attack dried up. And the punting ... oh, the punting.
Continuing one of the more inexplicable struggles for this team so far this season, Chris Tilbey shanked a 13-yard punt to give the Longhorns possession at midfield and set up their go-ahead field goal drive at the end of the first half, handing the hosts a 16-14 lead.
That's how it felt -- as if USC had done all it could to hand Texas control of the game.
And that's how it would continue to feel the rest of the way, as well.
More third-and-long breakdowns by the defense. Porter Gustin's ejection for targeting on a hit that popped Ehlinger's helmet off. The flat-lining USC rushing attack. A 50-yard field goal attempt blocked and returned for a touchdown by Texas' Anthony Wheeler to make it 30-14 midway through the third quarter. Yet another shanked Tilbey punt for 22 yards to give Texas yet another prime opportunity from midfield leading to yet another Longhorns touchdown (a four-yard Ehlinger rush) as the lead swelled to 37-14.
Daniels finished 30-of-48 passing for 322 yards, 0 touchdowns and an interception while being asked to carry the entire weight of the offense as the Trojans mustered -5 rushing yards -- yes, negative-5 — for the game. Ehlinger was 15 of 33 for 223 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 35 yards and another score for Texas.
That's how USC blew its opportunity to get this season right back on track. That's how the Trojans now find themselves in this spot, far removed from the optimism this season opened with and left now with a lot more questions than answers.
