As he left the locker room Saturday night, redshirt-senior nickel Ajene Harris was reminded that he matched the USC program record for interceptions returned for touchdown with his pick-6 in the third quarter against Colorado.
"Did I set the career [record] or tie?" he asked. "Tied it. So it just motivates me more to get more interceptions and take them to the house."
Harris capped USC's momentum swing Saturday night when he corralled a pass that went off the hand of Buffaloes wide receiver Laviska Shenault. Harris bobbled it initially, but eventually secured it while never breaking stride on the way to a 6-yard score and a three-touchdown lead in the eventual 31-20 Trojans win.
That was his third career pick-6 (and sixth interception overall), tying Charles Phillips (1972-74) and Nickell Robey-Coleman (2010-12).
"He has a knack at that and has done that multiple times in his career," Trojans coach Clay Helton said, sitting next to Harris in the postgame press conference. "My favorite thing in the world is non-offensive touchdowns, and he got us one."
Harris then promptly took the ball over to Helton on the sideline, which he said is the routine after turnovers.
As Harris talked about matching the program record for pick-6s, he got a little nostalgic about his career.
"It's just a blessing, man. I came here, this was my dream school and I always just wanted to help the team as much as possible," he said.
Harris and the Trojans defense helped the cause immensely Saturday night, racking up 16 tackles for loss and 4 sacks while mostly dominating through three quarters.
Even though Colorado found some success in the fourth quarter, it was the still defense's best showing of the season and a reason for optimism for USC's potential the rest of the way.
"I feel like we're in a good position," Harris said. "We've got to continue to compete, come out here and defend this Pac-12 South. We're trying to get to the Pac-12 championship and win that, so it's a week to week grind."
USC had 27 tackles for loss through the first five games. The 16 TFLs Saturday is the most in the game for the Trojans since also having 16 in 2009 against San Jose State. The last time the USC defense had more TFLs was way back in 1997 against Cal with 19.
Colorado's 111 first-half yards was a season low for a USC opponent, and the Buffaloes finished with just 265 yards after averaging 490.6 entering the contest.
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Here's how Pro Football Focus graded USC's defensive players (including snap counts):
