USC will play Tulane in Cotton Bowl, QB Caleb Williams' status undetermined
Two days after seeing its College Football Playoff dreams dashed by an injury to star quarterback Caleb Williams and a deflating 47-24 loss to Utah in the Pac-12 championship game, the Trojans can officially turn the focus forward again.
USC (11-2), which finished No. 10 in the final CFP rankings, was selected to play in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 2 (1 p.m.), in Dallas, Texas, against No. 16 Tulane (11-2).
It marks the Trojans' first bowl game since 2019 and first marquee bowl game since losing to Ohio State in the 2017 Cotton Bowl.
Coach Lincoln Riley took part in a brief Zoom press conference set up by the Cotton Bowl on Sunday and was asked about the challenge of refocusing his team after dropping from No. 4 in the CFP to far out of the final playoff picture with that deflating defeat Friday night in Las Vegas.
"From where this program was to playing in a New Years 6 game is a great accomplishment," Riley said. "We're certainly disappointed that we didn't take care of business the other night, but that's the nature of these big-time games, and we understood when we signed on for this thing that it was going to be a continual process. We're disappointed with the other night, but certainly very proud of the season our football team has had. If we're truly serious about being the kind of program that we feel like we can be, then this kind of bowl game against Tulane will be a great opportunity for us. We need to embrace it and be ready to be at our best."
As for whether he'll have his star quarterback available when the Trojans try to end the season on a better note next month, Riley spoke to the severity of Williams' hamstring strain and left his status for the bowl game undetermined.
"He's got a significant hamstring injury. It's good we're not playing probably in the next two to three weeks. So we'll try to rehab that. Those things, hamstrings are different for everybody, but the nature of his is pretty severe. If we played in the next couple weeks, he most likely would not be available. We'll have to see how it progresses," Riley said "We obviously hope to have him. He's a warrior, he fought through it really the other night when a lot of guys wouldn't, but he's pretty sore as you would expect. But we'll rehab him hard and hope to have him available, and if we don't then we'll have the other guys ready to go."
The LA Times' Ryan Kartje spoke to Williams on Sunday at an event for his "Caleb Cares" foundation, and the QB was optimistic about his chances to play in the bowl game.
“It would take a lot to keep me out,” Williams said, per the Times.
Asked if he knew of any other players who would be unavailable for the game either due to injury or opting out to prepare for the NFL draft, Riley mentioned only center Brett Neilon, who was carted off the field with an unspecified injury Friday.
"We know that Brett won't be available. Obviously, disappointed to not have him for our last one. He's been such a big part of this run and this turnaround here, so hate that we won't have Brett available, but right now our expectation is everybody else would be," Riley said.
As for the Cotton Bowl matchup, it's a pairing of teams who pulled off two of the most dramatic one-year turnarounds in college football this season.
Tulane won the AAC championship game Saturday with a 45-28 win over UCF to continue its best season since 1998. This is the program's first major bowl game since 1940.
The Green Wave, in their seventh season under coach Willie Fritz, was just 2-10 last season, before getting to 11 wins this fall.
Tulane beat Big 12 champion Kansas State 17-10 on the road early in the season, while its two losses came to Southern Miss (27-24) and in the first meeting with UCF (38-31) in the regular season.
The Green Wave is led by running back Tyjae Spears, who has rushed for 1,376 yards and 15 touchdowns on 6.5 yards per carry, while quarterback Michael Pratt has passed for 2,775 yards, 25 touchdowns and 5 interceptions while also rushing for 395 yards and 10 scores.
Riley, meanwhile, took over a 4-8 team and led it to 11 wins in his first season, and he's been consistent over the last month about making sure perspective had not been lost on what this team was accomplishing.
Like he did Sunday, he offered similar thoughts Friday night after the loss to Utah.
"Obviously, there's a much bigger picture and outlook here of the progress that's been made in the last 12 months. So we're not going to walk around like this is some funeral," Riley said. "We've made great progress to be in this moment. We expected to win tonight, we didn't get it done. That changes nothing in terms of the direction and trajectory of this program."
USC and Tulane have met only three times ever -- way back in 1932 (a Rose Bowl win for the Trojans), 1942 (Tulane win in Los Angeles) and 1946 (USC win in New Orleans).
