USC Football Notes: Caleb being Caleb, Tahj Washington's big debut and more

Tahj Washington didn't know until afterward just how incredible his 76-yard touchdown reception from Caleb Williams was Saturday.

"I just seen it. That was crazy. That was crazy," Washington said after the game.

All he saw was another near perfect throw from Williams on a deep shot downfield that allowed Washington to haul it in and jet into the end zone for the longest touchdown on both players' collegiate careers.

What he didn't see was Williams drop the snap, briefly collide with running back Austin Jones and yet still have the focus and poise to corral the loose ball and in less than two seconds uncork the high-arching pass from his back foot with a charging defender right in his face.

"Shoot, he's special. We've seen it. We've seen everything," Washington said of Williams. "Especially in practice, he does crazier stuff, so it's just another play and another testament to who he is and how special he is."

That 76-yard strike broke a tie score in the second quarter as the Trojans started to assert some control over the game for the first time.

Washington would finish with 2 catches for a team-high 85 yards in the game and certainly deserves his share of the credit on that long touchdown connection as well.

"I was just on my route, and once the ball was in the air I was just like 'Make a play,'" he recalled. "I heard the crowd, though, at the top of it. I was like, what's going on? [Kept] running my route, the ball was up there and then I just made a play after that."

USC's wide receiver group is even deeper than last year. On Saturday, 11 different receivers/tight ends hauled in receptions.

The rotation won't always be that deep -- coach Lincoln Riley wanted to get an extended look at the team's talented freshmen in the opener -- but the competition for targets will be a storyline all year.

Nonetheless, Washington showed last fall that he should never be overlooked. USC brought in four wide receiver transfers last season and Washington played a limited role early on with just 13 catches through 6 games (including two games with 0 catches). But by the end of the season, he was second on the team in receptions (50), receiving yards (785) and receiving touchdowns (6).

So even with the addition of high-profile transfer Dorian Singer, even with Brenden Rice and Mario Williams expected to have bigger seasons than a year ago, even with a loaded freshmen class and a lot of competition at the slot positions especially, Washington will likely continue to find a way to be a consistent factor for the Trojans.

"It worked out good, keeps everybody fresh and keeps everybody on their toes. It's hard to gameplan for that," Washington said of the wide receiver rotation.

That long touchdown to Washington was part of a highly-efficient day for Williams, who completed 18 of 25 passes for 278 yards and 4 touchdowns before giving way to backup Miller Moss in the fourth quarter.

But the performance was even more impressive than those numbers.

Of those seven incompletions, two were intentional throwaways out of bounds while under pressure or with no open receivers, two were drops by Kyron Hudson on a quick screen and a perfectly-placed deep ball off his hands, one went right through Mario Williams' hands on a routine short throw, one was low and incomplete to MarShawn Lloyd and the other was incomplete down the seam to freshman Duce Robinson inside the red zone, after which Williams reacted as if there was a miscommunication with the receiver.

The point being -- aside from the forced throwaways, there only two misses that weren't right where they were supposed to be in an ideal spot for the intended target, and only Williams and Robinson know what happened on one of them.

It was Williams' sixth game as a Trojan with at least 4 TD passes, and that 76-yard touchdown was the longest for USC since Kedon Slovis' 95-yard touchdown to Amon-Ra St. Brown vs. Arizona State in 2019.

"Walking off the field, there's definitely a frustration that ... in the first half there was a lot of, it just felt like we weren't hitting on certain [cylinders] and things like that that we're going to hit on here soon," Wiliams said. "I spoke to a bunch of leaders in game right after coach took me out, and the message was, 'We've got a special team.' But the second part of the message was 'We've got a long way to go and a lot to get better at.'"

-After scoring a touchdown on its first drive in nine games last season, USC did it again Saturday on a 10-play, 80-yard drive capped by Williams' 13-yard touchdown pass to Dorian Singer.

-The Trojans finished with 501 yards of total offense, a mark they also hit nine times last season.

-Freshman wide receiver Zachariah Branch was, of course, the star of the game with his 96-yard kickoff return for touchdown, his 25-yard touchdown reception and several other big moments as both a receiver and return specialist.

The kickoff return TD was the first for USC since Velus Jones Jr. (100 yards) vs. Fresno State on Aug. 31, 2019. The last USC true freshman to return a kickoff for a touchdown was Adoree’ Jackson vs. Nebraska (98 yards) in the 2014 Holiday Bowl (Jackson also had a scoring kickoff return earlier in the season vs. Utah-100 yards).

The last Trojan to have a kickoff return TD and a receiving TD in a game was Adoree’ Jackson against Notre Dame in 2016 (He also had a punt return TD in that same game).

-Tackett Curtis became the first true freshman to start at linebacker for USC since Cameron Smith in 2015. Curtis finished with 2 tackles.

-Alani Noa became the first Trojans' true freshman to start a season opener at left guard since Toa Lobendahn in 2014 and the first true freshman to start at the position period since Courtland Ford in 2020.

-Jaylin Smith's 8 tackles were a career-high.

-Miller Moss was 5-of-7 passing for 63 yards and added a 4-yard rushing touchdown. For his career, he's now 25-of-34 passing for 296 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT and that rushing TD.