COLUMN: USC takes advantage of get-right game against reeling Colorado
BOULDER, Colo. -- The last couple weeks have been a yo-yo of reactions -- or overreactions -- regarding this USC football team and its ever-erratic season.
The Trojans were back two weeks ago against Washington State, inspired by interim head coach Donte Williams as they reeled off 45 unanswered points on the road in a dominant, resurgent win just five days after Clay Helton was fired.
All hope was lost again, though, last week when Williams ran out of magic and watched USC get run over, through and around by Oregon State in a lopsided defeat at home.
And then Saturday ...
No, we're not going to read too deeply into this one. Not this time.
USC did what it was supposed to do, what most teams will do against Colorado this season, generally shutting down a one-dimensional offense and finding some fresh offensive momentum of its own in a get-right 37-14 win over the Buffaloes at Folsom Field.
"I'm happy that we went out there and we won the game. That's what we should do. That's what we expect to do," Williams said in his opening comments after the win.
WATCH: Postgame interviews with USC coaches and players after the win at Colorado | COLUMN: Attn. Biletnikoff Award committee, more for the Drake London file
Especially in this matchup.
This 1-4 Colorado team had already gone 24 straight full offensive series without a score earlier this season and came into the day ranked 128th out of 130 FBS teams in total offense. The defense hadn't been anything exceptional either.
Then again, the Trojans (3-2) entered the day with no momentum of their own, so this was plenty useful. It was encouraging and confidence-building and all those good things.
It just wasn't anything we can read too deeply into in the broad scope of the remainder of the season.
Colorado had already been shutout 30-0 by Minnesota and lost 35-13 at Arizona State. Its only win came against FCS-level Northern Colorado. This is how a lot of games will go for the Buffaloes against more talented teams.
USC may be a flawed team, but it's still a talented enough one overall, as it showed Saturday.
Quarterback Kedon Slovis completed 19 of 29 passes for 276 yards and 3 touchdowns, Drake London tallied 9 catches for 130 yards and a TD, and Keaontay Ingram rushed for 124 yards on 14 carries.
In all, the Trojans put up 494 yards of offense -- 47 more than their previous season-best -- including a season-high 218 yards rushing.
"I think it's a great thing to build on," Slovis said. "Again, we left a lot of points on the board, still a lot of mistakes, a lot of stuff to clean up. But again, when you have an offensive performance where you have 200 on the ground, 500 total and you didn't play your best and you can still improve some small things, that's a great feeling."
Good answer.
Meanwhile, the USC defense needed a game like this even more.
After the Trojans went without a sack in three of the first four games, Drake Jackson led the charge Saturday with 2 sacks, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup, while Jacob Lichtenstein added 2 sacks, Tuli Tuipulotu notched a sack and forced fumble, and Joshua Jackson Jr. corralled an interception.
After giving up 535 yards (322 rushing) in that 45-27 loss at home to Oregon State last week, USC held the Buffaloes to 242 yards overall (3 yards above Colorado's season average entering the day) and just 80 rushing yards.
"It was little questions -- not on this team, but the outside world maybe -- can they stop the run? They proved that they can," Williams said of the unit.
Jackson, meanwhile, was asked if this was a statement game for the defense.
"I wouldn't say a statement -- we're supposed to be doing things like this," he countered.
Another good answer.
USC has seven games remaining and still controls its destiny in the Pac-12 South, now 1-0 in the division with both of its losses coming against North teams. If it can sustain any of the improvements and progress it showed Saturday, then maybe the rest of this season gets interesting. But so far the Trojans have flexed against two of the conference's worst teams in Washington State and Colorado and been blown out by Stanford and Oregon State (both at home).
The reality of this team is probably somewhere in the middle of those extremes and will only truly come into focus as the sample size grows. Next week at home vs. Utah will teach us more.
So, yes, like Slovis said, it's something to build upon. And if, like Jackson said, the Trojans expect to look like this, that's a fine goal moving forward.
For now, it's best advised to leave it at that until the Trojans show they can look like the same team -- however that looks -- for even two games in a row.
But, hey, Saturday was fun and it was much-needed for this team, and the players and coaches have earned the right to celebrate a little.
Especially London.
He had 7 catches for 109 yards in the first half alone, and 3 of those receptions, 58 yards and his TD came on one incredible drive in the first quarter that USC should be sending immediately and maybe several more times throughout the week to anyone affiliated with the Biletnikoff Award.
On USC's third possession, London got the Trojans moving with a 29-yard reception down the right side to the Colorado 35-yard line. He didn't have much separation on the play, but he never really needs any, as he freed himself just before the ball arrived and easily hauled in the big strike.
Three snaps later, following an offensive holding penalty, Slovis tried the left side with a jump ball for his favorite target. This time, London simply went up and over the defender to haul in a 28-yard catch down to the 1.
And then two plays later, London made his shortest reception the most impressive of all. Tightly covered, it yet again didn't matter as Slovis fired a back-shoulder pass to the front left corner of the end zone and London needed only one hand to pull in a 1-yard TD catch despite being screened by the defensive back.
"It's just one of those plays where your body kind of takes over and it's that natural ability that comes out. That's pretty much it," London said.
"Genetics," Williams chimed in, eliciting laughs from the room.
Slovis, meanwhile, admitted that he didn't expect it to be caught but figured he'd at least take a shot.
"I've seen him make in practice a lot. It was tight. It was just a fade, the DB played it pretty well so I kind of just wanted to put it back shoulder and thought Drake or nobody," Slovis said. "And Drake made it. I was thinking it was going to be nobody, but again, Drake's just so long and great ball skills, so he came down with it."
That put USC up 10-0 and the Trojans rolled from there.
On the next drive, freshman tight end Michael Trigg delivered his best London impression, going up over an overmatched defender to pull in the catch and race the rest of the way to the end zone for a 46-yard touchdown. It was his biggest play yet as a Trojan and looked reminiscent to the kind of highlights he piled up last fall as a top-100 national prospect in high school back in Tampa, Fla.
A 44-yard Parker Lewis field goal -- his second of three on the day -- made it 20-0 midway through the second quarter.
Colorado's first score -- an eventual 1-yard Deion Smith touchdown run -- came after an Ingram fumble gave the Buffaloes possession just inside USC's side of the field, but even still the Trojans went into halftime with a 20-7 lead, a 325-88 advantage in yards and full control over the game.
Tuipulotu sacked Colorado QB Brendon Lewis from behind on the opening series of the second half, and Jackson recovered it for USC, which ultimately settled for a career-long 49-yard Lewis field goal.
The Buffaloes were then stuffed on fourth-and-2 by a nice tackle from De'jon Benton on Alex Fontenot, two plays later Ingram reeled off a 53-yard run and Vavae Malepeai soon punched it in for a 2-yard TD and 30-7 lead.
USC did later have a defensive lapse when linebacker Raymond Scott left tight end Brady Russell unattended and wide open for a 65-yard catch-and-run -- Colorado's longest play of the season. The Buffaloes capitalized with a 7-yard TD pass from Lewis to Chase Penry late in the third quarter, but that's all they'd get the rest of the way.
Slovis tacked on another TD on a 15-yard pass to Gary Bryant Jr. early in the fourth quarter, and the Trojans later ran out the final 5:39 of the game.
If there was a blemish, it was the 12 penalties for 115 yards USC racked up -- its most penalties since October of 2018 -- but that's just something for Williams to harp on in practice this week.
"I'm not happy with sometimes the explosive plays [we allowed] and sometimes where we stalled a little bit, but I'm glad the way we controlled the line of scrimmage on defense and offense, and like I said we expect our big-time players to step up in big-time games and our big-time players stepped up today," Williams said.
The fact that this was a big-time game for USC -- against a Colorado squad that will likely finish as the worst team in the conference -- speaks to the turmoil of the first month of the season, but Williams wasn't wrong.
The Trojans needed this.
What they do with it from here is anyone's guess, but Williams has his players trained to recite his 1-0 mantra -- 1-0 every week, every day, every play, etc. -- and this week was sure better than the last.