Cal Sports Report

Pac-12 Football Results: No. 20 Utah Beats No. 7 USC 43-42

Colorado gets first win. Stanford tops Notre Dame. Michael Penix Jr. sets a school record in Washington's victory

Jake Curtis

No. 20 Utah scored a touchdown on a fourth-down play with 48 seconds left, then converted a two-point conversion to complete a wild, 43-42 victory over No. 7 USC in Salt Lake City.

The two teams combined for more than 1,100 yards of offense as Utah overcame an early 21-7 deficit to hand USC (6-1, 4-1 Pac-12) its first loss while keeping the Utes (5-2, 3-1) in the race for a Pac-12 championship.

USC quarterback Caleb Williams had an outstanding game, completing 25-of-42 passes for 381 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions as the Trojans rolled up 556 yards of offense. He also rushed for 57 yards.

USC receiver Mario Williams had four catches for 145 yards, and Jordan Addison added seven receptions for 106 yards and a touchdowns.

But Utah quarterback Cameron Rising and tight end Dalton Kincaid outdid them all.  Kincaid had 16 receptions for 234 yards and a touchdown, while Rising was 29-for-43 for 415 yards, two touchdowns and no picks.  And Rising also ran for 60 yards and three touchdowns as Utah finished with 562 yards of offense..

Rising's final official run was a 1-yard run for a touchdown on a fourth-down play with 48 seconds left.  

Instead of going for a tie, the Utes went for two points and the lead, and Rising scrambled up the middle to convert the two-pointer to put the Utes ahead by a point.

Earlier, USC had taken a 42-35 lead on Williams' fifth touchdown pass with 6:15 remaining in the game.

Dalton Kincaid's postgame reaction:

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Colorado 20, Cal 13 (OT)

Colorado became the last FBS team to get a win this season when it upset Cal in overtime in Boulder, Colorado.

The Buffaloes (1-5, 1-2 Pac-12) were playing their first game under interim coach Mike Sanford following the firing of Karl Dorrell, and they won thanks to a defense that had been awful in the first five games.

Ultimately, a 22-yard touchdown pass from J.T. Shrout, who replaced Owen McCown in the second half, to Montana Lemonious-Craig in overtime provided the decisive points. The play was originally ruled an incompletion, but it was overturned on review when it was determined that Lemonious-Craig got his right foot down inbounds.

Colorado (1-5, 1-2 Pac-12) entered the game ranked 130th of 131 FBS teams in scoring defense, yielding more than 43.2 points a game and allowing at least 38 points to all of its previous foes.  It ranked dead last in the country in rushing defense by a wide margin, but held the Bears (3-3, 1-2) to one touchdown and 35 yards on the ground.

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Washington 49, Arizona 39

Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. passed for a school-record 516 yards and also threw four touchdown passes to help the Huskies end a two-game losing streak. Penix completed 36-of-44 passes while easily breaking the record held by Cody Pickett, who passed for 455 yards against Arizona in 2001.

Two of Penix's touchdown passes went to Rome Odunze, who had nine catches for 168 yards for the Huskies (5-2, 2-2 Pac-12).

Jayden de Laura had a strong game for Arizona (3-4, 1-3), completing 24-of-34 passes for 400 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions..

Arizona got within 42-39 on a de Larua touchdown pass with 9:51 left, but Washington responded with a 75-yards touchdown drive to go ahead by 10.

 Michael Penix Jr. throws a touchdown pass to Rome Odunze

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Stanford 16, Notre Dame 14

Stanford ended a streak of 11 consecutive losses against FBS teams by upsetting Notre Dame on the Irish's home field.

The Cardinal (2-4) held an early 13-0 led, fell behind 14-13 in the third quarter and took the lead for good on Joshua Karty's 43-yard field goal with 10:20 left in the game.

Cardinal quarterback Tanner McKee was 26-for-38 for 288 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions, while Notre Dame's Drew Pyne was 13-for-27 for 151 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. On Notre Dame's final possession, Pyne was sacked on a second down and threw incompletions on third and fourth down to complete the Stanford win.

The Cardinal win came one week after a heartbreaking loss to Oregon State and ended Notre Dame's three-game winning streak. The Irish slipped to 3-3.

This third-quarter touchdown pass and extra point put Notre Dame ahead 14-13

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Oregon State 24, Washington State 10

Oregon State held the Cougars to their lowest scoring output of the season to improve to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the conference.

Oregon State quarterback Ben Gulbranson was 12-for-24 for just 141 yards, one touchdown and one interception, but Beavers running back Damien Martinez rushed for 111 yards.

Washington State quarterback Cameron Ward was 25-for-54 for 345 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Gulbranson's touchdown pass to Anthony Gould gave Oregon State a 17-3 lead in the third quarter.

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Cover photo by Rob Gray, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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