Caleb Williams leads USC to 45-37 win over Arizona: 3 takeaways

'The number of things that didn’t go our way is a long list.' - Lincoln Riley

TUCSON - The USC Trojans won a Pac-12 shootout on the road Saturday night, holding off the Arizona Wildcats 45-37. 

Caleb Williams passed for a career-high 411 yards and five touchdowns without his two top receivers available. Both Jordan Addison and Mario Williams missed the game with injuries.

USC's defense continued to struggle, allowing 543 yards and letting Arizona back into the game in the second half. Nonetheless, head coach Lincoln Riley was proud of the way his team played and stressed the importance and difficulty of winning on the road.

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“With the way the last few weeks have gone, for our guys to come in here and overcome a lot of things out of our control, I was as proud of this win as any of the seven this year,” Riley said. “So many guys stepping up, contributions from all sides. Knew it was gonna be a tough matchup, knew it was gonna be an emotional game."

The defensive shortcomings are still a concern for this group, but the Trojans move on to 7-1. Here are the major takeaways from Saturday’s win:

USC HAS RESPONDED WELL TO BIG PLAYS & MOMENTS

Photo by Yannick Peterhans

To open the second half, USC gave up a 73-yard completion to a wide open Dorian Singer on third-and-seven. However, the defense quickly collected itself and put together a stop inside the 10 yard line to hold the Wildcats to a field goal.

USC then struck back with its own 70-yard pass to Kyle Ford, setting up for the Trojans to convert and Tahj Washington to find the end zone.

Later on in the third quarter, Jayden de Laura got loose for a 34-yard gain on a scramble to move the ball into the Trojans’ territory, laying out corner Ceyair Wright in the process. On the next play, Bryson Shaw came up with a huge interception. Then one offensive play was all it took for Williams to find Washington for 47 yards and his second touchdown of the night.

The Wildcats scored seven times on the night and USC followed up four of those with scores of their own. Overall, the Trojans’ response to mistakes or things not going their way was very positive, something the coaches have emphasized improving all year.

In that same vein, players further down the depth chart responded by stepping into the roles of starters who were ruled out for Saturday’s contest. Addison did not dress and Williams also did not see the field, both late scratches for injuries.

“The number of things that didn’t go our way is a long list. Some tough things didn’t go our way in the first half, and playing without the number of players that we were, I don’t know many teams that would’ve responded like this,” Riley said.

“I told you guys for the last two weeks, I do believe this team will respond based on the vibe after the Utah game, based on what we’ve seen the last two weeks, but you gotta go do it. You can go be awesome for the previous 13 days, but if you’re not ready to put it on the line and work tonight, and overcome it, then it’s kinda all for nought. I just think the mindset of this team was in a really, really good place tonight.”

The likes of Michael Jackson III, CJ Williams, and Terrell Bynum filled out the receiving corps for the night, again pointing to USC’s impressive depth at the position. The running backs who have been so dependable all year picked up the remainder of the offense to keep USC in the lead for the majority of the night.

Travis Dye went for 113 yards and a touchdown on the ground, and Raleek Brown found the end zone on a six-yard swing pass, his only touch of the night.

Tuasivi Nomura filled in for Eric Gentry at linebacker, and the banged up offensive line was shuffled around a bit as well, with Justin Dedich and Jonah Monheim playing out of position, and Mason Murphy getting the start. Courtland Ford also came in for Bobby Haskins when he went down in the second half.

“I thought Mason did a nice job stepping up, and I thought Courtland Ford came in and played well for us, so I’m proud of those two guys at tackle for stepping up. Obviously moved Monheim around a little bit and he continues to be really impressive with his versatility as a player. He’s been super valuable,” Riley said.

MOBILE QUARTERBACKS ARE STILL A PROBLEM

Photo by Yannick Peterhans

The plays that have frequently hurt the Trojans are ones that consist of great coverage and quality pressure on the quarterback. However, they struggle to bring down quarterbacks in the backfield and that was no different Saturday night, as de Laura was able to break out of the pocket and turn those tight situations into huge gains several times throughout the night. He led the Wildcats in rushing with 54 yards.

Admittedly, the Trojans are lacking depth in the front seven, with Romello Height out for the season and Ralen Goforth, Korey Foreman and Gentry all unavailable. Still, the execution lacked on Saturday - and it has all season.

While some of the second-stringers stepped up and made key plays when the Trojans needed them, USC has to be better in this area and needs to not just apply pressure to opposing quarterbacks, but also convert those opportunities into sacks and getting off the field. These are the “missed layups” Alex Grinch has referenced in the past.

“Listen, the quarterback here is a unique challenge. We had him dead to rights, I don’t know how many times in the game, and he made some plays. You gotta give them credit too, some of the throws and catches out there, you can’t cover some of them better. They made some unbelievable plays, especially in the first half,” Riley said. “Still gave up too many big plays.”

Obviously, that’s not the only problem defensively. Too many broken coverages and conversions allowed, too many penalties, and letting Arizona score back-to-back touchdowns to make it 31-29 in the fourth quarter made this game feel much closer than it should have. The game was very close to being tied 31-31.

Thankfully, USC’s shorthanded offense still put up 45 points on what was a bit of an off night. Then again, 42 wasn’t enough to get it done against Utah. The good news is USC’s defensive struggles seem to stem from schematic deficiencies, not personnel weaknesses, which means they can still be fixed this season. It’s just yet to be seen if Grinch is up for the task.

PAC-12 REFS WERE BAD ... AGAIN

This time it wasn’t just USC receiving the short end of the stick concerning the officiating. This was simply a poorly-officiated game in both directions.

The Trojans probably had three points taken off the board as the first half came to a close. USC converted a first down with five seconds remaining and should have had time to spike the ball inside the Wildcats’ 10-yard line to set up a chip-shot field goal, but the game clock began to tick again before the officials had spotted the ball. The game clock expired before USC had the chance to snap the ball, resulting in an irate Lincoln Riley on the sideline as the teams shuffled into the locker rooms.

“They admitted that they messed it up,” Riley said. “The explanation given to me at the beginning of the third quarter was that they obviously didn’t handle it properly. Anybody knows that who was watching.” 

Riley didn’t understand why there wasn’t a review following the confusion if the officials recognized their mistake.

However, USC probably had four points put back on the board after Arizona was flagged for a marginal, if not soft, personal foul following a USC incompletion on third down in the red zone. The Trojans would have kicked a field goal but instead were granted a fresh set of downs and converted with a touchdown.

On top of that, a lot of questionable penalties like roughing the passer calls and defensive pass interferences were the root of lots of eye rolling in this one. Tough to say if the officiating impacted the outcome of this game, but the Pac-12 needs to get this together.