Singing in the Rain: Huskies Rally to Beat USC 26-21

The UW gave up a 13-point lead before regaining control for a big win.

Huskies linebacker Carson Bruener tackles USC running back Woody Marks during the second quarter, one of his game-high 12. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Washington Huskies 1, Mother Nature 0.

After cooperating for a full second quarter, drenching and demoralizing USC beyond belief and enabling the home team to go up by 13 and threaten to make Saturday's homecoming football game a runaway, the weather changed -- someone turned off the faucet.

The UW got shut down, too, falling behind as soon as things dried out somewhat.

Yet after discovering they could, indeed, play without a monsoon providing pocket protection, the Huskies regrouped in the final quarter, rallied for a winning touchdown early on and hung on with a pair of crucial defensive stops to emerge with a hard-earned 26-21 victory over the Trojans at Husky Stadium.

Eleven seconds remained when USC's quarterback aptly named Miller Moss got spun around by Husky edge rusher Lance Holtzclaw and let fly with desperate fourth-down pass that harmlessly fell incomplete near the goal line after USC (4-5 overall, 2-5 Big Ten) got as close as the 14-yard line.

"We went into the locker room at halftime and we were hoping it would keep raining," senior linebacker Carson Bruener said. "That was Seattle weather and we love it. Maybe they weren't ready for it. Who knows?"

The outcome enabled the UW (5-4 overall, 3-3) to beat the Trojans for the third consecutive meeting, extend its home winning streak to 19 -- second in the nation -- and move one win away from becoming bowl eligible, which coach Jedd Fisch says is an absolute must with the extra practices that come with it for his program rebuild.

Lance Holtzclaw leave USC quarterback Miller Moss prone after forcing him to throw away a fourth-down pass at the game's end. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

In the end, the weather was all a big tease. By the second quarter as if on cue, the afternoon sunshine in Montlake had turned into a total rain dump, often blowing sideways and thoroughly soaking everyone, especially those wearing white and yellow uniforms. Had the Trojans packed up and gone home at that point, no one would have been surprised.

By the time the clouds opened up and let loose, the enterprising Huskies had built a substantial lead largely on two touchdown runs supplied by Jonah Coleman, someone the Men of Troy knew intimately well after he ran all over them 13 months earlier while packing the football for Arizona.

Bruener certainly did his part by leading the UW defensive effort with a game-high 12 tackles, which nearly doubled everyone else who played in the game on either side, plus he came up with two interceptions and a pair of pass break-ups.

Best game ever?

"Obviously right now, I feel like played pretty well," said Bruener, who previously had a 16-tackle game and couple with 14. "It might be, it might not."

The rain was so fierce, the uncovered stadium seats were nearly empty as the home fans ran for cover during the halftime break. The Trojans (4-5 overall, 2-5 Big Ten) really had nowhere to go except to come back out and be pleasantly surprised by a change in the weather pattern that seemed to favor them.

Huskies quarterback Will Rogers (7) lets go with a first-quarter pass against USC. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Coleman provided touchdown runs covering 19 yards in the opening quarter and 15 yards in the second quarter, each time feinting inside and busting around the corner where no one was out there to greet him. He finished with 104 yards on a season-high 23 carries, this after hitting up the Trojans for 143 yards on 22 rushes in a 43-41 triple-overtime loss in Los Angeles in 2023.

USC had to be so gun shy by encountering him again, Lincoln Riley's team was probably wondering if Michael Penix Jr. somehow was going to make a cameo appearance, too.

When the game began and ended, the requisite word for the Trojans was thud.

On the third play, that was the sound that was made when Moss' second pass was swatted down by Bruener, which forced an opening-series punt.

That heavy, dull sound turned up again on the next defensive series, as well, when a Moss pass hit his tight end Lake McRee in the hands, the ball bounced up in the air and was snatched by the opportunistic Bruener for an interception.

That also was the sound of Michael Lantz's 52-yard, field-goal attempt to tie the game hitting the crossbar and bouncing off midway through the opening quarter.

Finally, that was the sound of USC going down hard, dropping below .500 with its fourth loss in its past six games, not exactly what the big donors in L.A. were expecting from Riley with his third Trojans team.

Huskies cornerback Thaddeus Dixon (9) and safety Kamren Fabiculanan (13) stop USC tight end Lake McRee (87) short of the end zone. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

The Huskies got on the scoreboard first, on their second possession, when they drove down for Grady Gross' 39-yard field and a 3-0 lead with 6:44 to go in the quarter.

After Lantz had his 3-pointer bounce off, the UW put together a 10-play, 65-yard drive that had one Husky QB throwing to another, Will Rogers to Demond William for a short gain, and ended with Coleman skirting around the right side, juking a would-be tackler and scoring standing up. The home team led 10-0 with 4:15 left in the opening quarter.

USC responded with a 12-play, 76-yard drive, capped off by Woody Marks' 1-yard touchdown run to pull within 10-7. Marks looked familiar only to Rogers on the UW side; they played in the same backfield in 2023 at Mississippi State. The relocated running back finished with 123 yards on 22 carries.

The Huskies came right back with Keith Reynolds' 50-yard kickoff return, putting them on the Trojans 41. They scored in four plays, with Coleman going around the left side this time, breaking it outside where nobody was close. The Huskies led 17-7 with 1:43 left in the half.

With the rain in overdrive, USC held the ball for 11 plays before punting, giving Fisch's guys one more shot at a first-half score. Gross braved the downpour to convert on a 45-yard field goal with 35 seconds left, good for a 20-7 lead at the break.

Unfortunately for the UW, the rain stopped while everyone rinsed out their uniforms and stadium attire, and this all seemed to favor the warm-weather Trojans.

Suddenly, they had footing. Almost immediately, they had the Huskies backpedaling while they pushed across two TDs on their first two possessions of the half and took the lead 21-20.

USC wide receiver Makai Lemon got behind Husky corner Ephesians Prysock and safety Vince Holmes to haul in a 37-yard scoring pass without much trouble, and the Trojans trailed 20-14 with 9:11 to go in the third quarter.

After holding the Huskies on downs deep in their own territory, USC went 70 yards in four plays for Kyle Ford's 9-yard TD catch, a go-ahead conversion kick and a 21-20 lead. With 5:07 left in the quarter, Fisch's team was reeling.

Brunener, however, stole his second pass near the end of the third quarter, leaping up to make the interception and returning it to the Troans 39, and that seemed to redirect the game's momentum.

"It was just answer," Rogers said.

Into the fourth quarter the Huskies went, patiently moving the ball to the end zone, with the aforementioned Reynolds, a redshirt freshman with a great deal of speed, putting his team ahead by scoring on a jet sweep from 4 yards out. A conversion pass failed. The teams still had 13:48 left to play to sort this one out.

On the next series, USC had its chances, moving 80 yards all the way to the Husky 1. On fourth down, the Trojans handed the ball to Marks and UW freshman linebacker Khmori House, a Los Angeles guy no less, burst through and dropped him for a 2-yard loss. House took off running up the field, slapping his helmet in celebration, before his teammates caught up with him at midfield and pushed him to the ground. The game still had 5:04 left to play.

After the Huskies and USC traded possessions, the UW went nowhere with its last offensive series and shanked a punt. The Trojans made one more valiant effort to pull this one out, getting all the way to the 14 with 33 seconds to play.

Moss missed on a second-down pass to the end zone. Prysock knocked the next one down on third down. Holtzclaw got his hands all over Moss on fourth down and it was over.

With that, the Huskies had beaten USC and Michigan in the same season, two programs hovering around .500 but name opponents just the same, which isn't bad at all if you're in a concentrated rebuild yourself.

"Another great win here at Husky Stadium, really a great team win," Fisch said. "I thought all phases contributed to the win. We're continuing to build the program the way we want it."

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington