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Los Angeles • The Utes have roughly two dozen players with California ties, many of them who looked up to USC as young players, and many of them who felt they were overlooked.

On Saturday, they were simply overrun.

The USC Trojans (4-3) reasserted dominance over No. 3 Utah (6-1) in a crushing blow to Utah's College Football Playoff hopes. But perhaps more personal and more present was the emotional toll for several of Utah's California imports.

Not that they offered much insight into the sting of losing in front of their hometown crowd.

"Being at home or being at Utah, it don't matter about that," said Tevin Carter, who grew up a few miles from the Coliseum. "At the end of the day, we came out here, and we came up short."

It certainly was disappointing for Carter, who was part of a secondary that had trouble keeping up with star receiver Juju Smith-Schuster and gave up 143 yards to him alone.

Other L.A. natives in that group include cornerbacks Cory Butler-Byrd and Dominique Hatfield, who was literally shoved aside by Smith-Schuster as he scraped for yards after a catch.

On offense, it was a tough night for former San Clemente High star Travis Wilson, who threw three interceptions to the same linebacker.

Californian Kenneth Scott had four catches for 30 yards in a quiet encore to his first 100-yard game against Arizona State last week.

One of Utah's SoCal players they could've sorely needed was Jared Norris, who was sidelined with an unspecified injury. The Utes couldn't stop crossing routes in the middle of the field for most of the night — an area Norris typically helps defend.

Ultimately, the Utes declined to measure the impact of his absence, with Kyle Whittingham suggesting using injuries or youth as excuses was "bullcrap." The players agreed.

"Don't get me wrong, Jared is a big key to our success," Paul said. "There was no one individual missing, or one individual effort [that lost the game], it was a team loss."

Twitter: @kylegoon