This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Los Angeles • Utah may yet win the Pac-12 South, and the Pac-12 Championship Game, and a spot in the College Football Playoff, but hopes of a third undefeated season ended Saturday night in the Coliseum, as did the notion that these Utes can beat a conference powerhouse with anything less than their best.
Praised for his efficiency, Travis Wilson threw three interceptions to USC freshman linebacker Cameron Smith. Praised for its penchant for creating turnovers, Utah's defense came away empty-handed. Praised for finishing, Utah was finished.
USC won 42-24, covering a Vegas line that had confounded fans and media with plenty of change to spare, and making interim head coach Clay Helton the eighth straight Trojan boss to prevail in his Coliseum debut.
"I give it to SC, they came to play today," said senior linebacker Gionni Paul, who had 17 tackles and 5.5 for a loss. "We didn't expect to get punched in the mouth like that, and we got punched in the mouth. It was a reality check."
Oddsmakers saw in the 4-3 Trojans a sleeping giant, with one of the nation's most explosive offenses and its most talented recruiting class, and favored them by 6.
In the No. 3 Utes, they saw a team that had received an outsize benefit from generating 12 more turnovers than its opponents.
They saw things pretty clearly, as it turns out.
"In my opinion, that's the best team we've played all year long," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. "… Tough to give them, essentially, three touchdowns off turnovers and hope we have a chance to win against a team of that caliber."
Utah did briefly look the part of undefeated world-beater. Wilson started the game 9-of-9 for 69 yards and answered USC's 88-yard scoring drive with a 30-yard touchdown strike to true freshman Britain Covey.
After Utah's defense forced a punt, Covey then catalogued the ways to embarrass would-be tacklers, juking, breaking tackles, reversing field and spinning to the Trojan 2, where senior Bubba Poole picked up the baton with a scoring run for a 14-7 lead.
But so ended the era of Utah's infallibility.
Wilson began to appear panicked, though Whittingham would later say he wasn't. On third-and-four, Smith jumped his third-down pass to Covey, rumbling 41 yards to the Utah 4 to set up the first of two fourth-and-goal conversions by the Trojans, this one by pile-leaping fullback Soma Vainuku.
USC followed that act with a 76-yard jaunt and an 18-yard draw to Ronald Jones II. Then Smith again capitalized on a pressing Wilson, hauling in Wilson's errant fourth-down pass to Devontae Booker and skipping over the senior quarterback's attempted tackle on his way to the end zone.
A career-long 53-yard field goal from Andy Phillips kept Utah within striking distance at the half, at 28-17.
But in the third, USC wearied Utah's famously stout defense on a 17-play, 83-yard, 8:53 touchdown drive, kept alive by a hands-to-the-face penalty by Utah defensive tackle Stevie Tu'ikolovatu and ended with a fourth-and-1 keeper by Cody Kessler.
"We needed to get out of that drive," Whittingham said. "That drive right there was critical."
USC's senior signal caller further burnished his numbers with a back-shoulder lob to JuJu Smith-Schuster for a 26-yard touchdown — Kessler finishing with 264 yards passing, 143 of them to Smith-Schuster, who Whittingham called "the best receiver we've seen all year."
Leading 42-17, Smith tipped Wilson's pass and kept his concentration to become the first Trojan with three interceptions in a game since 1991.
Arizona State had rushed 28 times for 15 yards in a 34-18 Utah victory, but Jones II and Justin Davis were a taller order, combining for 139 yards and two touchdowns.
Covey — whose 129 yards more than doubled his career high — lessened the scoreline's sticker shock with 4 minutes left in the fourth, when he hauled in a Wilson pass and dashed 66 yards for his second touchdown.
At 3-1 in conference, Utah still sits atop the Pac-12 South standings. "All is not lost," said Whittingham, who pointed out that his team no longer feels mismatched like it did when it entered the league. As five games remain, 2-2 USC holds a valuable head-to-head tiebreaker over the Utes.
"Our main goal right now is to win the Pac-12 South, and we're still in the driver's seat right now," Covey said. "Going into Monday, that's going to be huge for us to have that motivation. … It's just going to be a bump in the road when we look back at things."
Whittingham said it was no excuse that the Utes were without senior linebacker Jared Norris, who made the trip but watched from the sidelines. Senior Jason Whittingham recorded nine tackles, a half-sack and a pass break-up in his stead, but USC's 381 total yards were more than enough given field position.
Wilson was dealt a fourth interception on a Hail Mary attempt with 2 seconds remaining, caught by Trojan linebacker Su'a Cravens. His line otherwise: 24-of-35 for 254 yards, two touchdowns.
Booker's 62 rushing yards were a season low. He did catch six passes for 49 yards.
"It sucks to lose, I forgot what it feels like to lose," Paul said. "I'm so used to winning. … It's a bad feeling. A lot of guys in the locker room, we didn't want that, so we're not going to lose anymore. We're going to try our best."
Twitter: @matthew_piper —
Storylines
R No. 3 Utes turn the ball over four times against the host Trojans, three of them interceptions by true freshman linebacker Cameron Smith.
• Utah still leads the Pac-12 South at 3-1, but the 2-2 Trojans pick up a valuable tiebreaker with the win.