It was less than four months within the past, firstly of his third and most consequential season yet as USC’s coach, that Lincoln Riley walked off this identical field at Allegiant Stadium, brimming with perception. His silent quarterback had near thru. His rebuilt defense had delivered. The assertion he’d been attempting to secure indirectly perceived to come in a season-opening take over Louisiana Dispute.
“All of us know what we’ve been building,” Riley acknowledged that evening. “I do know we’re making progress.”
By late December, any signs of that progress had lengthy since disappeared, and confidence in USC’s coach had mild along side it, misplaced along the vogue thru a frustrating season that ended Friday evening true wait on the set up it started.
However after a advertising and marketing campaign stuffed with frustrating fourth-quarter collapses, the Trojans dangle been able to shut wait on, on the opposite hand briefly, to the create they found wait on in September, coming from within the wait on of to beat Texas A&M within the Las Vegas Bowl 35-31 to rep their season 7-6.
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The bookends bore some placing resemblance, all of the method down to the breathtaking rep, as USC every other time fought thru a fourth-quarter deficit to possess an announcement-making take. Although this assertion didn’t ring somewhat the identical because the one in September.
All every other time it took correctly timed stops by USC’s defense and dauntless performances from its prime receiver, as Ja’Kobi Lane reeled in 127 yards and three touchdowns, giving him a dozen on the year.
However this time the Trojans quarterback needed to dig his method out of a deep hole first.
Where Miller Moss had placed on a show true thru the season opener, his substitute, Jayden Maiava, struggled to switch USC’s offense at all firstly of a mistake-stuffed finale. Worse yet, he committed three head-scratching interceptions, every of which threatened to derail a Trojans offense that perceived to be placing by a thread.
However earlier than the questions about USC’s quarterback future shall be posed, Maiava managed to switch the Trojans down the sphere on one scoring drive … then one other … then one other. He hit Makai Lemon for 2 sizable performs downfield, then found Lane for his second and third touchdowns. In snappily succession, USC erased a three-secure deficit within the wait on of its quarterback’s cannon true arm.
Texas A&M fired wait on, as quarterback Marcel Reed labored his own magic on a toddle-forward landing drive, sprinting his method into the tip zone with less than two minutes closing.
It was too primary time to leave Maiava, who set up an hideous launch within the wait on of him to rep with 295 yards and 4 touchdowns. As he sat wait on within the pocket on third and 13, with the bowl placing within the steadiness, he fired a traipse downfield that found Lane, who stumbled his method thru one kind out for a 33-yard invent. Maiava hit Lane again, comely earlier than the aim line, but a extend of sport location the Trojans wait on to the seven with comely 12 seconds left.
It was Kyle Ford this time who broke open on the slant, as Maiava fired a chase for the toddle-forward secure.
It was a unbelievable, fourth-quarter flip for the Trojans, who’d seemed correctly on their method to giving freely the game thru the first three quarters. With 5 minutes closing within the fourth quarter, USC trailed by 17, with three turnovers to its name. However the Trojans defense stood colossal from there, stopping the Aggies on three consecutive drives and giving Maiava barely ample time to guide USC wait on into the lead.
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Texas A&M wasted itsy-bitsy time in asserting its will firstly, marching down the sphere with a methodical, 16-play landing drive, whereas USC struggled to switch the ball. Now not one of many Trojans’ first three drives managed to lengthen beyond six yards, whereas the Aggies racked up 134 within the first quarter alone.
Alternatives saved being handed to USC, anyway. A 46-yard return from Lemon location USC up at midfield, greatest for the drive to yelp to a discontinue. A diving interception from Kamari Ramsey location the Trojans up in a associated role on the subsequent possession … with equally disappointing outcomes.
At any second, it seemed Texas A&M can also ruin the game open. However a tipped Aggies traipse within the tip zone was picked off by Akili Arnold, giving the Trojans yet one other chance to secure their footing. This time they adopted thru, as Maiava found Lane streaking huge open all the plot in which thru the sphere to tie it 7-7.
The Aggies stalled after that, managing a meager 5 yards within the second quarter. And yet USC tranquil couldn’t select regulate. One drive ended with a regrettable deep ball from Maiava that was picked off. Yet every other was spent working down the clock comely earlier than halftime, greatest for USC to miss out on a 39-yard field purpose.
Texas A&M did its simplest to invent USC pay after that, scoring 17 straight points within the third quarter. Nonetheless it wasn’t ample, as Maiava led the Trojans wait on to rep an up-and-down season on a high set up, true the set up it started.
This fable on the starting set up seemed in Los Angeles Events.
