USC Ruins No. 10 Arizona's Perfect Season
In a game where regulation lasts 60 minutes, the USC football team (4-2, 3-1) has a knack for leaving the result in doubt until the final seconds. An Arizona Wildcats (5-1, 2-1) field goal attempt flew wide right as time winded down Saturday night, allowing the Trojans to escape Tucson, Arizona with a 28-26 victory.
After trailing for more than three quarters, Arizona's offense took the field at its own 20 yard line with just over three minutes to play. Losing 28-20, quarterback Anu Solomon attempted 14 consecutive passes, picking apart the Trojan defense en route to leading the Wildcats to the one yard line. With Solomon doing his share, the slinger handed the ball off to tailback Jared Baker, who trampled through the line for the score.
Out of timeouts and trailing by two, the Wildcats decided to tie the score with a two-point conversion.
The Trojan secondary struggled against the pass throughout the night, so Solomon dropped back and looked for a Wildcat receiver near the edge of the endzone, but came up incomplete; however, a questionable pass interference call on redshirt freshman Chris Hawkins gave Arizona another chance to tie. Failing through the air, the Wildcats attempted to exploit the ground game on their second try, but junior Leonard Williams surged past his blocker and wrapped the ball carrier for a loss to keep the Trojan advantage at two.
With 1:07 remaining in regulation and USC leading 28-26, Arizona unveiled a special onside kick that bounced over the line of USC returners and was recovered by the kicking team.
Beginning the drive near midfield with no timeouts remaining, Solomon connected with receiver David Richards for back-to-back completions to move the ball to the USC 22. Following several incompletions, the Wildcats set up in field goal formation for a 36-yard field goal, but USC head coach Steve Sarkisian spent his final timeout just before the snap. Following the break in action, the hosting Wildcats once again lined up to kick the field goal, but kicker Casey Skowron sailed the ball right of the upright to hand Arizona its first loss of the season.
"Oh what a feeling!!!!!! We fought our butts off for 60 mins," tweeted redshirt senior safety Gerald Bowman. "Came out victorius. All praise to the most high!! #WeAreSC"
"The football gods have a plan for us," Sarkisian said after the win. "I'm just not exactly sure what it is."
USC's offensive attack had been led primarily behind the works of redshirt junior running back Javorius "Buck" Allen.
Allen scored the game's opening touchdown, galloping through the line of scrimmage for a 34-yard touchdown run. Allen complimented his first score with a similar showing in the second quarter, as he charged 48 yards to give USC a 14-6 lead.
The Tallahassee, Florida native's night was not complete.
After Arizona pulled within one possession on a 6-yard Baker touchdown run, USC put together a drive consisting of seven runs by Allen, culminating in a 1-yard touchdown run straight into the pile to extend the Cardinal and Gold's lead to 28-13 with just over five minutes to play. Allen finished the night with a career high 205 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
Redshirt junior quarterback Cody Kessler recorded his first interception of the season in addition to connecting with junior receiver Nelson Agholor for a 21-yard touchdown pass at the beginning of the second half.
Arizona found its way deep in USC territory several times throughout the contest, but struggled to capitalize on the field position. Skowron finished the game two for five on field goal attempts, including a 34-yard attempt that was blocked by freshman Claude Pelon to end the first half. The Wildcats also fumbled the ball on the Trojan seven yard line, after Williams shed his blockers and laid a devastating hit on the ball carrier to jar the ball loose.
"We're a Hail Mary away from being a top-5 team in the country," said Sarkisian in reference to the final second touchdown pass that Arizona State completed to beat USC 38-34.
USC will look to combine Saturday's victory as the Trojans continue their PAC-12 schedule next weekend, taking on the Colorado Buffaloes at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum at 3:00 p.m.
Final Stats
USC
Cody Kessler: 20/30, 185 yds, 1 TD, I int
Javorius Allen: 26 carries, 205 yds, 3 TDs
UA
Anu Solomon: 43/72, 395 yds, 1 TD
Jared Baker: 12 carries, 43 yds, 2 TD
