USC Lights Up Scoreboard, Cruises To Easy Victory Over Utah

With some of the most powerful offensive weapons in college football, the USC Trojans seem to be content with playing NL offense baseball. All they do is pile up their two customary "walk, bunt, RBI single" moments before halftime and boom, victorious. When UCLA pulls that trick, they usually don't get past the first score. When USC does it, it's victory formation.

Oh sure, the end of the game had Utah lining up for a field goal to tie the game. In fact, I doubt any of us watching were quite sure how we ended up in that position--one could only guess that fielding errors by D.J. Morgan, Xavier Grimble, and Rhett Ellison (two near the red zone) might've prolonged the chances of the Utes. It certainly didn't look like it would be their quarterback, even if Jordan Wynn somehow flicked a football like a backhand frisbee throw that wobbled on a rope for a 50% completion rate. DeVonte Christopher deserves serious hazard pay for hauling in some of Wynn's most adventurous throws, which deadlined right to him at the slowest trajectory possible.

This game was filled one-two-three innings. Here are the last nine drives by either team before Utah's field goal attempt drive.

USC: 9 plays, 45 yards, punt.
Utah: 8 plays, 35 yards, punt.
USC: 4 plays, 11 yards, punt.
Utah: 3 plays, 0 yards, punt.
USC: 4 plays, 18 yards, punt.
Utah: 3 plays, -15 yards, punt.
USC: 3 plays, 11 yards, punt.
Utah: 5 plays, 26 yards, punt.
USC: 3 plays, 9 yards, punt.

To keep the game from entering disaster mode, Larry Scott had to personally walk up to the booth and review that horrible spot by his still horrible Pac-12 refs that nearly cost the Utah game unfairly. Then for good measure, he ordered his department to troll Vegas to ensure no one would try and breakdown that game play-for-play.

Utah-USC was fractured and ruptured and dramatic. The starting future first rounder left tackle won the game with a blocked field goal. That's SEC stuff right there (Is that what they all go crazy down South for? I can see why.)

On the bright side, that gives the Pac-12 two marquee conference* games that they can show off for compelling TV. The Utes showed they could hang against the top players in the conference, and should be well-respected in their bid for the Pac-12 South crown. Colorado and Utah have shown their spunk, and the Pac-12 is looking quite alright in the football department.

And the Trojans proved they could play Windows Vista-type football and still win games. Hold on, they need to hit restart again...