DYLAN HERNANDEZ
SALT LAKE CITY — The sign at the entrance of Mount Olivet Cemetery is old and discolored. A significant percentage of the statues on the grounds are weathered.
On the other side of a chain-linked fence, across University Boulevard, USC buried what remained of their respectability.
The Trojans couldn’t hold on to the football. They couldn’t stop the run. And, in the end, they couldn’t beat a considerably less-talented team in No. 24 Utah, falling at Rice-Eccles Stadium, 31-27.
“We lost this game,” running back Justin Davis said. “Utah didn’t win.”
Coach Clay Helton will shoulder the blame for this defeat and rightfully so. Losing to a superior team such as Alabama or Stanford was pardonable. This wasn’t. This was an embarrassment.
Every worst-case scenario is now in play for the Trojans, who are 1-3.
Finishing the season with a 5-7 record? Entirely possible. Not playing in a bowl game? That can happen too. What made the defeat especially painful is that the Trojans now have the relatively soft part of their schedule coming up. They host Arizona State, then Colorado. They travel to Arizona, then take on California at
Entirely possible. Not playing in a bowl game? That can happen too. Here’s what made the loss especially deflating: Helton made a change at quarterback, replacing Max Browne with redshirt freshman Sam Darnold, and the move resulted in the kind of change the coach wanted to see in the offense.
This confirmed the suspicion that USC’s problems extend far beyond any one player.
Something is fundamentally wrong with a team that entered halftime with only a 17-10 edge against a team with a one-dimensional offense.
Something is fundamentally wrong with a team that can’t preserve a 14-point advantage against a quarterback who passed for only 68 yards in the first half.
Something is fundamentally wrong with a team that can’t add to that lead against a defense it was shredding for the first two quarters.
“You look at all the opportunities to put the game away and score touchdowns and we shot ourselves in the foot,” Darnold said.
This loss will embolden Helton’s critics more than any of the previous three games.
Counting the final two games of last season, he is now 1-5 as USC’s full-time head coach. This was by far the worst of his five losses.
In the days leading up to the game, Helton behaved as if he was aware of how much was at stake, both for his program and for him personally. Helton made the controversial decision to drop Browne as the starting quarterback after only three games. Painful as it was, the call was right one, as Darnold transformed the previously stagnant offense.
Darnold was advertised as a superior runner to Browne, but he showed he was more than an athlete. He can really throw too.
He passed effectively in the pocket and on the run. He made plays with a defender clutching his ankles. Darnold completed 18 of 26 passes for 253 yards. He was sacked only once.
Darnold’s ability to throw downfield opened up the running game for USC. The Trojans didn’t have a 100-yard rusher in any of the previous games, but they had one by halftime, as Davis went into the intermission with 102 yards and a touchdown in six carries. Davis finished the game with 126 yards.
That should have led to more.
The Trojans now have the relatively soft part of their schedule coming up. They host Arizona State, then Colorado. They travel to Arizona, then take on California at home.
A victory over the Utes could have provided them with some momentum. It could have been the start of a five- or six-game winning streak. Instead of using that stretch to vault back into national prominence, the Trojans will be fighting to crawl back to .500.
And USC has only itself to blame.
The Trojans lost three fumbles in the first half, which is why they had only a 17-10 lead after effortlessly moving the football. Nonetheless, when Darnold helicoptered into the end zone with 9:48 remaining in the third quarter, the Trojans increased their advantage to 24-10.
The game should have been over.
The Trojans were the better team. They were faster. They were stronger. Whereas the Utes offense was entirely reliant on their running game in the first half, the Trojans were moving the ball both in the air and on the ground. Somehow, they lost. Utah quarterback Troy Williams suddenly became unstoppable in the second half. And with 16 seconds remaining in the game, Williams found receiver Tim Patrick on the right side of the end zone and moved the Utes in front, 31-27.
The Trojans’ final effort reflected the chaos of the second half, as Darnold scrambled around the backfield as the final seconds ticked off the game clock. Darnold eventually delivered the ball to midfield to JuJu Smith-Schuster, who tossed the ball back to Zach Banner. The right tackle had nowhere to go and the Trojans were finished.
The Utes rushed the field in triumph. The Trojans doubled over in defeat.