Defense carries USC to hard-fought road win over Oregon State
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Really, there was no other way it could end.
On a night in which takeaways set up No. 7 USC’s first two scores, and the defense carried a surprisingly lackluster offense, of course the game would end with a tipped ball interception by USC safety Max Williams.
The offense had finally found itself just in time to put the Trojans (4-0 overall, 2-0 Pac-12) ahead with 1:13 left, but it had to be the defense to put the finishing touches on a 17-14 victory over Oregon State (3-1, 0-1), and silencing a raucous Reser Stadium for the first time all night.
“I’m probably more proud of this win than the previous three,” head coach Lincoln Riley said. “To see that, I’m really, really proud of our group and their fight. It was at an elite level.”
Oregon State had just taken the lead on a Jam Griffin rushing touchdown with 4:41 to play. Two straight three-and-outs by the USC offense had put the defense into bad field position and the unit broke for the first time in the second half.
USC got the ball back at its 16 and went to work. Quarterback Caleb Williams connected twice with the reliable Tahj Washington to get the Trojans moving. Travis Dye got USC a couple of chunks down the field. And Williams was almost stopped short on a fourth-down run, but center Brett Neilon and the offensive line pushed him across the marker to keep hope alive.”
“That was awesome,” Riley said. “Those are the moments. Fourth down and you gotta find a way.”
Then from the Oregon State 21, Williams found his favorite target, receiver Jordan Addison, streaking down the sideline. The Oregon State corner bit on an out route, leaving Addison open. Williams just got the ball past the outstretched hands of a closing safety and into Addison’s waiting grip as he strode into the end zone, waving goodbye to the Oregon State crowd.
“It’s time to go home, pack it up,” Addison said.
It was clear from the opening moments that the road environment, significantly more rowdy than what USC experienced at Stanford, was bothering the Trojan offense, which failed to score on its first drive for the first time this season.
In both of the first two drives, USC had to burn timeouts as the play clock ran too low as the offense looked discombobulated at the line of scrimmage. The Trojans had to use their third timeout for the same reason with 11:19 left in the half.
Compounding matters was that Williams was not his usual self. He missed on his first three passes and wasn’t particularly close on any of them. He overthrew targets, then threw the ball at their feet.
Williams’ feet helped negate some of the issues, avoiding sacks from a threatening Oregon State pass rush. But in his effort to get the passing game going, he declined to take a running opportunity on second down at the Oregon State 20 when he seemed to have the room to score a touchdown.
When his third-down pass was incomplete, Denis Lynch missed a 36-yard field goal attempt to keep the Trojans scoreless.
The Trojan defense held solid, though. Oregon State put together an 80-yard touchdown drive, but USC held the high-flying Beaver offense to 179 total yards in the first half. Then a pair of interceptions kept the Trojans in the game.
First it was an Eric Gentry interception, falling on his back, that set up a field goal. Then a Ceyair Wright interception and return to the OSU 26 gave USC the field position it needed for Travis Dye to break through the arms of a tackler on fourth down and rolled into the end zone for USC’s first touchdown, and first lead of the game, with 14:18 to play.
“You steal possessions,” defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said. “That might be the extreme, but that’s what it took tonight.”
And USC became the first team this season to stop Oregon State in the red zone.
After the Dye touchdown run, Oregon State went deep into its playbook with screens, sweeps and double passes to move down the field. Back-to-back penalties — including a killer holding call — moved the Beavers back. After a Stanley Ta’ufo’ou pressure forced a third-down incompletion, Oregon State missed a 46-yard field goal.
And then of course, Max Williams’ final interception to complete the victory, on a night where the defense carried the USC offense.
“You need games like that to show who you are as a team,” linebacker Shane Lee said. “We haven’t been put in any situation like that before. … Some teams might lose hope, but we still believed and pushed through.”