At the end of a flawed and frustrating season, in the final minutes of a rivalry matchup that mattered purely for pride, King Miller took a handoff and saw nothing but open field in front of him.
All night long — all season long, really — very little had come easy for USC against UCLA. The Trojans struggled often at the line of scrimmage. Discipline lapsed. Mistakes snowballed. It was, for a while, a microcosm of what made USC’s season so uneven.
But through it all, Miller’s magic was constant. Ever since he stepped in for the Trojans’ top backs, two months earlier, the walk-on running back was USC’s biggest bright spot. And in that moment, with the final minutes running down and the Trojans in need of one final knockout blow, here was Miller sprinting all alone, with only the roar of the Coliseum behind him.
His 41-yard score finally put the Bruins away for good, ending USC’s nightmarish regular season with a 29-10 victory.
For UCLA, Saturday marked the merciful end of a tumultuous season, one in which the Bruins fired coach DeShaun Foster after three games and may have said goodbye to the iconic stadium where they’ve played for half a century.
Behind interim coach Tim Skipper, the Bruins showed some signs of life midseason. They won three games in a row, including a stunning upset of Penn State at the Rose Bowl. But that momentum quickly faded, as UCLA lost five straight to finish the season.
USC gave its rival plenty of chances Saturday. It struggled to finish drives, missing two makeable field goals. Its defense, for long stretches, couldn’t get UCLA off the field. Both lines, at times, seemed to be fighting a losing battle.
But the Trojans had simply too much firepower for the Bruins to endure. That had been the case so often this season, as USC outlasted inferior teams, putting up as many points as it wanted.
Against the better teams on its schedule, though, the Trojans struggled. They lost three times on the road against ranked teams, the last officially knocking them out of College Football Playoff contention.
This victory over UCLA gave USC a perfect record at the Coliseum this season, the second time in Riley’s four-year tenure that the Trojans finished undefeated at home. But it wouldn’t soothe many of the concerns that came out of this season, either. Namely on defense, where USC once against started slow, only to clamp down late.
Miller finished with 124 yards and two touchdowns, his fourth game this season with more than 120 rushing yards. Quarterback Jayden Maiava looked sharp Saturday, throwing for 257 yards and two touchdowns, the best being a 32-yard back-shoulder bomb to Makai Lemon. Lemon, playing in his last game at the Coliseum, didn’t catch another pass.
USC opened the game without its top two weapons in the passing game on the field, as Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane were held out of the first quarter for disciplinary reasons.
USC didn’t seem to need them on either drive they missed. It rolled down the field with ease behind a heavy dose of Miller, who finished the Trojans’ opening drive with a five-yard score. On the Trojans’ next possession, they took to the air, as Maiava moved them into position to take a commanding, early lead.
But then UCLA linebacker Scott Taylor blocked a 38-yard field goal attempt from USC kicker Ryon Sayeri, and the entire tenor of the game changed. The Bruins came to life on offense, while the Trojans faded.
Nico Iamaleava, who was questionable to play with neck spasms, marched UCLA methodically down the field with little resistance from USC’s defense. He completed five straight passes and converted six first downs before finding Kwazi Gilmer for a two-yard, tying score.
Again, USC mounted a lengthy drive, only to stall on the edge of the red zone. And again, a makeable 30-yard field goal attempt from Sayeri sailed right. The two missed kicks were only the third and fourth misses of the season from Sayeri, who had been 17 of 19.
Right on cue, UCLA mounted another methodical, 13-play drive, working the clock until there were just 18 seconds remaining for USC to respond. The Bruins ultimately kicked a field goal and took a 10-7 advantage into halftime, their first lead since Oct. 19.
After one of its worst halves of the season, USC’s offense immediately went three-and-out. But with UCLA driving to extend its lead, defensive tackle Jide Abasiri burst through the interior of the Bruins’ line and sacked Iamaleava outside of field goal range.
UCLA didn’t make much headway after that, as USC took care of its rival and set its sights on the bowl game ahead.
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