The obituaries were all but written, the whole college football world ready and eager to dump one last shovel of dirt on another doomed season for USC and Lincoln Riley.
The team heard it all week after their deliriously disappointing defeat at Wisconsin. How all hope was lost. How their coach’s clock was ticking. How the walls were closing in. But by the time the second half arrived Saturday, USC was well on its way to a season-altering 30-18 win over No. 2 Ohio State, and Mark Bowman, the Trojans’ freshman tight end, had taken off in the open field with no intention of being stopped.
It didn’t matter Bowman had sat out the last month with an injury or that multiple Buckeye defenders stood in the freshman’s way, in the same sense it didn’t matter how the masses had written off USC before the game. As one defender closed in, Bowman simply hurdled over him. Another slipped helplessly off his leg. A third was dispatched with a brute force. It would be 70 yards before Bowman was pushed out of bounds.
It turned out to be a fitting metaphor to describe a night that defied plain language for USC. All but left for dead in the College Football Playoff race, the Trojans proceeded to trample over one of the top teams in the Big Ten — and potentially turn the perception of their season upside down.
Whether Saturday’s result will suddenly turn the tide for the Trojans remains to be seen. But as timely wins go, it was perhaps the biggest of Riley’s USC tenure.
After scoring just seven points a week ago — the fewest ever by a Riley-coached team — USC scored more against Ohio State than any other team this season.
It took a pair of big plays at critical times, including Bowman’s catch and run, for USC to pull it off. The other — a 69-yard, opening-drive score from another freshman, Trent Mosley — would give the Trojans an early lead they never relinquished.
Outside of those plays, though, none of the numbers were all that flashy. USC rushed for 116 yards and two scores, as the duo of King Miller and Waymond Jordan averaged five yards per carry. Jayden Maiava threw for 222 yards, but compiled 139 of them on those two big completions.
But it was USC’s defense whose timeliness changed the game. The Trojans still allowed Ohio State to rack up 464 yards, including 204 on the ground. But they made a number of big stops.
There was a goal-line stand. A key forced fumble. And numerous big plays on third down, where the Buckeyes finished a mere seven of 16. From Ohio State’s first six drives into Trojan territory, it managed a mere 12 points.
It was as uplifting of a night as USC has had in some time. And it came after a rough week, in the wake of last Saturday’s embarrassing loss at Wisconsin. Day after day, questions had swirled about whether Riley would survive the season.
For the Trojans and their coach, it was a critical juncture, a chance to show their season was still worth salvaging. And they wasted no time showing that they were serious about it.
Before the first quarter was over, the Trojans doubled their point total from a week ago.
On the second play of the game, Mosley caught a screen and a Mack truck-sized tunnel formed before him. The freshman dynamo shot through that hole as if he’d been fired from a cannon, flying 69 yards all the way to pay dirt.
Mosley would make another huge play early to set up a score. As he caught a punt late in the first quarter, Mosley found the edge, speeding past Ohio State defenders on his way to a 35-yard return. A late hit added 15 more yards, and USC only needed a few plays before Jordan found the end zone.
Ohio State had no trouble moving the ball early, either. It had 137 yards in the first quarter while breaking in a new quarterback in former Mission Viejo High star Luke Fahey. Its first three drives all ended on USC’s side of the field.
But those three possessions yielded just two field goals and a punt for the Buckeyes, as the Trojans’ defense kept standing tall in their own territory.
Their most impressive stand came late in the second quarter. Miller had just fumbled away a chance to take a three-score, first-half lead, and Ohio State marched all the way to the goal line in response.
But a first-down rush was stuffed. Two passes fell incomplete. And the Buckeyes settled for a third field goal.
USC made another critical stop early in the third quarter. With Ohio State driving, USC linebacker Desman Stephens II punched out a fumble that landed fortuitously in the arms of defensive tackle Floyd Boucard.
On the very next play, Maiava found Bowman over the middle. He hurdled a defender and pushed past two more.
Soon enough, USC would do the same, dispatching the No. 2 team in the country and keeping its hope for this season alive in the process.
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