We’ve seen numerous top 15 teams lose, or come close to losing, and it might be time to add another squad to the upset alert.
Utah has been making plays on both sides of the ball and jumped out to a 21-7 lead over No. 13 USC at halftime in a critical game that could determine the Pac-12 South champion down the road.
At the heart of the first half was not surprisingly Trojans star quarterback Sam Darnold -- in both good and bad ways.
The signal-caller fumbled for a second time in the first quarter, allowing Marquise Blair to return it all the way for an 18 yard touchdown that put the Utes on the board with seven. The one-time Heisman favorite bounced right back and tossed a 52-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Tyler Petite on the next drive to tie things back up. But that wasn’t the end of the up’s and down’s for the cardinal and gold, as Darnold added another fumble to his stat line off a backwards swing pass that was grabbed once again by the Utes. While that one wasn’t really on the quarterback, it did lead to points the other way and USC’s largest deficit of the year.
On the other sideline, Los Angeles area native Troy Williams relished playing his old hometown team and threw for 134 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Most impressively, the dual-threat quarterback also looked like a pretty nifty receiver in diving for the pylon from five yards out to score another time off a trick play. Running back Zach Moss ran for 113 yards before the break and could be a big factor in helping the Utes bounce back from their first loss with a rare win in Southern California that would give them a big leg up in the division race.
The game isn’t over however and we’ve seen wild comebacks already this weekend. The way things are going though, it might be time to keep an eye on preseason darling USC as they are in some serious trouble to a dangerous Utah team primed for the upset.