USC clinches Pac-12 South title with win over UCLA

There’s something to be said for what UCLA has done this season. They navigated injuries, including three to defensive starters in the first month. “What an unbelievable story it would be to go win a Pac-12 South championship”.

Rose Bowl: Stanford. The Cardinal just needs to win the conference title game. For the first time in four tries, Jim Mora found himself on the wrong side of the crosstown rivalry. “It’s a new feeling for us here”.

“I really don’t know what my (legacy) will be”, Kessler said. “Everything was on the line. Everything was right there for us and we didn’t execute”.

Right there, even halfway through the third quarter. That defense is led by Butkus and Bednarik Award semifinalist OLB Su’a Cravens and 3-way star CB-WR-RET Adoree’ Jackson (the only player in the country with 300 yards receiving, 500 yards in kick runbacks, 200 punt return yards and 20 tackles), a Hornung Award finalist who has scored TDs now via receptions, an interception, kick returns and, last week at OR, a punt return.

After back-to-back three-and-outs by both teams, the Trojans got on the board first thanks to a 30-yard field goal by Alex Wood.

In the next five minutes, everything unraveled.

Perkins’ second TD run capped a 78-yard drive shortly after halftime, and UCLA appeared to be taking control until USC’s Claude Pelon abruptly jarred the ball loose from Rosen, allowing freshman Green to take it to the house untouched.

In his first rivalry game at the Coliseum, Rosen threw for 227 yards and a touchdown and had his 245 pass streak without an interception broken, courtesy of former five-star recruit in Marshall.

The Trojans didn’t squander the opportunity. Cody Kessler converted that into a 20-yard score to Darreus Rogers at the expense of Nate Meadors, who had denied Rogers a 2-point conversion on the previous score.

While Adams made his name at Eastern Washington with a frenetic and often wild approach to playing quarterback, Rosen is the prototypical pocket passer and more than capable of turning those same USC mistakes into touchdowns. They also had six other drives that totaled 113.

Being the last home game of the year and the finale in the Trojan seniors’ careers, pressure fell on Kessler’s shoulders entering the game.

“It’s like a bad dream”, Bruins receiver Thomas Duarte said. Still, he expressed frustration with the preparation, saying that UCLA had expected to see a lot more zone coverage.

That the opponent was USC (7-4, 5-3) seemed secondary.

“We have to play Notre Dame, then we have to play for a Pac-12 championship; I’m going to focus on those things first”, he said. “But again, that’s no excuse”.

Four years and four head coaches later, it’s over. That’s the bottom line.

Left unmentioned and unquestioned is the matter of how much current players’ opinions, well, matter. Some people not running up where they were supposed to be, overthinking the plays.

But Helton, Kessler and USC’s leaders have restored stability and consistency to a program rocked by Steve Sarkisian’s firing in October.

If the 7-4 and 5-3 Trojans expect to win their defense will need to come ready to play and stop Rosen. “It’s something that you’re going to be remembered for”.

No matter the cause, the fact of the matter is this: Against an interim coach in Clay Helton, Mora took a 19-point beating, one that could send his team all the way to the Las Vegas Bowl.