Los Angeles • Utah’s 28-27 loss at USC on Saturday night was nothing if not wild.
It was filled with big plays, big turnovers, big excitement, big surprises, big gains, a big momentum shift, and big heartbreak.
First, opportunity was big for the Utes, then for the Trojans, then for the Utes again.
At the start, Utah quarterback Troy Williams threw deep often, completing, for example, a 50-yard pass to Raelon Singleton and a 40-yarder to Siaosi Wilson. Mixed in were other aggressive attempts, a couple of them drawing pass interference calls against USC.
As the game wore on, there were hefty runs by Zack Moss, a couple of which set up Utah’s second touchdown, a clever pass from receiver Demari Simpkins — who played quarterback in high school — to Williams, who still does, except for in this particular moment, when he did the catching in the end zone.
Williams returned the favor with a 33-yard TD pass to Simpkins near the end of the first half, handing the Utes an impressive 21-7 lead.
USC’s quarterback Sam Darnold also was the center of big drama, hitting Tyler Petite for a 52-yard scoring pass. And leading the Trojans on multiple drives. But the bigness factor went the other way, too. Darnold suffered two first-half fumbles, one of which killed an early drive and another that was picked up by Utah’s Marquise Blair and returned 18 yards for Utah’s first score. Darnold also threw a backward pass that was recovered by the Utes.
Moss didn’t have any one huge run, but he picked up chunks of yardage, stacking up a total of 141 rushing yards.
Next thing, USC came on strong. Utah’s big plays went cold.
Darnold made numerous big moves on a 98-yard scoring drive, including a 17-yard punctuating TD pass. He followed that with an 88-yard TD drive, set up by a 20-yard pass to Steven Mitchell, tying the score.
Ronald Jones had a 26-yard run, the highlight of a go-ahead drive by USC. That was answered by a Utah TD drive, made possible by a 37-yard fourth-and-1 pass from Williams to Siale Fakailoatonga.
And the biggest play of all: A 2-point conversion try by Utah, down 28-27 with 42 seconds left. Williams’ scramble fell short.