- In the 1st quarter, on the second play of the game, Darreus Rogers didn't secure the wide open lateral pass, and it bounced forward onto the ground. No one on the USC offense noticed that the pass was a lateral or that the refs did not whistle the play dead. Utah defense casually picked up the live ball and ran it in for a touchdown. What aggravated this, is that it was yet another backfield pass / bubble screen play, in what seemed to be a very long list of such plays over the season, that have ended up being negatives for the offense. If you want your running game to work, don't you want to throw down the field to keep the safeties back? And you can't single out Rogers, because there were 10 other USC players on the field who stood around and did nothing. Points at stake: -7.
- In the 3rd quarter, though they corrected their error, the infamous PAC-12 refs got a fumble call wrong in the end zone, ultimately preventing Adoree Jackson from returning the ball 100 yards for a touchdown -- which would have been remarkable seeing as he returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown in the 2nd quarter. This freshman class is spectacular -- too bad the team keeps coming up short in the win column. Points at stake: +7.
- In the 3rd quarter, on that drive immediately following that fumble recovery that was screwed up by the officials, Kessler delivered a late (backside) and high ball to Agholor, who one-handed tipped it up, and right into the defender behind him. That turnover gave Utah the ball at USC's 38 yard line, who eventually scored a touchdown, four plays later. This was a double-whammy because not only did Adoree Jackson and USC lose out on a touchdown, the consequential offensive series gave Utah the ball right back and allowed them to score. Points at stake: -7.
- In the 4th quarter, Sark chose to go for the first down instead of kicking a 45 yard field goal that would have put USC up by a touchdown -- the same touchdown margin that would have sent this game into overtime when Utah scored. They were facing the wind, so perhaps the field goal would not have been successful. On the prior 3rd and 2 play, it was actually a brilliant set up in what looked like a short-yardage set, with the fullback sneaking out for a wide open catch, except Kessler delivered a dead duck 5 yards short. Then, when going for it on 4th and 2, Kessler delivers the ball to Agholor who seems to reach the first down near the sideline, but actually stepped out short of the first down. Mental errors from your best players at critical times, is tough to overcome. Points at stake: +3.
- But the worst error of them all, in the 4th quarter, the infamous PAC-12 refs did not call the pick play by the Utes in the end zone (exactly like the one ND did against FSU last week). If the refs had called the foul, it would have placed the ball roughly on the 15 yard line (foul was in the end zone + 15 yard penalty) with just 8 seconds left, which would have eliminated any running plays. Not to belabor the issue here, but how can it be that the refs are paying close attention to Kevon Seymour's aggressive cornerback style, but completely miss the full-on pick block play just yards away from the winning score? Points at stake: -7.
Instead of a 21 - 24 loss to Utah, it could have very well been a 31 - 3 win for USC, though the point here is that, despite all the anger and dejection the Trojans are experiencing right now, it came down to eliminating just one error.
However, we still have the issue of Justin Wilcox's prevent defense.
It was a classic setup for failure, you see, because the defense had done remarkably well, responsible for just 10 points by Utah's offense. They'd gotten into Utah's backfield 7 times for 2 sacks and 5 tackles for loss. Yeah, I saw that they wasted a time out on defense because the call came in late and they weren't on the same page, yet again. But, Wilcox's defense has improved and looked like they were well prepared for this game. Take away the final series and the defense was absolutely solid.
Had Arizona's field goal kicker made that last second field goal, USC would be an absolutely mediocre 4 - 4, with Wilcox's prevent defense involved in three of those four losses. Let that be an indictment against the prevent defense, or maybe it'll be known as Justin's Curse?
It was a classic setup for failure, you see, because the defense had done remarkably well, responsible for just 10 points by Utah's offense. They'd gotten into Utah's backfield 7 times for 2 sacks and 5 tackles for loss. Yeah, I saw that they wasted a time out on defense because the call came in late and they weren't on the same page, yet again. But, Wilcox's defense has improved and looked like they were well prepared for this game. Take away the final series and the defense was absolutely solid.
Had Arizona's field goal kicker made that last second field goal, USC would be an absolutely mediocre 4 - 4, with Wilcox's prevent defense involved in three of those four losses. Let that be an indictment against the prevent defense, or maybe it'll be known as Justin's Curse?
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