A real high risk-high reward proposition, that Sunday night football game against LSU – and aren’t you glad USC went for it?
After keeping their cards pressed to their vests all week, the No. 23 Trojans arrived in Las Vegas and went all in, bet on themselves against the No. 13 Tigers … and left massively richer for the experience.
Big, big winners.
The toast of the town, the talk of the nation.
Recording their first victory as a member of the Big Ten in a 27-20 thriller over a formidable SEC team will do that.
Having dues-paying junior Miller Moss introduce himself to the uninitiated with a cool, clutch 378 yards and a touchdown will get former NFL star Dez Bryant tweeting: “No lie USC QB nice.”
New coordinator D’Anton Lynn’s defense holding LSU to 20 points, allowing only three plays of 20 or more yards all night and just 3 measly rushing yards in the fourth quarter? That’ll get ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith piping up the next morning: “If they’re going to be able stop folks, then you know something? USC has the potential to make some major noise.”
“[USC looks] like a team that can contend for the bottom of the 12-team playoff. LSU doesn’t.”@finebaum and @stephenasmith like what they saw from USC’s defense pic.twitter.com/cosgqBxp15
— First Take (@FirstTake) September 2, 2024
Trojans fans have to love the sound of the apologies coming in as loudly as the disrespect, of hearing Coach Lincoln Riley’s leading critic Paul Finebaum speaking directly to them on Smith’s “First Take.” “Listen,” Finebaum said, “every Southern Cal fan in America has every single right to come after me and just bury me.”
So it goes in the black-and-white, win-or-lose, nuance-free zone that is sports prognostication, unappetizing probably for programs with lots to lose (see: the reports this summer that Riley would’ve rather not with the game).
But the show went on after all, after the Tigers told us they were bringing their fists to what USC was quietly considering a war, which broke out Sunday in front of the record-breaking, sold-out crowd at Allegiant Stadium.
LSU lost that gamble, leaving its coach Brian Kelly – winless now in three straight high-stakes season-opening showdowns – pounding his fist on a table during the postgame press conference.
Predictably, it was LSU talking all the heat from the Monday morning quarterbacks peddling doom and gloom on-air.
“LSU’s path back to the playoffs now is treacherous,” Finebaum crowed moments before eating crow. “… last night, Lincoln Riley was by far the better coach … (LSU) could not finish. When you can’t finish plays, when you get a targeting in the final 30 seconds of the game, that’s inexcusable … and that’s on the coaching staff.”
Of course, had a couple plays gone another way in what was a thoroughly compelling and well-played game worthy of all the hype preceding it, had USC lost, all we’d be hearing would be pundits railing against Riley.
We’d all be cooking the Trojans for their questionable clock management, which snuffed out a potential scoring opportunity before halftime. And what about those two timeouts they burned in the fourth quarter that they didn’t have at the end of the game?
Forget about it. We don’t have time for that, under the rug with it. Let the Trojans discuss that among themselves.
Because USC won as the headlining act on college football’s opening weekend, we all will remember the game for Kyron Hudson’s saw-it-and-still-don’t-believe-it one-handed circus catches. Both of them.
For the visual of Mississippi State transfer Woody Marks rushing in for the dagger score and then raising the sword in celebration as the band played “Conquest.”
Woody Marks soaks in his moment after his game-winning touchdown for #USC. pic.twitter.com/ujQmdvI6o7
— Ryan Young (@RyanYoungRivals) September 2, 2024
We can remember it for USC superstar turned No. 1 draft pick Caleb Williams live-tweeting the game, including cheering his old back-up, Moss, who was named Big Ten offensive player of the week Monday: “Mossy you did yo thing playa” … while we all wondered what woulda been had Williams had this defense?
We all – recruits included – will remember it as not just the first signature win in Riley’s tenure with the Trojans, but as the most monumental victory since they beat Penn State 52-49 in the Rose Bowl to cap the 2016 season.
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And as possibly the critic-quieting, tide-turning temperature check that Riley’s Trojans needed as they march on the Big Ten first time. As the win that got pundits looking at them differently, like Fox Sports’ Geoff Schwartz: “I think I’m moving them to 10 wins this season. No Ohio State or Oregon on the schedule. Get Penn State, Nebraska and ND at home. Defense flying around today. Moss looked good…”
A gutsy effort, a team triumph, a smart bet. It’s why you play; you play to win the big games.
“Fistfight,” ahem https://t.co/FEAIGLiJLj
— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) September 2, 2024