They have plenty to play for this year with a spot next to Stanford in next week’s Pac-12 title game at stake.
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For the first time in three years the USC Trojans defeats UCLA, 40-21, and advances to the PAC-12 Championship game where they will meet Stanford.
“I was trying to hold it all in, but I lost it back there, trying to hold back the tears” Kessler said after the game.
“It’s the way you want to go out”, Kessler said. “It was tough walking off that field for the last time, but that was the way I wanted to do it”.
Darreus Rogers and Taylor McNamara caught TD passes while the Trojans (8-4, 6-3 Pac-12) scored 20 consecutive points in the second half before raising the Victory Bell in the frenzied Coliseum.
Coach Steve Sarkisian was placed on indefinite leave on October 11 amid rumors of continuing troubles with alcohol and fired a day later, with offensive coordinator Clay Helton appointed as interim coach. They didn’t. Su’a Cravens was stuck on Thomas Duarte.
“They basically went mano-a-mano, put six in the box, manned up everything else and said, ‘Beat us, ‘” Rosen said.
The Trojans, who were picked to win the conference this season in a vote of the league media in the preseason – which seems like a long time ago – has been disappointing this season. Quarterback Josh Rosen and the Bruins are coming off a win over Utah by a 17-9 final score. It also shows a lack of ambition on Haden’s part in his two hires by bringing in a former USC assistant (Sarkisian) and hiring a current USC assistant (Helton).
“Clay was not hired because his team defeated UCLA”, Haden said. “They’re leaving their mark not only for now in the immediate moment, but for years to come”.
Jim Mora, UCLA’s coach, used to routinely refer to the Trojans as the team from “Southern Cal”, a variation of University of Southern California that is universally disliked by the USC faithful. The Trojans grinded out 235 yards rushing against the Bruins’ beleaguered run defense.
“Toward the middle of the season, we kind of didn’t know what type of team we were”, Davis said. Three-and-outs, turnovers and the inability to get the run going hurt the Bruins, especially in the second half of the USC game where the Bruins continually “shot themselves in the foot”. “We made a decision, either Monday or Tuesday this week, that we weren’t losing this game”.
“There’s a lot of plays that I wish I had back”, Rosen said. “Everything was right there for us and we didn’t execute”.
Clay Helton, who as its interim head coach guided the 2015 USC football team to a 5-2 record and a berth into the Pac-12 Football Championship Game with a first-place finish in the challenging Pac-12 South Division, has signed a multi-year agreement to be the Trojans’ permanent head coach, USC athletic director Pat Haden announced today (Nov. 30). Defensive end Rasheem Green returned a fumble 31 yards for a touchdown to give USC a 26-21 lead and the game’s sixth lead change.
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. “He’s a friend and I think he’s a good man. You just don’t like to see people struggle”.
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I hesitate to put much stock into time of possession, because it too often overlooks a quick-strike offense that is efficient and puts up points in a hurry rather than one that is methodical.
