The USC Trojans fell to Christian McCaffrey and the Cardinal 41-22 in Levi Stadium to take the Pac-12 championship and advance to the Rose Bowl.
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USC advanced to the Pac-12 Conference title game with a new physical style and a new head coach.
Southern California linebacker Anthony Sarao (56) looks on from the…
The Pac-12 championship game was full of familiar faces, new records, a new champion, and costly mistakes.
Tyrone Swoopes threw for 151 yards with a touchdown and ran for a score in his first Texas start since the opener, and the Longhorns held on for a 23-17 victory Saturday that knocked No. 12 Baylor out of Sugar Bowl…
Quarterback Deshaun Watson also had a huge night in Clemson’s win over North Carolina. “He caught the ball, he ran the ball… he did everything”. McCaffrey has been the difference maker down the stretch for Stanford and he is a large reason why the Cardinals were still in the hunt for the playoff during championship weekend.
Wholly unexpected, though, was the team’s head coach at the end of the year, Clay Helton. “I know (Sanders) did it in a couple less games (11)”. There’s nobody in the nation doing what he’s been doing. “It’s not even a debate”.
As proof that McCaffrey can do just about everything, he also threw an 11-yard TD pass earlier in the quarter on a trick play to quarterback Kevin Hogan.
“I’ll take my time and do due diligence to get us the best coaches to win a national championship, ” Helton said.
Said USC receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who caught 11 passes: “If we were able to shut down McCaffrey it would be a different story”. “They’ve given tremendous effort to get to this point and obviously are extremely saddened by not finishing the job”. Following a defensive stop, running back Ronald Jones II scored again on a nifty 27-yard run to put the Trojans up 16-13.
The sophomore running back accounted for three touchdowns and amassed 461 all-purpose yards as the Cardinal earned a berth for the third time in four years. Hogan would score on a keeper and Stanford took back that momentum from the Trojans. “And one thing I appreciate about Mr. Haden is he’s given me the right to run this football team exactly with the vision that I see and I really appreciate that as a head coach”, Helton said.
McCaffrey had 155 yards rushing, four yards receiving and 85 yards on returns to give him 244 at the half.
McCaffrey tied the mark of 3,250 yards set in Sanders’ Heisman Trophy season in 1988 with a 31-yard punt return, and then broke it seconds later with a 2-yard run. “So to have my name mentioned even in the same category as him is definitely an honor”. He lacks the big, flashy touchdown numbers with Stanford opting to use Remound Wright in short-yardage goal line situations, but McCaffrey was the workhorse that got them into the red zone.
SAN DIEGO STATE 27, AIR FORCE 00: In San Diego, Donny Hageman kicked a 46-yard field goal with 5:10 to go and San Diego State won the Mountain West Conference championship, the Aztecs’ first outright title since 1986.
“USC came out of the half more aggressive and scored their first touchdown to make it an exciting game”.
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According to Christian McCaffrey’s mother Lisa, his childhood bedroom was filled with posters of Barry Sanders.
