On a Saturday filled with career bests, Caleb Williams might have achieved his. Maybe not his entire career, of course, but at least his career to date. The way things are going, who knows what’s ahead for the USC quarterback and the Trojans?
The Rose Bowl might as well have been a launching pad for a lot of things Saturday night. With Williams chucking it, running it, and emotionally leading it, USC can suddenly see a College Football Playoff berth from here. Some believe they even control their own destiny when it comes to the Football Four in this dizzying turnaround year that just won’t quit.
But it’s the way the Trojans are doing it. They needed every one of Williams career-best 470 yards passing (503 total yards) — the most by any player in rivalry history — to defeat UCLA, 48-45. Those numbers will live in the USC annals for years, maybe decades.
It’s more about what it means in the present. The Pac-12 is back, at least a factor this late in the season. The last Pac-12 playoff entry was six years ago. If USC seals the deal, it would get in two years before it migrates to the Big Ten. At this point, who cares about affiliations?
For now, the Trojans giddily clinched a spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game. They can’t afford to look past Notre Dame next Saturday. But on that journey, Williams was just a little bit better in a shootout with his UCLA counterpart Dorian Thompson-Robinson.
That’s the same DTR who said he wanted to score 60 against the Trojans. The same DTR who threw for at least four scores for the fifth time in his career. Instead, the fifth-year senior helped decide the game by throwing three crippling interceptions, the last with 1:26 remaining. Sophomore defensive lineman Korey Foreman contributed the biggest play of his young career with the pick.
“I’ll be honest: They had a lot to say this week. We blocked it out,” Williams said. “They had a lot to say tonight. We blocked it out.”
Mostly, his teammates blocked enough. The 93 combined points were the second-most in the series behind only the 95 scored last year in UCLA’s rout of USC at the end the Trojans’ dreary 4-8 season.
That preceded the hiring of Lincoln Riley, who brought in 20 transfers and 40 new players in a two-month span.
That brings us here as we witness not only one of the best turnarounds in the country but one of the best of all time. USC is 10-1 for the first time since…
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