December 7, 2017 Page 3
Trojans Take Home Pac-12 Title
By Adam Serrao
With quarterback Sam Darnold under center,
the USC Trojans won their first conference
title since 2008. With a 31-28 victory over
the Stanford Cardinal last Friday night in
Santa Clara, the Trojans showed just how
gritty they can be and how good they have
become in such a short amount of time.
Unfortunately for USC, its two losses on the
year banished the team from College Football
Playoff conversation and landed it in this
year’s Cotton Bowl. Even still, the Trojans
not only showed that they have become a
force to be reckoned with, but also proved
that they have come a long way since their
inconsistent play at the beginning of the
regular season.
USC fans got everything that they could have
possibly asked for out of the game against
Stanford last week. Not only was it close and
competitive throughout, but it came down to a
gritty fourth down stand with seconds ticking
off of the clock in the fourth quarter of play
that would wind up determining the Trojans’
fate. Uchenna Nwosu, the outside linebacker
for USC, was the hero of the game this time
around, gashing the Cardinal offensive line to
fly through and make a game-saving stop on
the one-yard line. “Probably the biggest stop
of the year,” Trojans running back Ronald
Jones explained of the play.
USC came away with the slim three-point
victory, but not before Jones rushed for 140
yards and two touchdowns while simultaneously
moving into the top five on USC’s career
rushing list. Darnold, the star quarterback who
will likely have just one game remaining in
the Cardinal and Gold before taking off for
the NFL, finished with 325 yards through
the air and two touchdowns while also being
named MVP of the title game played at
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Levi’s Stadium in Northern California. “It’s
special to see how far we’ve come as a team,”
Darnold said with a smile on his face after
his team had finally secured the win.
With the victory, the Trojans became the
first team from the South Division to win
the Pac-12 title. It wasn’t easy, either. The
defense had to put up with the prolific play of
both opposing quarterback K.J. Costello and
opposing running back Bryce Love. Costello
only completed five passes in the first half
of play, but came on strong in the third and
fourth quarters to finish with a total of 192
yards through the air and two touchdowns.
Love, on the other hand, had carried Stanford
all year long and attempted to do so again
in this game with a total of 125 yards and
a touchdown on the ground.
Despite the good play of Stanford, the
game still ended in USC’s favor. Even with
the win for USC, the team still found itself
on the outside looking in on this year’s fourteam
College Football Playoff. “Obviously,
the reality is we’ll need some help,” USC
coach Clay Helton said following his team’s
victory, before the playoff standings were
announced. “But we deserve to be in the
discussion, especially the way we finished
the season. [We’re] hot right now.”
If only the season were two games longer,
the Trojans may have had a better chance
to prove themselves and their 11-2 overall
record. Unfortunately for USC, those two
losses were enough to keep the team behind
the likes of Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia and
Alabama in the end-of-year standings. “We’re
sitting here as champion,” Helton continued.
“That’s important. We sit here with 11 wins.
We sit here with an unbelievable strength of
schedule. We had the opportunity to show on
national TV who we are.”
Although they did not finish in the final
four, it can still be said that the Trojans
had an excellent season and perhaps even
overachieved in a year when they weren’t
expected to do much at all. With the amount
of injuries suffered on the team and the
amount of youth on the offensive side of the
ball, the achievements of USC this season
can certainly be considered impressive, to
say the least. As it turns out, a 30-27 loss
at Washington State in September could turn
out to be the only thing that kept the Trojans
out of the playoff. That slim, three-point
loss, which could have realistically gone
either way once all was said and done, may
just turn out to be the one game that comes
back to haunt USC and all of its fans once
this year’s season officially comes to an end.
Despite the Trojans’ impressive win over
Stanford, there simply wasn’t a possible
combination of championship game results
last Saturday that could have vaulted the team
into the College Football Playoff conversation.
Even still, the team’s first conference
title since 2008 should be celebrated--and
a matchup against Ohio State in this year’s
Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic is certainly
not something to be taken for granted. That
game will take place on December 29 in Arlington,
Texas and could provide the Trojans
with the perfect pedestal to finish the season
off strong with a statement win against an
extremely elite opponent from the Big Ten.
Aserrao6@yahoo.com - @UpandAdam6 •
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