After a month since their last home game, the Trojans welcomed Arizona for the schools’ final Pac-12 matchup. It may not have been the game anyone was expecting, but the headline was one for the books. USC outlasted the Wildcats 43-41 in triple overtime Saturday night in a bizarre Pac-12 After Dark contest.
The Wildcats came out of the gates with intensity, forcing the Trojans to punt on all first-quarter possessions while scoring on their first two possessions to jump out to a 10-0 lead. Arizona continued the momentum with a 92-yard drive culminating in an 18-yard touchdown pass, giving the Cats a 17-0 lead just two minutes into the second quarter.
“I give Arizona a lot of credit. Not gonna make a lot of excuses in any way,” head coach Lincoln Riley said. “They played well and played a lot better than us certainly some times in the game.”
Seeking momentum, junior quarterback Caleb Williams completed a 53-yard pass to senior receiver Brenden Rice, giving the Trojans prime real estate on Arizona’s side of the field. The Wildcats did not flinch, however, forcing a Williams fumble on the next play and taking the ball back.
But to keep the Trojan Family Weekend crowd on the edge of their seats, the Trojan defense took the ball right back two plays later with an interception by redshirt junior cornerback Jacobe Covington.
Starting in the red zone, the Trojan offense only needed three plays for Williams to scramble in for a 4-yard touchdown, getting the Trojans on the board with 9:43 in the second quarter.
“You come out slow and give a team like that some energy, some juice, they get going, you go down quick,” Williams said. “It was just a tough fought game. We kept fighting.”
Two sacks from redshirt senior defensive lineman Jamil Muhammad continued the defensive momentum, forcing the first Wildcat punt of the game, only for the Trojans to give the ball right back with their third three-and-out of the first half.
A second Wildcat punt gave the Trojans one more chance to shrink the lead. A 31-yard connection between Williams and Rice helped set up a 5-yard touchdown catch two plays later by redshirt sophomore receiver Kyron Hudson. After falling into a 17-point deficit, the Trojans entered the half down 17-14.
Arizona opened up second-half play with a 22-yard field goal, but costly defensive penalties allowed the Trojans to take their first lead of the game with a 10-yard touchdown run by redshirt junior running back MarShawn Lloyd on the next drive.
After another defensive stand, the Trojan offense went to work. Caleb Williams cut through the Wildcat defense before more Wildcat defensive penalties gave Williams the chance to power in a 1-yard score to open the fourth quarter and extend the lead to 28-20. The Wildcats ended with 96 total penalty yards.
Arizona responded on their next drive with a quick touchdown and successful two-point conversion, tying the game at 28. The Wildcats had a chance to take the lead on their next possession, too, but missed a 50-yard field goal try, giving USC a chance to win the game in walk-off fashion.
And then the real fun began.
The Trojan offense marched down the field and set up redshirt sophomore kicker Denis Lynch to be the hero, but a botched snap shut down the 25-yard attempt and sent the game to overtime, the Coliseum’s first since 2017.
Overtime saw Williams scramble for a tie-breaking score from 18 yards out, only for the Wildcats to tie the game on their first overtime play.
The second overtime saw the Wildcats strike first with redshirt freshman quarterback Noah Fifita connecting with senior receiver Jacob Cowing in the end zone for the fourth time in the game, before failing their two-point conversion. The Trojans followed suit with an 11-yard touchdown run by redshirt senior Austin Jones before an incompletion on their own two-point conversion.
It took a third overtime for the Trojans to pull away for good, thanks to a Williams two-point conversion and defensive stand on Arizona’s following attempt. Williams finished the game with four total scores, including three on the ground.
“The longer we go, the better we get. I think that last play was really the epitome of that,” Muhammad said. “Any other team with less of a culture wouldn’t have shown up in a moment like that.”
“We certainly had a lot of moments where we didn’t play very well, certainly in the beginning of the game,” Riley said. “But our team’s fight and resolve to get back and find a way to win that was some of the just craziness that happened in this game.”
The Trojans are back on the road next week to face Notre Dame on Oct. 14.