In the Trojan’s second Big Ten road game, the Minnesota Golden Gophers proved to be a worthy adversary for USC, beating the Trojans 24-17 as USC moves to 3-2 on the season and 1-2 in conference play.
“Reality is, we did a lot of good things on all sides, we just didn’t play good enough to win at the end of the day,” head coach Lincoln Riley said. “We put ourselves in a great position there at the end of the game, didn’t get it done. Give credit to Minnesota. Those guys played well, played hard.”
The first drive for the Trojans looked promising, as USC marched down the field easily with redshirt senior running back Woody Marks leading the charge. But the Trojans were stood up close to the red zone, forcing the field goal try.
The drive proved to be fruitless as redshirt senior kicker Michael Lantz shanked the kick right of the goal post, ending the nearly six-minute drive with zero points.
This was not the first time that USC got off to a slow start this season, facing 11-point halftime deficits in each of the two games prior to the Trojans’ matchup with the Gophers.
“Every time we’ve gone out to a slow start, we’ve come back and taken the lead late game every single time,” Riley said. “So we talked about a lot with the guys. We’ve emphasized it like crazy. That’s one of the several things that we’ve got to keep getting done.”
Fans of classic Big Ten football were excited with the next three possessions by both teams as Minnesota and USC punted before the Golden Gophers knocked home a 32-yard field goal to put the first points on the board.
Marks continued the impressive running as he ran the Trojans down the field, where redshirt junior quarterback Miller Moss found sophomore wide receiver Duce Robinson to get USC on the board and put the Trojans up 7-3 halfway through the second quarter.
The Golden Gophers’ next drive was all about the run as sophomore running back Darius Taylor busted open a 40-yard run to get Minnesota rolling. A few penalties by the Trojans and more hard-nosed running by the Golden Gophers led to their first touchdown of the game, putting Minnesota up 10-7 with three minutes to play in the half.
But disaster struck for USC on the next drive. Just as it seemed the Trojan offense was rolling, a fumble by redshirt freshman running back Quinten Joyner set Minnesota up with the ball and two minutes to play in the half.
The ball must have been greased up at the three-minute mark, as with 26 seconds left, Minnesota fumbled to give the ball back to USC with under 30 seconds to play.
After that, it was the Lantz show to end the half.
The kicker initially knocked home a 49-yard field goal, then it was called back as Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck called a timeout right before Lantz kicked off.
With no timeouts left, Lantz was ready once again. Then a false start by the USC line moved the kick back another five yards. That didn’t matter, as Lantz silenced the rambunctious Minnesota crowd by hitting a career-long 54-yard field goal, tying the game 10-10 as time expired in the first half.
The second-half adjustments have been key for the Trojans all year, and this game proved to be no different as USC forced a quick punt by Minnesota to get the ball back early in the second half.
The Trojans, once again commanded by Marks, moved with ease down the field, where Marks was able to punch in his first touchdown in two games, putting USC up 17-10.
Just as things were looking good for the Trojans after forcing another punt in the fourth quarter, Moss was intercepted after the Minnesota defensive line got to him with ease, forcing the ball out of his arm and into the waiting hands of redshirt junior linebacker Devon Williams.
Turnovers plagued the Trojans and spelled doom for any chance at a win.
“When especially we got a kicker like we do, those are points every single time you feel like when you get over there,” Riley said. “And then we typically expect to score a bunch of touchdowns there as well. So, I mean, three drives ended in plus territory with that in a game like this, where there weren’t many possessions. I mean, it was massive.”
Minnesota’s offense was clicking on this crucial drive as graduate quarterback Max Brosmer ran in the tying touchdown from the 5-yard line to make the game 17-17, just over halfway through the fourth quarter.
“I just think to start our thing as a team, we played a pretty good game, like coach said to some players out there, that we could be better on all sides, but especially defensively, better mistakes and just even talking about that last drive be more locked in,” redshirt senior defensive end Jamil Muhammad said. “But at the end of the day, I’m proud that we were able to find them when we fought.”
USC had an uneventful three-and-out, resulting in a punt that started Minnesota off at its 25-yard line.
The Golden Gophers proceeded to walk down the field, cool, calm, and calculated. On fourth down from the half line, Minnesota’s “tush push” worked on its second attempt, and Brosmer punched in his third rushing touchdown of the night to put Minnesota up 24-17 with just under one minute to play in the fourth quarter.
With the game on the line, no timeouts and 56 seconds to play, Moss was given one more shot to send the game to overtime or win it.
USC got down to the Minnesota 28, behind two 16-yard completions to Robinson and sophomore receiver Makai Lemon, as well as an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Minnesota.
Disaster then struck again for the Trojans, as Moss’ ball into the endzone with 15 seconds to play was intercepted by Minnesota in the end zone.
Ball game.
“We’re two plays away from probably being 5-0, but those plays happened, and we’ve had opportunities to win those games, and so we’ve put ourselves in those positions, which is hard to do on the road against quality teams,” Riley said. “But obviously, we’re frustrated that we haven’t finished them off.”
Next Saturday, USC will take on No. 7 Penn State in the Coliseum at 12:30 p.m.