Los Angeles Times - 21.09.2019

D6 LATIMES.COM/SPORTS

AUG. 31

Fresno St.

31- 2 3

(1-0)

SEPT. 7

Stanford

W, 45-20

(2-0, 1-0)

SEPT. 20

Utah

W, 30-23

(3-1, 2-0)

SEPT. 28

@Wash.

12:30 p.m.,

Ch. 1 1

OCT. 12

@NDame

4:30 p.m.

Ch. 4

NOV. 23

UCLA

TBD

NOV. 16

@California

TBD

NOV. 9

@Ariz. St.

TBD

NOV. 2

Oregon

TBD

OCT. 25

@Colorado

6 p.m.

ESPN2

OCT. 19

Arizona

TBD

SEPT. 14

@BYU

L, 30-27 (OT)

(2-1)

UP NEXT >>>After its first trip went awry against Brigham Young, USC takes to the road again to face an even more challenging opponent in its own conference. Led by top transfer

quarterback Jacob Eason, Washington’s high-flying offense could pose a threat to an inexperienced secondary that hasn’t been tested all that much early.

USC GAME REPORT

USC 30, Utah 23

Utah ......................................7 3 7 6—23

USC.....................................14 0 7 9—30

First Quarter

USC—Vaughns 29 pass from Fink (McGrath kick),

12:57

UTH—Henry-Cole 17 run (Redding kick), 10:39

USC—St.Brown 31 pass from Fink (McGrath kick),

8:11

Second Quarter

UTH—FG Redding 38, 6:44

Third Quarter

USC—Pittman Jr. 77 pass from Fink (McGrath kick),

9:54

UTH—Fotheringham 2 pass from Huntley (Redding

kick), 3:47

Fourth Quarter

UTH—FG Redding 25, 11:57

USC—Safety (intentional grounding), 8:51

USC—Stepp 4 run (McGrath kick), 6:58

UTH—FG Redding 38, 6:44

STATISTICS

TEAM UTH USC

First downs ...................................28 16

Rushes-yards ..........................49-247 22-13

Passing.......................................210 368

Comp-Att-Int..........................22-30-0 23-32-1

Return Yards..................................15 135

Punts-Avg................................2-35.0 4-42.25

Fumbles-Lost................................1-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards........................16-120 11-117

Time of Possession ....................38:12 21:48

Individual Leaders

RUSHING: Utah, Brumfield 10-63, Huntley 18-60,

Henry-Cole 4-31, Dixon 4-30, Vickers 4-26, Moss 6-20,

Covey 2-13, Wilmore 1-4. USC, Malepeai 11-39, Stepp

3-11, Fink 2-(minus 6), (Team) 3-(minus 15), Carr 3-

(minus 16).

PASSING: Utah, Huntley 22-30-0-210. USC, Slovis

2-2-0-17, Fink 21-30-1-351.

RECEIVING: Utah, Brumfield 4-28, Vickers 3-38,

B.Thompson 3-28, Fotheringham 3-23, Covey 3-7,

Simpkins 2-20, Br.Kuithe 2-20, Dixon 1-38, Henry-Cole

1-8. USC, Pittman Jr. 10-232, St.Brown 5-68, Vaughns

4-49, Carr 2-7, Falo 1-12, Malepeai 1-0.

MISSED FIELD GOALS—Utah, Redding 41.

About 20 minutes into
Friday night’s live broadcast
of Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff ”
pregame show at the Colise-
um, the USC fans assembled
by the southwest tunnel got
their wish.
Their individual yells of
“Reggie!” had joined to be-
come a legitimate chant, and
their hero looked up during a
break on set to acknowledge
them.
Only, Reggie Bush had
forgotten which fingers to use
to properly execute a “Fight
On!” sign.
You couldn’t blame him
for being a little rusty.
Bush, the Trojans’ legend
who had to give back his 2005
Heisman Trophy when it was
revealed his family had re-
ceived impermissible ben-
efits during his time at USC,
hadn’t been welcome in the
place for nearly a decade af-
ter the NCAA banned him
from campus as part of its
sanctions. And he was in the

building Friday night only

because he had to perform

his new job as a college foot-

ball analyst.

The Fox camera quickly

panned to the fans, some of

whom wore their No. 5 jer-

seys and brought their mem-

orabilia from a bygone era.

The desire for a return to

past glory was a part of the

pregame spectacle too. The

crowd’s admiration volleyed

between Bush and Urban

Meyer, the former national

championship coach at Flor-

ida and Ohio State who is the

presumptive favorite of the

Trojans faithful to replace

current USC coach Clay Hel-

ton should he be fired after

this season.

It wasn’t long after Bush’s

botched “Fight On” — it

looked closer to “Hook ’em”

— that the fans rowdily

chanted “Hire Urban!”

Meyer, placed like Bush in

an awkward spot by his Fox

contract, did not look up

from his notes. A few minutes

later, he offered a brief half-

smile.

The whispers among fans

spoke louder than the chant.

“Give him all the money

he wants,” one said.

“Shouldn’t even be a

question,” said another.

This was one of those sce-

narios that could happen

only in college football — or

maybe only at USC? Matt

Leinart, also a Heisman win-

ner and Trojans legend, sat

between Bush and Meyer

and seemed nothing more

than a chaperone for two ce-

lebrities.

When the Trojans arrived

at the stadium and across

the field toward the tunnel,

they had to walk past the set.

Nobody was more tunnel-vi-

sioned than Helton, who did

not look up at the visitors.

In between rehearsing

sessions, Bush turned his

swivel chair around to look

on the field that used to be

his stage. What was he think-

ing about as the current Tro-

jans, who entered the game

at 2-1 with one more opportu-

nity to play for their embat-

tled coach, warmed up?

It was hard to know until

he revealed it during the

show.

“I see too many guys from

USC out here warming up

with their shirts off, other

guys with shirts on their

heads,” Bush said. “It doesn’t

look like a team. This is a

team sport. Put your shirt on.

You’re not undefeated. Put

some clothes on and look like

a football team.”

Bush, 34, sounded like a

member of the USC old

guard. And, later, when

asked for his pick, he chose

the Trojans, 24-21.

“I cannot pick against my

Trojans, and I will never do

it,” he said.

Meyer picked Utah, where

he was the head coach in 2003

and 2004, to win 28-24. And he

showed a pretty firm under-

standing of the school that

many want him to coach next

season.

“There are very few places

in America where you’re ex-

pected to win every game you

play,” Meyer said. “This is one

of those places. You have the

high school recruiting and all

the resources. ... This is a

huge game for USC tonight.”

Etc.

Starting cornerback

Isaac Taylor-Stuart missed

Friday night’s game after

spending most of the week in

the concussion protocol.

Freshman Chris Steele

started in his place. ... Senior

defensive end Christian

Rector, who sat out last

week with an ankle injury, re-

turned to USC’s defense Fri-

day night. ... Sophomore

wideout Amon-ra St. Brown

was able to play after dealing

with a sore foot throughout

the week. ... Sophomore cor-

nerback Greg Johnson was

cleared from the concussion

protocol earlier this week

and returned to his role as

starting slot corner.

NOTES

Fans relive past greatness, dream of future

By J. Brady McCollough

FORMER USCstars Reggie Bush, left and Matt

Leinart, center, talk to Urban Meyer on Fox show.

Marcio Jose SanchezAssociated Press

Then, like USC’s other
backup before him, Fink pro-
ceeded to steal the show,
launching deep ball after deep
ball down the field and leading
the Trojans to an improbable
30-23 victory over No. 10 Utah.
As Helton’s job and USC’s
season hung in the balance, it
was Fink, who finished with
351 yards and three touch-
downs, who unexpectedly
thrust them back into the
thick of the Pac-12 race. Slovis,
who suffered an apparent
head injury on that play, was
not medically cleared to re-
turn, leaving Fink at the helm.
It was a scenario few could
have imagined this summer.
The redshirt junior
quarterback had all but given
up on a future at USC. He en-
tered the transfer portal after
the spring and appeared to
settle on going to Illinois after
an official visit there. But ulti-
mately, Fink asked to return
for a final year in L.A., and Hel-
ton welcomed him back with
open arms.
Now, the USC coach is
surely glad he did.

“In a world where every-

body goes different places,

this one stayed for his family,

waiting for his moment, wait-

ing for his memory,” Helton

said, “and what a memory it

was tonight.”

Even as Fink fell to third on

the depth chart, behind Dan-

iels and Slovis, Helton coun-

seled him to stay ready. He re-

iterated to anyone who would

listen how each of the quarter-

backs competing for the start-

ing job could’ve played any-

where in the nation.

“Your time is coming,” Hel-

ton told Fink. “You just don’t

know when.”

On Friday, when that mo-

ment arrived, Fink was ready

to seize it. It was the kind of

performance, he said, that

he’d always expected.

“I don’t think this moment

was too big for me,” Fink said.

“Getting in today and show-

ing them what I can do, this is

what I really wanted to do by

staying here.”

As Utah’s punishing de-

fense stifled USC’s rushing at-

tack, giving up only 13 net

yards, it was left to Fink and

his fleet of receivers to move

the offense.

So they took to the air. Af-

ter missing his first pass, Fink

completed his next eight, in-

cluding two deep, first-quar-

ter touchdowns — first, to Ty-

ler Vaughns, then to Amon-ra

St. Brown, both dropped per-

fectly between Utah defensive

backs.

But as USC extended an

early lead on big plays from its

third-string quarterback,

Utah slowly grinded its de-

fense down. Even as star run-

ning back Zack Moss left with

an apparent shoulder injury,

the Utes continued to run over

the Trojans’ front, racking up

247 yards on the ground and

tiring them out by dominating

time of possession, a battle

they won by more than a full

quarter.

With a chance to take the

lead just before the half, Utah

running back Devin Brum-

field lost a fumble at the goal

line. It was the fourth of five

straight Utah drives ending in

USC territory, but all five

would yield only a single field

goal.

A litany of penalties

helped. While USC was called

for 11, Utah was flagged an in-

explicable 16 times.

Still, USC would need

more to put away the Pac-12

preseason favorite. Facing a

third down on its first drive af-

ter the half, Fink uncorked his

prettiest deep pass of the

night, finding Michael

Pittman Jr., who brushed off a

Utah defensive back on his

way to a highlight-reel, 77-

yard touchdown.

Pittman had played a ma-

jor role in convincing Fink to

stay at USC this summer.

On Friday, that connec-

tion was obvious, as Fink went

to the top Trojans receiver 10

times for 232 yards and a

score.

“The guy is a monster,”

Fink said. “You can’t guard

him. That goes with Amon-ra,

with Tyler Vaughns, with

Drake [London]. We’re

stacked all across the board,

and with weapons like that,

you can’t do anything about

it.”

But in the third quarter,

Utah finally made Fink pay for

his fearlessness with an inter-

ception. Three plays later, the

Utes scored, cutting the lead

to a single score.

USC’s much-maligned de-

fense stood strong from there,

however, putting the finishing

touches on the Trojans’ most

impressive victory of the

young season.

With Utah threatening to

take the lead, USC sent safety

Isaiah Pola-Mao on a blitz up

the middle, stopping scram-

bling Utah quarterback Tyler

Huntley in his tracks.

When Huntley tried to

scramble again one drive lat-

er, USC’s forced an errant

throw in the end zone, which

resulted in a safety.

“We needed every play,”

Helton said.

Fink’s 42-yard pass to

Pittman set up Markese

Stepp’s four-yard touchdown

run that made it 30-20. With

USC now standing atop the

Pac-12 South and the program

suddenly back on stable

ground, the one-time third-

string quarterback and near-

transfer had done quite

enough for one night.

USC RECEIVER Michael Pittman Jr. wins a jump ball with Utah’s Tareke Lewis for a 26-yard gain in the second quarter. Pittman caught 10 passes for 232 yards.

Luis Sinco Los Angeles Times

After Slovis goes down, Fink steps up in big way

[USC, from D1]