LOS ANGELES — The final dress rehearsal was dragging, the last kinks still being ironed out ahead of next week’s consequential crosstown showdown, when Tuli Tuipulotu burst around the edge and closed the curtains on Colorado himself.
Little about the past month, outside of the No. 8 affixed next to its name, had suggested USC was ready for the bright lights and the big expectations that awaited next week at the Rose Bowl. In consecutive games, California and Arizona had pushed the Trojans to the brink. Now Colorado, a Pac-12 doormat and one of the worst teams in college football, was pushing them around, too.
It wasn’t until Tuipulotu forced his way into a collapsing pocket early in Friday’s second quarter and flung the football loose that USC found it could push back. It kept pushing and pushing and pushing from there, until its backups applied one final shove for good measure in a 55-17 victory.
After a frustrating first quarter, USC’s defense turned in one of its most impressive performances in months, albeit against a team that’s scored fewer than 128 other teams in college football this season. It held Colorado to 158 yards over the final three quarters, notched three sacks and forced two turnovers.
USC might’ve walked away encouraged by its smoothest victory in months, if its star running back hadn’t left the field Friday night on an injury cart, with his left leg in a cast.
Travis Dye had been one of the strongest voices in the Trojans’ locker room all season. As he lay on the grass, writhing in pain, the Coliseum crowd fell silent. The USC sideline emptied as he was loaded onto the cart. When the cart took off for the tunnel, the crowd roared in support.
After the game, USC coach Lincoln Riley said Dye is expected to miss the rest of the season because of the injury. Riley added he expects Dye to be on an NFL team next year.
“It shook us all a little bit,” Riley said. “It sucks.”
Dye’s injury loomed over the rest of the proceedings Friday, even as the Trojans piled on score after score, tallying 531 yards.
Quarterback Caleb Williams wasn’t at his best, but still threw for 268 yards and three touchdowns. With Dye out, No. 2 back Austin Jones led USC with 113 all-purpose yards and a touchdown.
Both will have to be at their best next week, up against a stingy UCLA defense.
Nothing about USC was its best to start Friday. Williams and the USC offense opened completely out of sorts. Two of the Trojans’ first three drives ended in three-and-outs. The other ended with a Colorado interception, wrestled from the hands of receiver Brenden Rice. The pick was just Williams’ second of the season — and only the second turnover for the Trojans overall this season.
Still, it ended up yielding more points than any other USC drive in the opening quarter. On the next play, Colorado quarterback J.T. Shrout, under pressure, threw away a pass from the end zone while still in the pocket. Intentional grounding was called, and two points were put on the board, courtesy of USC’s defense.
After a frustrating start, the Trojans trailed Colorado, 3-2. Their offense had just eight yards, and their quarterback had completed just one for six passes for two yards.
But those would flip in a flash after that, as Williams hit Kyle Ford once to convert on third-and-long, then again. The spark was enough to kick-start USC’s struggling offense, which mounted a 12-play touchdown drive, capped by a Williams’ keeper for a two-yard touchdown.
The sack and forced fumble from Tuipulotu put the ball almost immediately back in the hands of USC’s offense. Barely two minutes after his first score, Williams was left unattended, strolling untouched into the end zone for a second, extending a lead over Colorado that would quickly grow from there.
