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USC beats Utah as Pac-12 South race is suddenly wide open

By Patrick Schmidt

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Utah quarterback Travis Wilson threw three interceptions to Cameron Smith and the USC Trojans beat the Utes in impressive fashion.

The No. 3 team in the nation was an underdog against the 3-3 and unranked USC Trojans, but no matter how puzzling that was before the game started, the Utah Utes looked every bit the underdog as they were blown out by their Pac-12 South brethren by the score of 42-24.

Utah looked like their path to the Pac-12 Championship Game was all but a formality and a berth in the College Football Playoff hinging on that outcome. But after Travis Wilson threw three costly interceptions and the Utah defense had no answer for the Trojans offense, neither of those options look like a certainty any longer.

Wilson threw all three of his interceptions to Cameron Smith who returned one of them 54 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-14 with 1:07 left in the first half. That effectively sealed the fate of the Utes tonight who couldn’t stop JuJu Smith-Schuster or the USC duo of Ronald Jones II and Tre Madden in the backfield.

Smith-Schuster who is the best receiver in the Pac-12 had eight grabs for 143 yards and a touchdown while Jones and Madden combined for 139 yards and two scores on 34 carries.

USC quarterback Cody Kessler wasn’t spectacular but he did enough, completing 21 of 28 passes for 264 yards and a touchdown.

Utah’s Devontae Booker was limited to only 62 yards on 14 carries and this loss opens the door for USC, UCLA and Arizona State to sneak back into this race.

USC, UCLA and Arizona State have two losses compared to the one for Utah, but USC owns tiebreaker over Utah who hosts UCLA on Nov. 21. And don’t forget about Rich Rodriguez and the defending South champs Arizona who have games remaining with USC, Utah and Arizona State.

In other words, the rest of the Pac-12 South should be saying thank you to USC interim head coach Clay Helton and the Trojans for opening up the division race and setting up a fun finish in November. Helton is the seventh straight USC head coach to win in his home debut.

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