USC football: 3 takeaways from Trojans’ high-scoring win over Colorado

After jumping out to a 34-14 lead in the first half, USC football had to hold off a Colorado comeback on Saturday to win 48-41. Here’s what we learned from a huge Pac-12 shootout.

1. Coach Prime is not a gimmick

At halftime of this game, Colorado had been beaten in its previous six quarters of play by a score of 76-20. After a hot start to 2023, it seemed as though the elite competition in this stretch of the Buffs’ schedule had beaten them down and exposed some core weaknesses in Deion Sanders’ team.

Then the Buffs fought back.

Colorado outscored USC in the second half by a score of 27-14. Anthony Hankerson found paydirt in the third quarter, and Shedeur Sanders threw for three scores, including one with 1:43 left to bring the Buffs within a touchdown of the Trojans.

There was no shame in losing to Oregon, and there’s no shame in losing to USC. After winning just a single game a year ago, 2023 is already a success for Colorado. Their refusal to give up on Saturday showed just how much Deion has changed the mentality of this program.

2. Caleb Williams was amazing yet again

He does something special on a weekly basis, and that was no different on Saturday. Against Colorado, Caleb Williams showed once again why he is the frontrunner in the Heisman race.

In this high-profile affair, Williams finished 30-of-40 for 403 yards and an astounding six touchdown throws. Those weren’t just easy tosses, Williams made some insane throws on Saturday.

It’s easy to feel like a broken record when discussing Williams, but all the hype is true. On the broadcast, Joel Klatt said Williams would upgrade several NFL teams today if he were on the roster.

Before Saturday, Williams already had 1,200 yards, 15 touchdowns, and no interceptions. He threw one pick on Saturday, a minuscule blemish on a special 2023 season.

It’s extremely likely that Williams will be a Chicago Bear come this time next year, and that franchise doesn’t exactly have a great track record with nurturing quarterbacks. While Williams is here at the college level and has competent offensive coaching, it’s important to appreciate his greatness.

3. No one loves Colorado and Coach Prime like Gus Johnson

The guy who complains about announcer bias is usually the most annoying guy to talk football with, but on rare occasions they are right. Most television commentators in the sport do a great job riding the line of neutrality, and while most announcers have more familiarity with some programs than others, they typically do a good job of hiding it.

Then, there’s Gus Johnson with Coach Prime and Colorado.

Gus has been one of the best play-by-play guys in the sport, but in 2023, he seems to have become a pretty one-sided cheerleader for the Buffaloes. It’s been an embarrassing mark on an otherwise tremendous broadcasting career.

On Saturday, USC tailback Marshawn Lloyd had a spectacular touchdown run to open the game, and Gus sounded flat-out bored.

Meanwhile, when Colorado found the end zone, Gus expressed no shortage of excitement:

Gus has been a universally beloved announcer before this season, so the growing criticism on X has been especially striking to see.

There’s no shame in being excited about what Coach Prime has done at Colorado, but calling the national television broadcast comes with an expectation of neutrality. Johnson has not met that expectation in 2023.