USC falls in grueling Big Ten battle with Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS – The sun crept beneath the city-line, a natural glow painting a gold-coated crowd of thousands, taking up their rallying cry a half-mile from the roar of the Mississippi.

Row! Row! Row! 

And the Minnesota Golden Gophers swayed with P.J. Fleck’s anthem, and took the field stocky and patient, and the pace of USC’s Saturday night Big Ten road battle promptly slowed to a paddle. There were no downfield shots as the clock ticked into the second half, the wind sharp and brittle, Minnesota placing a cork firmly on the top of Lincoln Riley’s offense. The days of Pac-12 After Dark were long gone: this was Big Ten Nightmare Hours, a brawn-against-brawn clock-drain in the same type of game USC lost to Michigan two weeks ago.

If Riley made one thing clear last week after a win over Wisconsin — there was never a day he didn’t feel his program could buck up in the Big Ten.

“Like, we knew we could compete,” Riley said, then. “Now, you gotta go win.”

They lost.

They lost, 24-17, in a brutal late collapse where a so-very-stout defense was simply run into the ground by the patience of Minnesota running back Darius Taylor. They lost, as 11th-ranked USC’s offense couldn’t mount any downfield threat despite the valiant efforts of Woody Marks. And they lost, just the same as they’d fallen to Michigan, on another fourth-and-1 stand where a push came just shy and hearts broke on USC’s sideline.

It’s a loss that will haunt USC, more deeply than a valiant effort that came up short against Michigan, falling to a now-3-3 Minnesota program (1-2 Big Ten) as the Trojans’ pathway to a College Football Playoff gets squeezed. A loss to Penn State, next week, would mean the virtual end of those CFP hopes, after the program’s outlook shone with promise in a Week 1 win over LSU. And it was their own mistakes that doomed them, first in another slow offensive start and another scoreless third quarter, then one momentum-killing third-quarter brutality as Miller Moss hit the turf again with another turnover not of his own accord.

It seemed a problem for months, ever since the program did little to add to a thin tackle group after Riley admitted in the spring that USC’s depth there was a slight “concern.” Left tackle Elijah Paige had struggled through growing pains for weeks, and Mason Murphy had shown flashes but was beaten a few too many times by Big Ten defensive ends, and the worst mistake of all came as USC was driving up a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

With a third-and-4 at Minnesota’s 35, orchestrating an offense that had converted gutsy third down after gutsy third down, Moss dropped back to pass. He cocked. And just as he fired, Minnesota’s Jah Joyner — who’d dusted Murphy off the edge — walloped him, the ball flying from Moss’s hands directly into the arms of Golden Gophers linebacker Devon Williams.

It gave the sea of Minnesota fans at Huntington Bank Stadium life, and killed USC’s, and three minutes later the Golden Gophers had tied the game on a keeper from quarterback Max Brosmer. USC could manage but a feeble three-and-out to respond, and Minnesota continued to force the issue on a 12-play drive that worked all the way down to USC’s 1-yard line.

And after another goal-line stand, USC’s line fighting valiantly to contain Minnesota, Brosmer pushed in from the 1-yard line as bodies piled up on the turf. An entire game froze in time, two sidelines dueling in body language.

Minnesota, and Fleck, held hands in a T to the sky.

USC, and linebackers coach Matt Entz, pointed towards the other end zone, far away from a call that’d mean a USC loss.

The loudspeaker boomed.

“After review,” a referee proclaimed, “it is a touchdown.”

And the sky erupted in red fireworks, and fans erupted in roars, and a few minutes later USC players slunk into the tunnel as that sea of yellow stormed the field.

Taylor finished with 144 yards on 25 carries for Minnesota. Marks had 134 yards on 20 carries for USC. Moss finished 23-of-38 for 200 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions, one a deep shot to the end zone with 15 seconds left that sealed the game.