Click here for the recap and final stats.
Click here for the Rapid Reaction.
Click here for the post-game press conference.
Signature Drive
All season long, USC has preached one word over and over again, "FINISH." With the ball and the lead, the Trojans buried the Bruins on an 11-play touchdown drive, burning away 6:46 of the fourth quarter, by running the ball 10 consecutive times before QB Cody Kessler capped it with a pass to TE Taylor McNamara for the game-sealing six. Helton did not dare call a pass as the offensive line exhorted him to stick with the power run. "It might've been a mutiny," joked Helton. "We'll just keep on running power until they stop it." RB Justin Davis carried the load on the drive, finishing the game with 130 yards on 25 carries. "We just played physical and blasted them away every play until they stopped coming," said the junior tailback. "It was beautiful."
Every Rosen Has Its ThornsUCLA freshman QB Josh Rosen got off to a good start until the Trojans turned up the heat late in the second quarter and harassed him into the game-changing mistakes. He had been sacked a league-low 11 times coming into the contest, but USC took him down three times and forced a strip-sack scoop-and-score as well as two interceptions. "Once the defensive line started getting more pressure on him, we felt like we could get more aggressive in coverage," said OLB Su'a Cravens. "It turned into a couple interceptions." Helton praised his defense for following the game plan to perfection. "We really felt going into the game that we had to get the quarterback off his spot," he said. "Great effort by our defense, I can't commend them enough."
Scoring from Everywhere
The Trojans scored on offense, defense and special teams in a complete performance. "I am the biggest fan of non-offensive touchdowns maybe in the history of college football," said Helton with a big smile. "Those are game-changing plays." Down 14-13, Adoree' Jackson gave the Trojans the halftime lead by returning a punt 42 yards for a touchdown. Helton called Jackson "one of the more special players of my entire coaching career." Down 21-20, Rasheem Green gave USC the lead for good, picking up Claude Pelon's forced fumble and running it in from 31 yards out.
Biggie Class
On a night when Green became the sixth member of this freshmen class to score a touchdown and RB Ronald Jones II set the school's freshman rushing record for a single season, freshman CB Iman "Biggie" Marshall stole the show with a pair of interceptions. Coming off maybe his worst game this year at Oregon, he bounced back with undoubtedly his best performance. "I needed some type of failure to go back in the lab and ponder on what my mistakes were and see what I needed to work on," said Marshall. "That's what I did this week in practice and then I came out ready." Helton knows that Marshall earned this moment thanks to his work ethic. "I give him credit. He works daily to perfect his craft and get better," he said about the freshman corner. "We told him, 'Just keep playing. Your work is going to show up.' And man, it showed up today."
Leaving a Legacy
On the other end of the spectrum, the 2015 senior class will go out as champions. For Kessler and the other veterans, this signature win was a long time coming. "Our seniors are very special people and Cody is right in there with them," said Helton. "They have kind of taken us out of the darkness here and brought us into the light." Kessler finished 15/26 for 175 yards and 2 TDs plus a rushing touchdown. RB Tre Madden (47 all-purpose yards), P Kris Albarado (40.1 yards per punt), PK Alex Wood (two made field goals) and DE Claude Pelon (strip-sack) were among the Senior Day heroes.
Pac-12 Championship
The Trojans are not done yet. USC will square off with Stanford, the Pac-12 North winners, on Saturday at 4:45 or 5 p.m. at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. Click here for ticket info. The Cardinal defeated USC, 41-31, way back in September, but this is a different Trojan team. "They really don't know what they've got coming, but we know Stanford has been playing great ball too," said Davis about the rematch. "We just have to bring what we did today to the table for the next game." Helton's game plan will be very different than Steve Sarkisian's as he is focused on trying "to out-rush our opponent and not turn the ball over. That's going to be the formula going up there." USC held the ball for a Stanford-esque 40:01 to UCLA's 19:59 today.
Here are the highlights:
