The only thing that could have made the Texas and USC 2006 rematch probably would have been a triple-overtime. Nonetheless, the Trojans and Longhorns, two of college football‘s standout programs lived up to hype.
Sure the game was plagued by turnovers (which only added to the excitement) and both teams didn’t really find their offensive stride until the second half (in part because of the turnovers), USC finally emerged as the victor when freshman walk-on Chase McGrath nailed a 43-yard field goal to give the Trojans a 27-24 win and their revenge.
This 43-yard field goal in double OT is the @OpusBank #12Best Moment. #TEXvsUSC pic.twitter.com/sGnPBxHtgv
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) September 17, 2017
However USC didn’t live and die on the leg of McGrath. Trojan QB Sam Darnold passed for 397 yards, three touchdowns and had to carry his team back from a deficit on more than one drive with very limited time.
After being intercepted by Texas’ DeShon Elliott and returned 38-yards for a touchdown, an unshaken Darnold returned to the field and delivered a TD strike to Ronald Jones III in the waning seconds of the first half to send USC to the locker room with a 14-7 lead.
Ronald Jones II takes the pass and goes 56 yards to the house as time expires in the first half! #USC leads 14-7! #TEXvsUSC pic.twitter.com/M1dnaLBY8x
— Chat Sports (@ChatSports) September 17, 2017
Likewise, Darnold found some magic once again to answer a late Longhorns touchdown.
After Texas QB Sam Ehlinger found Armanti Foreman for the 17-yard score giving the Longhorns a 17-14 lead with just 54 second left in the fourth quarter, Darnold marched his team down the field with no time outs to get McGrath into field goal range and hit the game tying 31-yard field goal as time expired.
But for as much credit as you can give USC for coming out on top in this dog fight, Texas can’t walk away from this loss too disappointed. They stormed into Colosseum and went toe-to-toe with the fourth best team in the country, almost came out on top and could take plenty of positives with them back to Austin despite the outcome.
First, after a comedic outing against Maryland in the opening week, the Texas defense rebounded in a big way intercepting Darnold twice and holding USC to 14 first half points at home. Not only that, the Longhorns kept the Trojans’ running game in check holding USC to just 71 yards on the ground. Granted Texas didn’t fare any better in their own rushing attack (68 yards on the ground) holding the Trojans to under 100 yards rushing is certainly an accomplishment and something to build off given the early struggles they’ve seen so far this season.
Then there was Ehlinger who in no way looked intimidated by the sold-out Coliseum.
The freshman QB completed 21/40 attempts for 298 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. And despite the mistakes, Ehlinger showed tremendous poise to overcome mistakes and give his team a great chance to win in an environment that could rattle the most seasoned college quarterback in the country.
With Texas falling to 1-2 and USC improving to 3-0 it certainly seems like these are two teams on two different paths heading into conference play. However for as bad as Texas looked against Maryland the opening week, last night’s showing should give the Longhorns something to build on going into their bye. Meanwhile, despite the perfect record thus far, USC is most definitely not a perfect team. They’re schedule is relatively light the rest of the way but will need to tighten up a bit after allowing 79 points over the first three weeks of the season and will need to rebound in their rushing attack.
