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LOS ANGELES — It was almost as if Utah and USC swapped places during halftime.
Utah excelled in the first half, while USC stole the spotlight in the second half.
The Utes came into the Coliseum roaring, capitalizing from the Trojans’ mistakes. Utah went into intermission confident with a 21-7 advantage.
In eerie fashion, the score was nearly the same in the second half — the only difference being in the Trojans’ favor and not that of the Utes. USC scored 21 second-half points, while Utah only recorded six, to secure the come-from-behind win.
“There really weren't a lot of adjustments,” USC head coach Clay Helton said of his team’s strategy.
Helton said the Trojans didn’t change their game plan at halftime because mistakes were the reason things weren’t going in their favor. If you keep doing it and eliminate the mistakes, we’ll be right back in this game, he said.
“He obviously approached us and got us going,” USC linebacker Cameron Smith said of Helton’s halftime talk. “The message was to go out there and have fun. We started out pretty flat on both sides of the ball and that’s not how football should be played. It kind of revamped us.”
Helton didn’t want his team to think too much about playing differently in the second half.
“Don’t change and try to make magic out there,” Helton said to his team.
And as if it was magic, that’s just what happened.
The first half turnover-prone Trojans cleaned up their errors. They finally gained momentum as Utah’s energy drained.
Utah had 271 total offensive yards at halftime, ahead of USC’s 262. The Trojans added 270 yards in the second half, while the Utes only managed 165.
“You look up and you get 262 yards on offense and only seven points. We were beating ourselves in the first half,” Helton said.
Utah’s defense continually allowed USC quarterback Sam Darnold to extend drives and convert third downs. The Trojans went 6-for-8 on third downs in the second half, including a 17-yard touchdown pass to cut the Utes’ lead to seven points.
It was clear Utah’s defense was wearing down in the latter quarters. Utah’s offense stalled and struggled to regain its first-half confidence. With the offense having a hard time staying on the field, the defense didn’t get much time to rest, hurting the unit's performance.
“You start to feel the defensive line wearing down. It was hard sledding early in the run game and all of sudden they started to pop,” Helton said.
USC found a way to win a critical game and stays atop the Pac-12 South. The Trojans proved football isn’t about how you start, it’s how you finish.
“You saw a team that came out and fought. That’s the definition of Fight On,” Helton said. “Great job by our team. Players win games. Our players made decisions to define our football team there in the second half in a critical conference win.
