Cam Rising gives No. 20 Utah the lift it needs to stun No. 7 USC

By Bryan Fischer
FOX Sports College Football Writer

SALT LAKE CITY — Cam Rising was again the place he had been earlier than.

Needing a rating with the clock ticking down, the Utah quarterback knew what it was like to get to the brink of an enormous win and expertise heartbreak.

In the season opener in opposition to Florida, Rising was picked off on the 6-yard line after main a masterful drive into the pink zone. The loss coloured the Utes’ season as an preliminary disappointment given the alternative on the street at an SEC opponent. The frustration in the program was additional cemented in a lackluster effort getting blown out at UCLA final week.

Against No. 7 USC and in entrance of a report crowd at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday night time, nonetheless, Rising didn’t let historical past repeat itself. Instead, he authored an inconceivable 43-42 comeback that injected new life into the Pac-12 title race and allowed the reigning champions a sliver of hope at getting again to Las Vegas come December.

“Well, that definitely has to go down as considered one of the most fun video games in Rice-Eccles historical past,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham stated. “Cam Rising is a competitor, a warrior, you identify it.”

To say Rising did it all is likely to be an understatement. He ran for a team-high 60 yards and three touchdowns, together with the eventual game-winner with 48 seconds left and the ensuing two-point conversion. He handed for 415 yards and two scores, as properly. For good measure, he additionally caught a move for 9 yards on an evening that was drawing way more consideration to his reverse quantity.

Perhaps that’s the results of Rising not having 4 quarters stuffed with ‘wow’ moments like USC signal-caller (*20*) did. No matter, Rising walked off the turf with the solely stat that issues — a notch in the win column.

It didn’t harm Rising’s efficiency that he had a decent finish in Dalton Kincaid who was continually operating free in opposition to a cardinal and gold protection that lead the nation in sacks and turnover margin coming in. The senior caught all 15 passes thrown his method to the tune of 217 yards, not to point out a landing in the third quarter that tied the recreation after the Utes had been looking at a two-score deficit.

And if Kincaid wasn’t rumbling down the discipline to transfer the sticks, he was often drawing quite a few defensive flags to lengthen drives, too.

As a outcome, Utah attracts degree with USC at 3-1 in convention play, leaving No. 11 UCLA and No. 12 Oregon as the convention’s solely undefeated groups. The Bruins and Ducks will meet in Eugene subsequent week, guaranteeing that considered one of them might be knocked from these ranks. 

The field-storm-producing comeback was all the extra magical for the dwelling facet, contemplating what they had been up in opposition to in a USC group eying a spot in the College Football Playoff amid a sizzling begin to the Lincoln Riley period in Los Angeles.

Utah followers storm the discipline

The No. 20 Utah Utes wasted no time speeding the discipline after beating the No. 7 USC Trojans.

Williams’ numbers in the finish — 25-for-42 for 381 yards and 5 touchdowns, plus 57 yards speeding — might not have been fairly as stellar as Rising’s, however they had been indicative of his means to carry the Trojans down the discipline when issues weren’t going to script. The Heisman Trophy contender opened the recreation with three straight journeys to the finish zone, together with a second-quarter rating that noticed him pirouette out of a sack, backpedal like a Nineteen Fifties quarterback and ultimately purchase sufficient time to hit freshman Kyron Hudson.

In the finish, it wasn’t sufficient at considered one of the Pac-12’s least hospitable venues as the dwelling facet gained their twelfth straight at Rice-Eccles. 

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Bryan Fischer is a school soccer author for FOX Sports. He has been overlaying faculty athletics for practically twenty years at shops corresponding to NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Yahoo! Sports and NFL.com amongst others. Follow him on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.

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