No. 4 USC overcomes Texas in double overtime

Is this the game in which the Longhorns turned the corner? Only time will tell

By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

LOS ANGELES, Cal. – If there was any question that the Texas football team is completely different in virtually every aspect of the game than it was the past three seasons – heck, even from the first game of this season – then the Longhorns’ 27-24 double overtime loss Saturday to No. 4 USC should be evidence enough to convince even the most skeptical of Doubting Thomases.

Yes, Texas left the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum without a win but the effort by the Longhorns even elicited a standing ovation from the mostly-pro-Trojan crowd of 84,714 on this glorious Indian Summer evening in a setting a stone’s throw from Hollywood.

The Longhorns couldn’t produce the feel-good ending [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]that the nearby movie studios love to market, but anyone who saw this game, in person or the national television broadcast, knows they got their money’s worth.

The game came down to the foot of USC kicker Chase McGrath, a freshman walk-on, who nailed a 43-yard field goal that proved the difference in a game that swung back and forth and back again in the two overtime periods. McGrath was able to win the game because teammate Christian Rector pulled the ball away from Texas freshman quarterback San Ehlinger as he was straining for extra yards near the goal line in the Longhorns’ possession in second overtime, denying Texas a chance at a touchdown or a field goal.

Both teams scored touchdowns in the first overtime, with USC’s Sam Darnold (28 of 49 for 397 yards) hitting Deontay Burnett for a 25-yard score before Ehlinger passed 3 yards to fellow freshman Cade Brewer in Texas’ turn on offense.

Texas head coach Tom Herman said that coming close is not an adequate result, but insisted that his new team had no reason to feel shame over the outcome.

“It’s amazing how many mistakes you can overcome with attitude and with effort,” Herman said.  “We made our fair share. There are no moral victories in college football. They don’t put a loss in parentheses. But we can hold our head high and learn from all of the good that came from this game. I think it says a lot about how far we’ve grown up as a team in the last two weeks.”

Texas falls to 1-2 on the season, but might be the best two-loss team in the nation right now. Ehlinger finished 21 of 40 for 298 yards but had two interceptions and two lost fumbles.

“We are finally understanding that we need to play every game like a championships game,” Texas linebacker Malik Jefferson said. “We needed to find that out and go out and find our identity. We preached that last week and we proved to ourselves how to work hard for each other.”

USC improves to 3-0 and won its 12th consecutive game, its longest since also winning 12 straight games in 2008-09. The Trojans have also won 12 consecutive home games, their longest home winning streak since 2007-09.

USC’s win was its fifth in six meetings against Texas. USC’s loss to Texas in the 2006 BCS title game was later vacated (as were 14 wins that season) due to NCAA penalties, by direction of NCAA policy.

The Texas defense did its part — and more — in the first half, holding the potent USC offense to 14 points, and it would have been even less except for a mind-numbing breakdown on the final play before halftime.

The Longhorns denied USC on fourth down conversions twice in the first quarter and allowed no points on two other possessions that started inside Texas territory, once when McGrath yanked a 46-yard field goal attempt wide left.

But a third chance for USC that started at the Texas 37-yard-line after an uncharacteristically bad punt from All-America Michael Dickson from his end zone led to the first points of the game. Darnold, buying time in the pocket as the Texas defense clawed toward him, stood tall and found Burnett running on the back line of the end zone and hit him with a 15-yard touchdown pass with 2:40 to play in the half, giving the Trojans a 7-0 lead.

As was the case for most of the first half, the Texas offense could do little on its ensuing possession, as Ehlinger was sacked on three straight downs after hitting Collin Johnson on a remarkable, back-shoulder 28-yard pass.

But the Trojans decided they wanted more and the Longhorns’ defense — in the person of Deshon Elliott —  made the Trojans pay. Elliott snatched a tipped Darnold pass just before it hit the turf and returned it 38 yards for the tying touchdown, leaving just 19 seconds in the half.

That’s when the Longhorns made their only real mistake on defense in the half. Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando sent three defensive backs almost to the other end of the field, a full 40 yards off the line of scrimmage, as Darnold took the snap and went back to pass from his own 44 on the half’s final play. He hit a wide-open Ronald Jones in stride as he raced across the field without a defender within 10 yards of him.

Jones picked up a picket fence of blockers as he raced to the near corner of the end zone and just beat Elliott to the pylon for a stunning 56-yard touchdown that handed the Trojans a 14-7 lead at intermission.

USC outgained Texas, 239-90, in the first half, with 76 of the Longhorns’ yards coming on just two passes to Johnson — a 48-yard hookup of UT’s first offensive snap and the aforementioned 28-yard connection near the end of the half. The Longhorns gained just 15 yards combined on its other 25 plays in the half, had 17 rushes for 1 yard and suffered four sacks and six tackles for a loss.

Given those statistics, it was a miracle that the Longhorns were even still in the game.

The Longhorns mounted their best offensive drive of the game on the opening possession of the third quarter, using a 24-yard pass from Ehlinger to Johnson to set the table for a 39-yard field goal by Joshua Rowland to cut the USC lead to 14-10 with 9:30 to play in the quarter.

The UT defense kept USC in check throughout the third and most of the fourth quarters. Texas took over at its own 9-yard line with 5:14 to play and drove the length of the field in 14 plays to take a 17-14 lead on Ehlinger’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Armanti Foreman with 45 seconds to play. Ehlinger had three key plays on the march before the scoring hookup that gave Texas the lead: a 2-yard keeper to convert a fourth down, a 47-yard pass to Johnson to move the Horns to the USC 28 and an 11-yard pass to Foreman to convert another fourth down.

All that stood between the Longhorns and the biggest upset since the Oklahoma game two years ago was 45 seconds and a few more defensive stops, but the end of the halves is when Texas had its most difficulties in this game. Darnold was at his best in those final seconds as well, and led the Trojans to the Texas 13 seven play before USC settled for a 31-yard field goal on the final play of regulation to send the game into overtime.

That’s when things got really good. But the Trojans had the last laugh.

The Longhorns are off next Saturday before traveling to Iowa State for a Thursday night game Sept. 28.

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