USC defense exposed by Utah’s dynamic duo of Cam Rising and Dalton Kincaid

In the first quarter of Saturday’s memorable game in Salt Lake City, Cam Rising didn’t look very good. He threw an interception which was wiped away by a roughing-the-passer penalty. Later, he badly air-mailed a wide-open receiver on 3rd and 4. It was not the start Rising or Utah needed.

Apparently, what Rising needed was to fall behind by 14 points and develop a level of urgency which had been missing in previous games this season. Utah had to win this game to stay in the Pac-12 race. After falling behind 14-0, Rising and his teammates knew there was zero margin for error.

Scoring 43 points and winning on a 2-point try in the final minute? Rising and teammate Dalton Kincaid certainly answered the bell.

Here’s how the night unfolded for the USC defense:

FAMILIAR FORMULA

RARE BUT COSTLY

THE PLAY

CHINKS IN THE ARMOR

ALIGNMENT

ANGLES

UTAH URGENCY

NUMBERS

MORE NUMBERS

UTAH’S ADJUSTMENT

PLAY MIXTURE

SECOND HALF

A PROBLEM

THIS REALLY BITES

YIKES

https://twitter.com/AdamGrosbard/status/1581471005754609666

EXPOSED

CLUTCH PLAY

MOTIVATION

ANOTHER BOGUS PENALTY ON USC

BROCK HUARD CAN’T BELIEVE IT, EITHER

UH-OH

POIGNANT

WRENCHING

THE TRUTH

PAIN

BRUTAL

The really hard part of all this for USC is that on the Cam Rising 2-point run for the win, Eric Gentry was out of the game. Not having his presence on the field for that play is something which creates a hollow feeling for USC.

BOTTOM LINE NO. 1

Some games are going to be slugfests. Some games are going to be shootouts. This was a game where the winning team made more offensive plays, not more defensive plays. Utah made the final winning play, one more than USC did.

BOTTOM LINE NO. 2

We all said — throughout the season — that if an opposing offense played great, this USC defense was in trouble.

Utah, after a sluggish first quarter, played great offense in the final three quarters. USC will have a lot to look at on film. This game will need to be a powerful teaching tool for UCLA on Nov. 19.

Story originally appeared on Trojans Wire