USC handed first loss of Lincoln Riley era with defeat at Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Caleb Williams was feeling the salt on top of the wound. As the sophomore quarterback answered questions following No. 7 USC's first loss of the season — 43-42 to No. 20 Utah on Saturday night — he could hear the fans inside what had been a sold-out Rice Eccles Stadium still cheering.

«I hate losing,» said Williams, who accounted for 438 yards of offense. After the game, cameras showed him crying as he walked off the field. «I really hate it, so I had a little bit of emotion.»

The first loss of the Lincoln Riley era transpired in exactly the type of game the Trojans have expected to win given their high-powered offense: a shootout. But as mistakes and injuries piled up and Utah's offense put up 562 yards, it became too much for USC to overcome.

«We didn't play as clean on all three sides as we wanted to,» Riley said. «It came down to they made one more play, or we made one more mistake. We were one inch away on several occasions and, honestly, several times very close to running away with it.»

After USC led 21-7 in the first half and seemed to have the game in control, Utah unleashed a 36-21 scoring run that culminated in a touchdown and successful 2-point conversion by quarterback Cameron Rising that put the Utes up 43-42 with 48 seconds left. Riley said postgame he believed that was plenty of time for USC to win the game, but the offense failed to cross midfield as time expired.

«Until the last second, I thought we should have won the game,» running back Travis Dye said. «It's a tough pill to swallow.»

On a night when USC's offense still scored 42 points, USC's defense could not keep up with the combination of Rising and tight end Dalton Kincaid (234 receiving yards), and the Trojans suffered