South showdown at Utah on tap for Trojans
USC coach Clay Helton, before and after the Trojans’ 31-20 win over Colorado on Saturday, talked to his team about controlling its destiny.
A win on Saturday at Utah puts USC (4-2, 3-1 Pac-12) squarely in control of the South Division with what would be the Trojans’ third head-to-head win against a divisional opponent. However, Utah (4-2, 2-2) rolls in off its two most impressive performances of the season and has a similar opportunity to gain the upper hand in the South heading into the back-half of the campaign.
What’s more, the Utes have home-field advantage at Rice-Eccles Stadium, a venue at which USC has lost its last two visits.
Safety Marvell Tell III was on the roster for the most recent of those, a 28-27 loss in September 2016, which was USC’s last setback en route to the Rose Bowl that season.
Following last week’s win over Colorado, Tell was asked about the upcoming matchup. He said he had not looked ahead, but when prompted on the opponent and location, let out an emphatic, “At Utah? Ooh, yeah.”
Utah’s an opponent that would understandably elicit some excited, if not apprehensive responses from Trojans. Three of the last four meetings were decided by four points or fewer, including USC’s 28-27 victory a season ago in Los Angeles which was determined by a stopped two-point conversion attempt.
Utes starting quarterback Tyler Huntley missed that game due to injury. He’s healthy this time around and producing some of the best numbers of his career in the last two games. He completed 17-of-21 pass attempts for 199 yards with a touchdown in a 40-21 rout of Stanford on Oct. 6 and went 14-of-19 for 201 yards with two scores in last Friday’s 42-10 blowout of Arizona. The dual-threat Huntley also rushed for 64 yards and a touchdown against Arizona — two weeks removed from running for 88 yards and two touchdowns at Washington State.
Huntley’s improved production, especially in the passing game, has fueled just the second back-to-back 40-plus-point games Utah’s engineered in its eight seasons since joining the Pac-12.
Utah’s recent offensive resurgence comes at a time when injuries have piled up on the USC defense. The most recent and notable is that of preseason All-American linebacker/defensive end Porter Gustin, who suffered a fractured ankle against Colorado.
“(Utah is) a team, I feel, is playing as good as anybody in our conference right now,” Helton said. “We have a very athletic quarterback coming in with Huntley. We need to make sure we have an athlete (defending) their zone-read game, as well as pass rush. We may have to use a variety of packages. Thank goodness we have (defensive coordinator) Clancy (Pendergast) here.”