5 Things: Tulane 46, USC 45
WeAreSC staffers Erik McKinney, Greg Katz and Marc Kulkin offered their 5 Things from Tulane beating USC in the Cotton Bowl, including Player of the Game, Play of the Game, Expectation Met, Surprise and Biggest Takeaway.
The USC Trojans suffered one of the more disappointing losses in recent memory on Monday afternoon, letting a 15-point lead slip away over the final minutes in a 46-45 loss to Tulane in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.
The Trojans held a 45-30 lead with just 4:30 remaining but watched the Green Wave make enough plays and capitalize on enough USC mistakes to complete the comeback with just nine seconds remaining.
Player of the Game
USC quarterback Caleb Williams and wide receiver Brenden Rice were terrific in this one. And Tulane running back Tyjae Spears was literally unstoppable for large parts of the game.
Play of the Game
Pick anything from the final 4:30 of the game and it likely directly contributed to the Tulane win. Tulane made some impressive plays on offense and defense. USC dropped the ball, literally, on special teams. And the Trojans couldn’t finish things out on either offense or defense.
Expectation Met
Spears was part of the expectation met as well. He came in with a reputation as one of the best tackle-avoiders in college football. On the other side, the USC defense had one of the highest missed-tackle numbers in the country. All Spears did was average more than 12 yards per carry on his way to 205 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
Surprise
Nobody thought the USC defense would flip a switch over the past four weeks and turn into a dominant group. But that it was that bad? 539 total yards bad? 46 points bad? 305 rushing yards bad? Watching it unfold and seeing how bad it was…that was surprising.
Biggest Takeaway
This offseason becomes a more interesting one now and all the focus will be on Lincoln Riley and what he does on the defensive side of the ball.
