A legacy-defining night for Cam Rising left all roads back to the Pac-12 championship game open for the University of Utah.
Rising’s two-point conversion keeper with 48 seconds left capped the scoring on a night where the 20th-ranked Utes weren’t good on defense, but were good enough for a critical 43-42 win over the No. 7 Trojans in front of a Rice-Eccles Stadium-record crowd of 53,609.
The conversion came after Rising’s 1-yard keeper with 48 seconds left n fourth-and-goal from the 1 brought the Utes to within one at 42-41. The fifth-year junior finished with 475 yards of total offense, including a career-high 415 through the air.
Trojans sophomore quarterback Caleb Williams finished 25 for 41 for 385 yards and five touchdown passes. His 20-yard touchdown pass to Michael Jackson III with 6:15 remaining gave the No. 7 Trojans (7-0, 5-0 Pac-12) a 42-35 lead.
Rising’s 1-yard keeper on first-and-goal of a penalty-filled drive marked his second rushing touchdown of the night, tying the game at 35 with 10:55 to play.
On a night where Utah’s defense was mostly nonexistent, Rising and the offense were going to have to match USC’s explosive passing attack.
For most of the third quarter, the Utes appeared ready to do just that.
With Utah trailing, 28-21, out of the halftime locker room, Rising accounted for all 75 yards of a game-tying scoring drive, which included a 9-yard reception from Devaughn Vele, the first of his career. A 4-yard touchdown pass to Dalton Kincaid knotted the score at 28 at the 12:02 mark of the third quarter.
Seeing increased defensive attention with Brant Kuithe out for the season, Kincaid busted loose Saturday, finishing with 15 catches on 15 targets for 217 yards and the touchdown.
USC took the lead right back via a Josh Falo 11-yard touchdown pass from Caleb Williams, and just as it appeared Utah would again match the Trojans, momentum swung.
Again beginning at his own 25, Rising again engineered things deep into USC territory, including a 3-yard run on fourth-and-2 that featured his second effort to pick up the third yard. On third-and-3 from the Trojans’ 28, Rising hit running back Micah Bernard over the middle inside the 10.
Bernard turned, got inside the 5, took on defenders, and fumbled after he got popped by linebacker Eric Gentry. USC recovered the fumble, but was forced to punt on the ensuing drive.
The Tribune will update this story.
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