USC Football can't hold Dalton Kincaid, take first loss of the season

USC Football lost their Week 7 contest, 43-42 against Utah to drop them to 6-1 on the year. SC battled horrendous officiating, but also got bullied by Utes Tight End Dalton Kincaid all game. Kincaid had an absurd 16 catches for a god-like 234 receiving yards. He had a touchdown as well.

Nobody on SC's defense could figure him out, as he looked about as dominant as he could possibly be, even after he had to go down during the last drive of the game. He came back, and while he didn't score the game-winning touchdown, Utah's offense still got the job done.

Cameron Rising ran up the middle on fourth down for a rushing score, and then he scrambled for a two-point conversion after that to put Utah up 1 with 48 seconds left. After a few costly penalties from SC that put them in a spot where they couldn't end up getting into field goal range or scoring for a last-minute comeback win, SC lost by one point.

The offense dominated, even when Jordan Addison had to leave the game in the second half. The O put up 42 points, and 556(!) yards. The defense, however, surrendered 562 yards.

Two massive and incorrect roughing the passer calls going against the Trojans--one negating an interception in the first quarter, and another prolonging their game-winning drive--played a massive role in the defense's struggles. They were on the field much longer than they should have been.

USC Football's offense was able to match Dalton Kincaid's heroics, for the most part, but not enough to get the win.

USC Football QB Caleb Williams played out of his mind--averaging 9.1 yards per pass attempt for 381 total passing yards. He threw FIVE touchdown passes, and also toted the rock eight times for 57 rushing yards. That's an insane 7.1 rushing yards per carry. Travis Dye averaged 6.9 yards per carry, as he had 11 carries for 76 rushing yards. He put it in the end zone on one of his carries too.

Before Addison went down to a leg injury, he caught seven passes for 106 receiving yards and a touchdown, as well as rushing twice for 27 yards on the ground. Josh Falo had two receiving touchdowns on his two catches for 14 yards. There were others on offense who made important plays too, but the issue with this game was the defense.

At the end of the day, it wasn't just Kincaid who went nuts. Rising completed 30 passes out of his 44 attempts, and for 415 passing yards with two passing touchdowns. He also chipped in 11 carries for 60 yards and THREE rushing scores. He even had a catch for nine yards. That pass was from Utes receiver Devaughn Vele, who also had five catches for 62 receiving yards and a score on the day.

SC had no answers on defense. Standout LB for USC, Eric Gentry, suffered an injury in the fourth quarter and that hurt. Gentry forced a fumble that was recovered by the Trojans earlier in the contest. The defense will need to be better if they want to stay in the race for the Pac-12 Title Game.

This game was expected to be a dogfight, as if Utah lost, they would potentially be out of the running for the conference championship. The Utes were also wearing special helmets designed to honor the two players in their program who passed away last season. They were going to come out with all the motivation in the world, and in front of their home crowd in Salt Lake City.

When it happened, SC didn't know how to respond. They'll have quite a bit of work to do as they head into this upcoming bye week, and get ready to take on Arizona in another Pac-12 road matchup. The Wildcats are 3-4, but the Utah game proves that anything can happen to this SC squad when on the road.