No. 24 Southern California rallied from down two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and snapped a two-game losing skid with a 50-49 road defeat of Pac-12 Conference counterpart California on Saturday in Berkeley, Calif.
USC (7-2, 5-1 Pac-12) trailed 43-29 after Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza rushed for a 1-yard touchdown with 14:06 remaining in the game.
The Trojans then scored 21 unanswered points to take a 50-43 lead with 3:33 remaining.
But Mendoza led the Bears on a 79-yard touchdown drive that culminated with a 13-yard scoring strike to Jaivian Thomas with 58 seconds remaining. Cal opted to go for the lead and 2-point conversion but couldn’t convert as Mendoza’s throw into the end zone fell incomplete.
Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams accounted for four touchdowns. He passed for 369 yards and two TDs and rushed for another two.
Jaydn Ott rushed for 153 yards and three touchdowns for Cal.
USC trailed 28-17 going into halftime that ensued in unusual fashion. Williams completed a fourth-and-11 pass to Lake McRee for 29 yards. However, officials declared the clock expired and both teams went to the locker room — but a second was added upon review.
The final play of the second quarter, a missed 33-yard Denis Lynch field-goal attempt, was run after intermission and just before the beginning of the third quarter.
The odd sequence set the tone for a roller-coaster second half in which Cal (3-5, 1-4) fell behind after giving up a pair of third-quarter USC touchdowns. But the Bears answered with two quick scores of their own, the second coming to kick off the fourth quarter and the 43-29 lead.
Mendoza capped Golden Bears drives of 75 and 54 yards with goal-line runs for touchdowns.
Mendoza was in on four total touchdowns with a pair of scoring throws: a 17-yarder to Trond Grizzell in the second quarter, and the connection with Thomas in the final minute of regulation. Mendoza was 25-of-39 passing for 292 yards.
Cal ultimately could not overcome a three-touchdown onslaught from USC in the fourth quarter, beginning with Williams’ goal-line touchdown run to cap a 75-yard drive.
MarShawn Lloyd rushed for nine of his 115 yards on a score set up after Tackett Curtis recovered a muffed punt deep in Cal territory. Lloyd also scored a touchdown on a 2-yard carry in the first quarter and finished with 72 yards on three receptions.
Austin Jones completed the Trojans’ comeback with a seven-yard touchdown, set up on Lloyd’s 56-yard reception from Williams.
–Field Level Media