It looked innocuous enough. When UCLA punter Stefan Flintoft punted in the first quarter to USC, every Trojans blocker ran to one side of the field to set up blocks while the “return man” appeared to be setting up for a fair catch.
Only, the ball was punted to the other side of the field, and Michael Pittman Jr. was all by himself on the left sideline. He needed only to beat the punter to the end zone, which proved easy enough.
Whoopies.
#USC ran a beautiful fake punt return that led to a Michael Pittman 72-yard touchdown. pic.twitter.com/wa8Os2ABve
— Max Meyer (@TheMaxMeyer) November 19, 2017
That was a brilliantly executed bit of trickery, and it put the Trojans up over their Pac-12 rivals 7-0 early in this game.
