USC handed first loss of season in Utah shootout
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Paolo UggettiESPN
SALT LAKE CITY — Caleb Williams was feeling the salt on top of the wound. As the sophomore quarterback answered questions following No. 7 USC‘s first loss of the season — 43-42 to No. 20 Utah on Saturday night — he could hear the fans inside what had been a sold-out Rice Eccles Stadium still cheering.
“I hate losing,” said Williams, who accounted for 438 yards of offense. After the game, cameras showed him crying as he walked off the field. “I really hate it, so I had a little bit of emotion.”
The first loss of the Lincoln Riley era transpired in exactly the type of game the Trojans have expected to win given their high-powered offense: a shootout. But as mistakes and injuries piled up and Utah’s offense put up 562 yards, it became too much for USC to overcome.
“We didn’t play as clean on all three sides as we wanted to,” Riley said. “It came down to they made one more play, or we made one more mistake. We were one inch away on several occasions and, honestly, several times very close to running away with it.”
After USC led 21-7 in the first half and seemed to have the game in control, Utah unleashed a 36-21 scoring run that culminated in a touchdown and successful 2-point conversion by quarterback Cameron Rising that put the Utes up 43-42 with 48 seconds left. Riley said postgame he believed that was plenty of time for USC to win the game, but the offense failed to cross midfield as time expired.
“Until the last second, I thought we should have won the game,” running back Travis Dye said. “It’s a tough pill to swallow.”
On a night when USC’s offense still scored 42 points, USC’s defense could not keep up with the combination of Rising and tight end Dalton Kincaid (234 receiving yards), and the Trojans suffered self-inflicted mistakes on both sides of the ball. Those mistakes included plenty of flags. The Trojans had 12 penalties for 93 yards, and though the officiating was a topic of much discussion, Riley shied away from putting the loss entirely on that.
“The officiating was really poor tonight, but we still should have won the game,” Riley said. “You’re going to have some nights where the calls don’t go your way, and they certainly did not tonight. That’s not an excuse; it was just another thing we had to overcome.”
USC (6-1, 4-1) also lost two important starters to injury Saturday night. Both star wide receiver Jordan Addison and linebacker Eric Gentry left the game with apparent lower-body injuries. Both returned to the sideline without pads on, and Addison was carrying crutches. Riley did not offer an update on either.
“We’re supposed to get it done no matter what,” Dye said. “It’s not a single guy this loss is on, it’s not a single call.”
The matchup against Utah (5-2, 3-1) had been much anticipated, one that Williams said he’s had circled on his calendar since before the season, one that Dye said was personal given he has never beaten the Utes in Utah. It was supposed to be a measuring stick for a Trojans team that hadn’t been tested by a ranked team yet, and in an ideal world for USC, it was supposed to be proof that this team could be turned into a legitimate contender overnight. Instead, the result left Riley and Co. seething and ready to suit up again.
“I’m pissed right now because we lost,” Riley said. “S—, I’m ready to go practice right now.”
Riley’s message postgame was one of leaning on experience. As he pointed out, he and some of his staff from Oklahoma have been in this position before and believe that this loss does not determine what the rest of the season might be.
When defensive lineman Nick Figueroa was asked how confident he was that USC could still accomplish all of its goals despite the loss, he didn’t hesitate.
“Extremely confident,” he said.
Riley expressed the same sentiment. “If we handle this like I think we will,” he said. “We got a real shot.”
Riley and the Trojans now head into a bye week still hoping for a Pac-12 conference title and more — but without a margin for error.
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
Vancouver Canucks right wing Brock Boeser is not expected to play in Game 7 of their second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday because of a blood-clotting issue, a source told ESPN, confirming a report.
There’s no timeline for his return to action. The Canucks had no comment on Boeser’s status.
Boeser didn’t skate in practice Sunday. Coach Rick Tocchet would only say at a media availability that “he needed the maintenance day.”
Boeser, 27, leads the Canucks in goals (7) and is tied for the lead in points (12) during the postseason. He established career highs in goals (40), points (73) and games played (81) during the regular season.
The Canucks winger has had some MVP moments during their playoff run. His hat trick in Game 4 against the Nashville Predators led them to a comeback win. Boeser’s three points in the first period of Game 3 led Vancouver to a win over Edmonton.
It’s the second significant injury for Vancouver in the playoffs after a regular season of relatively good health for the team’s core players. Starting goaltender Thatcher Demko, a finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best netminder, hasn’t played since Game 1 of the first round because of a knee injury. Edmonton won Game 6 at home Saturday night to force Monday’s Game 7, the only seventh game of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The winner faces the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference finals.
The Boeser injury news was first reported by Vancouver-based hockey journalist Irfaan Gaffar.
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes re-signed coach Rod Brind’Amour and his staff to multiyear contracts, keeping one of the best in the NHL behind the bench around for the long term.
The team announced the re-signings Sunday for Brind’Amour, assistants Jeff Daniels and Tim Gleason, goaltending coach Paul Schonfelder and video coach Chris Huffine.
“Rod has been instrumental to the success we’ve had over the last six seasons,” team president and general manager Don Waddell said. “Ever since he joined the organization 24 years ago, Rod has embodied what it means to be a Hurricane. We hope to keep him a Hurricane for life.”
Brind’Amour was in the final year of a deal reached in 2021, when he was the winner of the Jack Adams Award as the league’s top coach. His status had become a talking point around the NHL as jobs changed hands, though Brind’Amour — as well as Waddell — had expressed confidence that a deal would get done.
“I never had a doubt in my mind he [would] come back,” Carolina center Sebastian Aho said earlier in the day when asked about the reports of a deal. “Not surprised, I would say.”
Brind’Amour took over in 2018 to lead a franchise that had missed the playoffs for nine straight years. The Hurricanes have gone to the playoffs six times in as many seasons under the captain of Carolina’s 2006 Stanley Cup winner. Carolina has also won at least one series in each of the past six postseasons, marking the first time a team has accomplished that since the Detroit Red Wings did it from 1995 to 2000. The Canes also reached the Eastern Conference finals twice in the past six seasons.
Carolina finished three points behind the New York Rangers for the Metropolitan Division title and Presidents’ Trophy (presented to the league’s top regular-season team), another season in which it ranked among the NHL’s top teams with an aggressive forechecking style.
The Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders in five games in Round 1 then lost to the Rangers in a six-game second-round series after falling in a 3-0 hole.
Brind’Amour, 53, arrived in Raleigh in a January 2000 trade from the Philadelphia Flyers and played there until his retirement in 2010. He then spent seven seasons as an assistant coach before taking over as a first-time head coach.
Multiple players were asked earlier Sunday about Brind’Amour’s status during end-of-season interviews. None expressed concern that he wouldn’t return or that it had been any type of distraction.
“He’s one of the main pieces that turned this organization around from where it was when I first got here,” defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. “So I think anyone would want him to stay as well. I know he wants to be here. I’m confident it’ll get done.”
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