RISING TO THE OCCASION

After a slow start, Utah overwhelms USC and its hobbled quarterback for a 47-24 victory in title game.

Utah quarterback Cameron Rising passes for 310 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Utes to a 47-24 victory over No. 4 USC in the Pac-12 Conference championship game Friday night in Las Vegas. See sports,

Las Vegas • The deafening cheers you heard on Friday night didn’t come from Allegiant Stadium, but rather Columbus, Ohio.

The University of Utah, down two scores early, charged back behind another defining effort from Cam Rising and a monstrous effort from its defense in defeating USC to win the repeat as Pac-12 champion, 47-24, in front of a sellout crowd of 61,195.

The No. 11 Utes (10-3) will head back to the Rose Bowl, while the Trojans, who were ranked No. 4 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, will not be selected for the CFP, with No. 5 Ohio State now the likely replacement.

Rising finished 22-for-34 for 310 yards, his third career 300yard game against USC in four career starts.

USC and Utah traded touchdown passes early in the fourth quarter, the latter coming on a 60-yard catch and run from Rising to tight end Thomas Yassmin, who broke

one tackle on the left sideline, went upfield, then dragged another would-be tackler to the end zone to extend the Utes back to a 10-point lead, 34-24, with 10:08 remaining.

That score gave Rising three 300-yard passing games in four career starts vs. USC, which did not have an answer on its next drive.

The Trojans moved to the edge of the red zone, but on second-and-13 from the 23, R.J.

Hubert intercepted prohibitive Heisman Trophy favorite winner Caleb Williams, returning the ball to the Utah 39.

Three plays later, Ja’Quinden Jackson 53-yard romp, complete with two broken tackles and dragging a defender to the end zone, slammed the door, putting Utah in front, 40-24, with 5:29 left.

The first half on Friday night played out much like the first half of Utah’s 43-42 win over USC on Oct. 15

Fueled by the play of Williams, with some help from an often-porous Utah secondary, the Trojans went up by two touchdowns early in the second quarter, then couldn’t cash in on multiple opportunities for an early knockout.

Down 17-3, Utah got the ball back thanks to a fourthdown pass breakup by freshman safety Sione Vaki after USC, which was doing anything it wanted on offense, went for it on fourth-and-8 from the Utah 37-yard line.

The ensuing Utes drive went 11 plays and 66 yards across 6:33, capped Ja’Quinden Jackson’s 8-yard touchdown run up the middle on third-and-4 to cut the deficit to 17-10. Within those 11 plays, Utah converted on fourth-and-2 at the 18 via a 4-yard keeper from Rising.

By this point, after giving up scores on USC’s first three drives, Utah’s defense had settled in. It got another stop, this time forcing a punt before Rising engineered another long drive to close the half.

The Utes overcame two drops along the way to go 81 yards over 14 plays and just 1:38 as Rising’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Dixon with two seconds left in the first half tied the score at 17.

Rising was sharp in the first half, sharper than he has been in weeks while dealing with a left knee injury, throwing for 157 yards and the Dixon touchdown on 14-for-24 passing over the first two quarters.