Utes feast on hobbled USC quarterback Williams

Caleb Williams may soon have the ring of a Heisman Trophy winner on his finger.

On Friday, USC’s quarterback’s night started to unravel with a cut on his pinky.

Williams opened the Pac12 championship game looking every bit of the superstar who had led the No. 4 Trojans to the doorstep of the College Football Playoff.

He darted down the sideline, then picked up a tone-setting conversion on fourth down. He was perfect on that opening drive, including a touchdown pass.

He followed that up by embarrassing Utah’s tacklers for a 59-yard run and another touchdown his next time on the field.

Then, with the Trojans looking ready to run away with the title, Williams made a trip to the injury tent.

The cut on his finger would be the first setback. By the time the confetti was falling at Allegiant Stadium, Utah 47-24 winners, the Pac12 champions crowned and Rose Bowl-bound, Williams limped his way through the postgame celebrations.

Maybe only injury could make Williams one-dimensional. The Utes will only care about being two-time Pac-12 champs.

Utah had delivered Williams and the Trojans’ their lone loss of the season, but no one had truly been able to slow down USC’s star man.

“He’s been great every game, show me a game where he’s not great,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said this week. “I think he just keeps getting better and better. He’s maybe the most difficult quarterback to sack we’ve ever come across that is also a great throwing threat.

“We’ve played some really athletic quarterbacks that you might liken to a wide receiver playing QB, but nobody is harder to sack than that guy. He keeps the plays alive, he extends the plays, he keeps his eyes downfield incredibly well during the scrambles.”

By the third quarter, though, Williams didn’t look himself. The quarterback limped slowly back to the sideline early the in the quarter as backup Miller Moss began to warm up.

Williams would stay in the game.

And Utah, knowing a thing or two about how dangerous a wounded quarterback can be, had to know the threat Williams posed.

In Salt Lake City earlier this year, Utah’s Cam Rising suffered a knee injury while playing the Trojans that would go on to hamper him through the latter weeks of the season. That night at Rice-Eccles Stadium, though, Rising persevered and led the Utes to victory.

In Las Vegas, the Utes made sure Williams didn’t do the same for his team.

The Utes recorded seven sacks.

They limited the Trojans to a single yard of offense in the third quarter.

Williams still had moments. He ran gingerly for a first down early in the fourth quarter. He sidestepped a charging rusher and threw a dart to Brenden Rice for 28 yards, and then found Mario Williams for a touchdown to make it a 27-24 game.

He was just fast enough to escape the pressure and find Jordan Addison on a busted play.

But Utah and defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley were more relentless.

“Fourth-quarter pass rush put it away,” Whittingham said.

R.J. Hubert picked off Williams, the quarterback’s fourth interception of the season.