Defensive Meltdown May Doom USC's Chances to Win Pac-12

LOS ANGELES — A complete meltdown by the passing defense highlighted by a single play in the final seconds of No. 16 USC’s 38-34 loss Saturday to Arizona State will haunt the Trojans in their pursuit of the Pac-12 Championship.

In just his second career start, Sun Devils quarterback Mike Bercovici capped a 510-yard, five-touchdown night with a 46-yard Hail Mary to wide receiver Jaelen Strong.

“It’s a game of inches,” said Strong, who finished with 202 receiving yards.

Arizona State needed every inch that went into Bercovici’s bomb, but the Sun Devils made the most of a few other big plays in the final stretch.

Head coach Todd Graham summarized it best: “It wasn’t just that one play.”

The Trojans’ miscues on Arizona State’s game-winner were the culmination of an overall defensive meltdown uncharacteristic of the team earlier in the night.

Gus Ruelas/Associated Press

USC head coach Steve Sarkisian said in his postgame press conference that he “would have liked to have seen more bodies around the ball” on Bercovici’s last-ditch effort.

One of the Trojans in the neighborhood was linebacker Hayes Pullard.

“It was great execution by the offense,” Pullard said. “[Strong] went up there and got the ball and got the job done.”

Pullard said he does not typically play deep—“just boxing out defenders,” usually—but Sarkisian said the linebacker’s presence was needed to aid the Trojans' secondary.

Arizona State was able to pick on cornerback Kevon Seymour some, including on Bercovici's 73-yard hook-up with wide receiver Cameron Smith for the Sun Devils' penultimate score.

That touchdown pass negated USC running back Javorius "Buck" Allen's 53-yard touchdown rush just moments earlier.

"Kevon went to knock the ball down to undercut the play and missed and there was nothing but green grass [ahead of Smith]," Sarkisian said.

Though big plays have come infrequently against the USC secondary, Oregon State's sole passing success a week ago also came at the expense of Seymour.

Arizona State was able to more consistently exploit those big plays, which in turn forced USC to be less aggressive with its pass rush.

“We were trying to help our secondary as best as we could,” Sarkisian said. “We like our guys rushing, [and] to their credit, [Bercovici] stepped up in the pocket a few times and made some throws.”

Bercovici was the X-factor well before the Hail Mary. USC contained the Arizona State run game, holding the Sun Devils to just 31 rushing yards on the evening. But as it became evident USC would not yield much on the ground, Bercovici successfully went to the air.

His two scoring strikes to Strong in the first half were the first passing touchdowns the USC defense surrendered all season.

The second set an ominous tone in hindsight: It was a 77-yard connection with Strong.

Defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox seemingly ironed out the kinks after that score, as Arizona State went the next 33 minutes without crossing the goal line.

“In the end, it’s the old adage: That’s why you play 60 minutes,” Sarkisian said.

After giving up the first two touchdown passes it surrendered all season in the first half, the USC defense buckled down to keep Arizona State out of the end zone for the next 33 minutes.

But in just three minutes and 53 seconds, USC gave up three touchdowns. In less than four minutes, the Trojans went from looking at a 3-0 Pac-12 mark to an 0-1 start in the South Division.

The opposite was true for Arizona State. The reigning division champion Sun Devils were faced with falling behind 0-2 in the South after losing to UCLA last week, 62-27.

Down nine points on two separate occasions in the final minutes, that 0-2 start looked all but certain for the Sun Devils.

However, playing in front of a throng of family and friends, Bercovici—a product of nearby Taft High School—engineered drives of 98, 73 and 72 yards.

Pass Comp./Att. (before final 3 drives)	Pass Yards (before final 3 drives)	TD (before final 3 drives)	Pass Comp./Att. (final 3 drives)	Pass Yards (final 3 drives)	TD (final 3 drives)
18/32	277	2	9/13	233	3

“They’re such an outstanding defense. I know a lot of their guys and they're so athletic. You have to be careful where you put the ball,” Bercovici said.

He did just that throughout the night, avoiding any interceptions after giving away two against UCLA.

“They took a different approach, playing more of a prevent defense,” Bercovici said of USC’s approach in the final minutes.

Bercovici exploited a coverage that's been proven time and again to be ineffective in late-game situations, and it cost the Trojans.

USC now heads into next week’s road contest against unbeaten Arizona in need of a victory to get its championship aspirations back on course.

“[The loss] leaves us with a stinging, with a sick feeling in our gut,” Sarkisian said. “It leaves us a chance to show who we are and our mettle and our resiliency.”

Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise cited. Statistics courtesy of the USC athletic department.