USC keeps playoff hopes alive with heavy rain against Iowa

They are beaten, they are bruised, they are wet and they are covered in stereotypes.

They are not tough enough. They are not resistant enough. They are not the Big Ten.

Late in the second quarter Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum, the USC football team’s fight for a playoff berth was at its worst nationally.

It died under the air and the weight of the team from Iowa.

Then, with big changes of the kind of deep resistance that few thought the Lincoln Rally team possessed, everything changed.

It’s raining, it’s raining.

Trailing 21-7, the Trojans got to the muddy and crazy and plain Midwestern, won the line of scrimmage, won the skill battle, and eventually won the game 26-21.

Yes, after all, it was Riley dancing in the rain.

“There was a culture victory,” Riley later said. “If ever there was one, it was a culture victory.” The passion of our team, their response at halftime … we just keep coming, we have all year.”

And, yes, USC is still in the hunt for a national championship, needing wins in its final two games at Oregon and against UCLA to qualify for the College Football Playoff.

“It’s win or go home … not going home,” linebacker Eric Gentry said. “The whole team knows what the culture is … fight until the last second.”

Few would have believed they could beat seventh-ranked and one-loss Oregon in Eugene. But then again, few believed they would survive in Iowa after the Hawkeyes took a huge second-quarter lead.

Over the last 10 years, Iowa has an 83-5 record when leading by eight points or more. Translated, this is a program that knows how to protect the lead, and the Trojans seem to be cooked.

But Riley said he saw something in their eyes. And half an hour later, Iowa saw the same thing.

“We were just running out there … it felt like we were going to stop them every time … it felt like we were going to score every time,” Riley said.

USC coach Lincoln Riley celebrates with wide receiver Prince Strachan during the second half of Saturday’s 26-21 comeback win over Iowa at the Coliseum.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

In overcoming their biggest deficit of the season, that’s almost what happened.

They scored 19 unanswered points. They scored five goals in a row.

“Everybody just believes in themselves,” Gentry said.

Mackay Lemmon had 153 yards, King Miller had 83 catches in 83 minutes, Jahakim Stewart threw a game-changing interception, Jayden Maiwa had a touchdown pass and no turnovers, and the game ended appropriately with USC showing its muscle.

On a fourth-down pass in the final minute, Kennedy Orlacher threw Kayden Wittgen out of bounds as he was taking possession deep in Trojan territory.

No catch, the game was over, and in the end, the Trojans were as charming as the part of the fans that saw the Storm shirtless.

“Our students have brought it all year, there’s been a constant energy all year, our team feels it, they do,” Riley said.

The Trojans will decide the underdogs next weekend, but bet on Oregon at your own peril. This is a USC team with the nation’s best receivers, an emerging quarterback, and for the third straight week they’ve held their opponents to three points or less in the second half.

“People are just trying to say things about us coming into the Big Ten and wondering how we’re going to be,” Gentry said. Gentry said. “This team … sets the standard for the Big Ten … comes in and wins big games every week.”

USC defensive tackle Jade Abassiri holds the ball while celebrating with cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson during the second half of the Trojans’ win at Iowa on Saturday.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

The afternoon began with groundskeepers drying the field with leaf blowers and fans wearing umbrella hats, the first rained out game at the Coliseum in nine years.

But for USC under Riley, it’s starting to resemble the fall-to-fall failures of his previous team.

Blown five fourth quarter leads last season. They lost four of their last five games two seasons ago. Made the Pac-12 championship game and had a shot at the playoffs three seasons ago.

Honestly, it looks like they’re going to screw it up again.

Iowa took the opening kickoff and went 69 yards on seven drives capped by a fourth-down, two-yard touchdown pass to Mark Gronowski in the back of the end zone to Dayton Howard.

Yes, the FBS’s 133rd-ranked passing offense — out of 136 teams — only scored in the passing game.

And Iowa was just getting started, eventually taking a 21-7 lead late in the second quarter. But, as it turned out, that was the last time the Hawkeyes were able to catch their breath.

After a pair of Raven Seery field goals closed the gap, USC’s comeback began in full swing when another catch by Lemon — this one for 35 yards — set up a 12-yard touchdown pass to Lemon between three defenders. Mayawa overthrew Lemon on a two-point conversion attempt, but the Trojans weren’t done yet.

On Iowa’s next possession, with 1:52 left in the third period, Stewart recovered a deflected pass for an interception to give the Trojans the ball at the Iowa 40-yard line.

From there, Mayawa drove them 40 yards in six plays that were aided by a pass interference penalty and gave them a 26–21 lead after Brian Jackson’s one-yard touchdown run.

“The whole team was ready to put it on the line today,” Riley said. “We put guys on the line all over the place … when you get a whole group that does that, you get something good.”

Very wet, very dirty and really, really good.