Caleb Williams explains why he did not end his season after Utah loss

When USC lost to Utah, the Trojans were effectively eliminated from the College Football Playoff. After that, there were many people who suggested that star quarterback Caleb Williams should end his season and prepare for the NFL.

Of course, Williams didn’t end his season then. He kept playing and recently explained that he had a good reason for not ending his season early.

“If you go back, I’ve had a bunch of weird things happen throughout my career,” Caleb Williams said. “Whether it was coach coming here my freshman year and kind of sticking it out. So, I would say just the nature of how I was raised and being around these guys all year round. I work out with them all year round. We run, lift, we go out and have fun together, we enjoy each other’s presence. So, it means the world to me to be able to end this season off and this regular season, things like that, being with these guys.”

Unfortunately, for Williams and USC, things have gotten worse on the field since the Utah game. The Trojans dropped games to Washington and Oregon and have been taken out of Pac-12 Championship contention with those losses.

“Yeah, I have the opportunity to leave. Yeah, I have the opportunity to forgo, but that was never really the thought process of kind of leaving these guys behind and forgoing those last three to four games. So, I was going to stick it out with these guys regardless of whatever decision I was gonna make.”

Those losses weren’t Williams’ fault, but they have led to more questions about whether or not he should be playing or protecting himself. They also put Williams in a position that feels uncomfortable, to no longer be playing for a championship.

“It’s weird, like you said,” Williams said. “I haven’t played much, my whole career playing ball, where I’m not at the end of the season and have a chance to go to the championship or whatever the case may be. It’s a weird feeling, it’s tough. It’s tough to lose and tough to not be in the position to win championships, which you train super hard for years to be in position to win championships.”

Bruce Feldman explains struggles of USC, Caleb Williams

USC and Caleb Williams have had an incredibly frustrating season. Those struggles this season, interestingly enough, have actually come down to the Trojans relying on Williams too much.

“Caleb covered up a lot of flaws. Certainly not just on the defense, but on the offensive line. Their offensive line is worse this year than it was last year. Going to see them play Notre Dame in South Bend a couple of weeks ago, you could see physically they did not look like what an SC offensive line should look like,” Feldman said.

“Caleb is a phenomenal talent, but I think there’s some flaws that eventually got exposed. For so long, they could lean on, ‘Hey, we got the best player in college football. He’s gonna cover it up. He’s gonna fix it.’ Against Notre Dame, they had five turnovers. [Williams] threw three picks in the first half. All of a sudden, that facade, if you want to call it that, was kind of punctured or fell apart.”