Caleb Williams: 'It's a weird feeling' not being in position to play for a championship

Hollywood’s bright lights have continued to dim on USC with their latest loss in Eugene being their fourth in five games. The Trojans have fallen off completely since the start of October and have since reached very unfamiliar territory for one Caleb Williams.

Williams spoke in the postgame press conference following USC’s 36-27 loss at Oregon on Saturday night. With the Trojans long out of the national title picture and now out of the running for the Pac-12 Championship, it’s a spot, one that’s well away from contention, that he hasn’t found himself in often considering what he and every other player works so hard to achieve.

“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,” continued Williams. “It’s tough to lose and tough to not be in the position to win championships, which you train super hard for for years to be in position to win championships.”

For Williams, it’s even worse considering how their cookie has crumbled. After winning a few more tight games a season, they’ve been unable to succeed in the same spot this fall.

“Like Coach (Riley) said, we’ve been in many close games that, last year, may have fallen our way. And, this year, a couple of them haven’t,” said Williams.

The bye week is a pretty clear separation for where the nosedive took place for USC. After the idle week, the Trojans won three more games to reach 6-0. However, the trio of results over Arizona State, Colorado, and Arizona became closer and closer in each outcome.

Then, after that, the Trojans bottomed out. That’s where the stretch of four losses in five games began. Each of their Top-25 opponents in that run- Notre Dame, Utah, Washington, and Oregon – won over them. Meanwhile, USC’s lone victory came in another close call with a 50-49 shootout against California.

Still, with essentially all of their goals now off the table, Williams isn’t going to stop. As their QB1, he’s going to help pick up the pieces and lead them into one final contest next weekend inside The Coliseum.

“It’s tough to deal with but you’ve got to keep going, keep edging forward,” said Williams. “As a leader of this team, I’ve got to lead from ahead and from the top. That’s what I’ve been trying to do.”