Lincoln Riley provides update on Caleb Williams after cutting his hand in first half of Pac-12 Championship

After he led USC to its second straight touchdown drive to start the Pac-12 Championship, Caleb Williams was seen getting treatment for a cut on his hand. After heading to the injury tent, he came back out — but his hand was still bleeding.

Williams appeared to cut his hand on the Trojans’ second drive of the first quarter and headed to the tent shortly after. However, he came back out for the ensuing drive, but had blood on his pant leg as he did so. The FOX cameras zoomed in to show his bloodied pinky finger on his throwing hand, but it didn’t stop him from throwing a 31-yard pass to Mario Williams as the quarter ended.

After halftime, FOX reporter Allison Williams said Lincoln Riley provided an update on Williams, and he should be good to go the rest of the way.

“We saw that Caleb Williams had a pretty good gash on his right pinky finger. It was bleeding quite a bit early in that first half,” Williams said. I asked Lincoln Riley about it at the half and he said, ‘He’s fine. He’s fine.’

“I will tell you, though, just from watching him, you can see it’s bothering him. The way he continuously kind of clenches that right hand, it’s something he’s going to have to play through here in the second half.”

Williams is making a strong case for the Heisman Trophy and entered championship weekend as the heavy favorite to win the award, according to Vegas Insider. In the first quarter, he threw for 110 yards and two touchdowns while also adding 76 rushing yards, including a 59-yard run to set up a touchdown to give USC a 14-3 lead over Utah.

Friday’s Pac-12 title game is a highly touted rematch with huge implications. Utah handed USC its lone loss of the regular season in Salt Lake City — a 43-42 victory on a two-point conversion in the final minute.