Caleb Williams Played Through Significant Injury in Pac-12 Title Game
With USC leading 7-3 a little more than nine minutes into the Pac-12 Championship Game against the Utah Utes, Trojans’ quarterback Caleb Williams put together yet another one of his signature Heisman Trophy moments.
Williams faked a handoff, made one Utah defender miss in the backfield, bounced off two more attempted tackles, spun to the outside, ran through another arm-tackle attempt and eventually slid to the ground after picking up 59 yards. It was USC’s longest run of the game. It also completely changed the trajectory of the Pac-12 Championship Game.
Williams injured his hamstring on the run. Head coach Lincoln Riley said Williams “popped his hamstring” on the play.
The Heisman Trophy frontrunner was clearly not himself for the remainder of the game. He was able to move a bit, but the spark of him as one of the most efficient running threats at the quarterback position was all but gone.
Riley said he checked in with Williams at one point and asked him if he was even at 50% healthy.
“He was not even close to 50%,” Riley said. “I definitely thought about taking him out. He wouldn’t have let me, he didn’t let me. He wouldn’t even let me take him out in the end.”
“You ever have an old rubber band?” Williams said when asked what it felt like.
Williams said he channeled a saying he heard from Kobe Bryant in playing through injury.
“The game is bigger than what you’re feeling,” Williams quoted Bryant. “I also had a group of guys that was looking at me to go out there and lead them to victory.”
Williams finished the game 28-of-41 passing for 363 yards and three touchdowns against one interception. He also rushed 12 times for 21 yards, which includes seven sacks by a relentless Utah defensive front.
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“Shit,” Riley said. “That’s as gutsy a performance as you’ll ever see.”
Williams’ Injury Changed the Game
On the drive Williams was injured, the Trojans finished it with a touchdown to push their lead to 14-3. That came with 2:52 remaining in the first quarter. USC wouldn’t score another touchdown until the 10:52 mark of the fourth quarter. Utah eventually ran away with a 47-24 win.
“We had to change the game plan,” Riley said. “We had to change a lot of things on the fly. And he just kind of kept battling and willed us. And we had a real shot at the end.”
Following Williams’ third touchdown pass, a 12-yard strike to Mario Williams, USC trailed just 27-24. But he threw an interception and was sacked four times over the final 11 minutes of the game. He also lost the first fumble of the season by the USC offense.
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said after the game that Williams “maybe the most difficult quarterback to sack that we’ve ever played against.”
But when his scrambling ability was limited by the injury, Whittingham said they could “smell blood in the water.”
“He definitely took some punishment from our guys and we turned up the pressure,” Whittingham said.
