USC keeps playoff hopes alive with downpour of

They had been battered, they had been bruised, they had been soaking moist and coated in stereotypes.

They’re not powerful enough. They’re not resilient enough. They’re not Big Ten-enough.

Late in the second quarter Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum, a USC soccer crew preventing for a playoff berth was crumbling beneath the weight of its worst national notion.

It was wilting under the climate and the weight of a crew from Iowa.

Then, with big swings from a deep strength that few thought a Lincoln Riley crew possessed, all the things modified.

It’s raining wins, hallelujah.

Trailing 21-7, the Trojans acquired muddy and chilly and just plain imply, successful the road of scrimmage, successful the battle of talent, and finally successful the sport 26-21.

Yeah, afterward, that was Riley dancing in a downpour.

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

Few will imagine they will beat sixth-ranked and one-loss Oregon in Eugene. But then again, few believed they’d survive Iowa after the Hawkeyes took that big second-quarter lead.

During the last 10 years, Iowa had an 83-5 file when main by eight factors or more. Translated, this is a program that is aware of how to shield a lead, and the Trojans had been seemingly cooked.

But Makai Lemon made 153 yards price of spectacular catches, King Miller ran for 83 bruising clock-killing yards, Jahkeem Stewart made a game-changing interception, Jayden Maiava held it together with a landing go and no turnovers, and the sport primarily appropriately ended with USC just being stronger.

On a fourth-down go in the ultimate minute, Kennedy Urlacher shoved Kaden Wetjen out of bounds as he was making a grab deep in Trojan territory.

No catch, sport over, and in the end, the Trojans had been as hearty as that part of followers that witnessed the sport shirtless.

The afternoon began with groundskeepers drying the sphere with leaf blowers, the first wet sport at the Coliseum in 9 years.

But for USC under Riley, it felt the same, a late-season sport requiring the kind of dirty toughness that his Trojans had yet to show.

Blew 5 fourth-quarter leads last season. Blew 4 of their last 5 video games two seasons in the past. Blew the Pac-12 championship sport and a shot at the playoffs three seasons in the past.

It seemed like they had been going to blow it again.

Iowa took the opening kickoff and drove 69 yards in seven performs in a bruising drive punctuated by a fourth-down, two-yard landing go from Mark Gronowski to Dayton Howard in the back of the end zone.

Yes, the FBS’s 133rd ranked passing offense — out of 136 groups — had just scored on a go play.

And Iowa was just getting began.

After stopping the Trojans’ Miller on a fourth-down run around just inside Iowa territory — a horrible Riley call against the nation’s best fourth-down protection — the Hawkeyes drove 45 yards in 9 performs to rating on a Gronowski one-yard push to take a 14-0 lead.

The Trojans got here back while finally discovering their groove, driving 74 yards on 11 performs that includes a leaping catch by Ja’Kobi Lane and ending with a one-yard landing run out of the wildcat formation by Bryan Jackson.

So USC had the momentum? Not so fast.

USC defensive sort out Jide Abasiri holds up the ball while celebrating with cornerback Decarlos Nicholson during the second half of the Trojans’ win Saturday over Iowa.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Iowa took the possession and pounded and pounded and 9 performs and 75 yards later scored on a five-yard, trick-play go from receiver Reece Vander Zee to Gronowski.

That gave Iowa a 21-7 lead that was shortened only by a Ryon Sayeri 40-yard subject objective after a dropped go and penalty stopped the Trojans.

USC took the ball at the start of the third quarter and appeared to be destined for a landing after a leaping sideline catch by Lemon. But a holding call against Lane ruined a long run by Miller, two failed go performs stalled the drive, and the Trojans had to settle for a 29-yard subject objective by Sayeri to close the hole to 21-13.

After the Trojans protection stiffened, the offense went back on a roll, utilizing another leaping grab by Lemon — this one for 35 yards — to set up a 12-yard TD go between three defenders to Lemon. Maiava overthrew Lemon on the two-point conversion attempt, but this time, the Trojans didn’t blow the momentum.

On Iowa’s next possession, with 1:52 left in the period, the highly effective freshman Stewart grabbed a deflected go for an interception to give the Trojans the ball on the Iowa 40-yard line.

From there, Maiava drove them 40 yards in six performs on a possession that was assisted by a go interference penalty and gave them an eventual 26-21 lead after Jackson’s one-yard landing run.

It was a lead they never misplaced.

It is a season that still issues.