USC came into the UCLA game knowing Travis Dye would not play. To be sure, Austin Jones needed to play well, and he definitely did, rushing for over 100 yards and cracking the end zone. However, we all know where USC’s bread is most centrally buttered: in the passing game with Caleb Williams throwing the rock.
Williams threw for 470 yards and completed 74.4 percent of his passes against UCLA. The Trojans amassed over 640 yards. The central engine of their offense is Williams, and when that engine is roaring, we all know who the big dog is for the Trojans on the receiving end of Caleb’s aerials:
the man who was injured the past few weeks and needed the Arizona-Cal-Colorado soft schedule to quietly recuperate and gear up for UCLA.
It’s an interesting and important plot twist for USC: We wondered if Eric Gentry would be a factor against the Bruins. We knew the Travis Dye injury would limit USC. Gentry seemed to be the compensatory piece USC needed to get healthy for this game.
No.
Jordan Addison getting back to full strength was enough — albeit barely — to win the day for the Trojans on a night when Gentry wasn’t anywhere close to full health.
Here’s more on Addison’s night plus a lot of other USC stories in this Trojan notebook on the UCLA game: