USC found itself down 17-0 early in the second quarter. The crowd inside the L.A. Coliseum was dazed and confused. USC’s first three drives all went three-and-out as Arizona racked up more than 200 yards on its first three possessions.

That set the scene for a truly wild night in Los Angeles.

USC needed triple-overtime to do so, but led by 260 total yards of offense and four total touchdowns from quarterback Caleb Williams, No. 9 USC survived an upset bid from Arizona and escaped with a 43-41 win.

The Trojans (6-0, 4-0 Pac-12) were outgained in the game 505-365. They gave up four sacks and were even in the turnover department. They were just 3-for-9 on third downs and trailed for more than 30 minutes before finally wrestling control of the game away from the Wildcats (3-3, 1-2 Pac-12).

But having the best player in college football can be a great equalizer. Williams made plays late to deliver USC the win.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

USC is a mess right now

The Trojan defense was abysmal in the first quarter, made a game-changing play in the second quarter, and then just fell apart late. The offense was completely uninspired for huge stretches of the game. The offensive line is bad. The defense cannot tackle.

The kick team completely botched a would-be game-winning field goal from inside the Arizona 10.

Rather than run the clock and set up an easier look at that field goal, Lincoln Riley called a pass play, then a run that nearly resulted in a fumble, and then let the clock almost expire as his offense scrambled to try and get set to spike the ball rather than use the timeout USC had in its pocket.

On the game-tying touchdown throw from Arizona with 8:17 to play in the fourth, Arizona ran a quick out to Jacob Cowing. On the ensuing two-point conversion, Arizona ran the exact same play to the exact same spot and got the exact same result.

This isn’t a championship-caliber football team right now. The way USC is playing, this isn’t even a top-10 football team.

USC is not playing to its potential. This is a star-studded roster with a Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback and skill talent other teams would kill for, but it is playing like a collection of parts rather than a cohesive unit. Something feels broken or critically flawed. Williams is magnificent, and it seems like USC thinks it can roll back into the Pac-12 title game on the strength of his ability alone.

At one point early in the second quarter, USC trailed 17-0, was being outgained 208-0, and all of social media was calling for Alex Grinch to get the Lane Kiffin tarmac treatment.

Riley said a week ago that he doesn’t want the Trojans to get to a point where winning games is no longer fun. Riley will almost assuredly push back on negative narratives by trotting out the same “it’s hard to win” tropes and pointing to the 6-0 record. But how can this be considered a successful start? USC still has to face Notre Dame, Utah, Washington, Oregon, and UCLA. Struggling to close out Colorado and then struggling to handle Arizona doesn’t bode well for USC’s chances of getting through the rest of the regular season unscathed.

Riley wasn’t brought to USC to win a bunch of games. He was brought to USC to win the game. It’s championship or bust and Riley embraced those expectations. USC has serious issues and we haven’t seen anything through the first six weeks of the season to suggest the Trojans are capable of or willing to fix them.

Arizona’s 2022 class has some dudes 

Noah Fifita, Tetairoa McMillan, and Jonah Coleman all came to Tucson via the 2022 signing class. Fifita spent his first year sitting behind Jayden de Laura. Coleman spent his first year sitting behind Michael Wiley. McMillan was the No. 3 in the pass game behind Jacob Cowing and Dorian Singer.

With de Laura and Wiley both unavailable again on Saturday against the Trojans, Fifita made his second career start. Coleman received his most extensive action of the year.

USC didn’t want to tackle Coleman, a battering ram who got downhill and just bullied would-be tacklers. He finished with 22 carries for 143 yards — both career-highs.

Fifita completed 25 of his 35 passes for 302 yards and five touchdowns with just one pick. His favorite target? McMillan, who brought in six receptions on 12 targets for 138 yards.

Arizona’s offense has belonged to the young guys recently. McMillan isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Coleman should continue to have a role when Wiley is back at full strength. The big question is at quarterback.

Fifita has faced back-to-back top-10 teams. Arizona lost by seven to Washington last week, and it took USC to triple-overtime this week. The Wildcats look like a better version of themselves with Fifita running the show. The helter-skelter chaos is gone. You don’t like to see a guy lose his job simply because he got injured, but it would also be hard to say Fifita hasn’t earned the right to lead the team going forward.

Disastrous third quarter dooms Arizona

USC’s best offense in the third quarter came off Arizona penalties.

After the Wildcats settled for a 22-yard field goal on fourth-and-4 — a strange decision from an otherwise-aggressive coach — Caleb Williams and the USC offense took the field.

The Wildcats controlled the first half. They should have had a bigger lead than the 17-14 advantage they had. USC had 115 yards of offense in the first half, outgained 256-115.

On the Trojans’ first drive of the third quarter, a fourth-and-7 pass fell incomplete but USC was bailed out by a pass interference penalty down the field in coverage.

Three plays later, on a third-and-5 where Williams fired incomplete, Arizona linebacker Justin Flowe ran right through Williams and drew a roughing the passer penalty. MarShawn Lloyd ran the ball in for a touchdown on the very next play.

USC took a 21-20 lead and it didn’t trail again until the overtime period.

Arizona finished with 12 penalties that cost it 96 yards.