USC was rolling and then things came to a screeching halt early in the second quarter when the Trojans went for it on fourth-and-8 from the Utah 37-yard-line. USC quarterback Caleb Williams fired incomplete and Utah took over, trailing 17-3.

The turnover on downs gave the ball back to the 11th-ranked Utes after a fumble on their previous drive set the fourth-ranked Trojans up on Utah’s side of the 50.

Utah outscored USC 44-7 the rest of the way to beat USC 47-24 and claim its second straight Pac-12 championship.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Bigger. Stronger.

The script was right there and both sides followed it to perfection, excruciatingly so if you’re a Trojan fan.

USC has the pomp, the history, the bright lights of Los Angeles, and the flash. Utah was in the Western Athletic Conference when Kyle Whittingham first joined the coaching staff. The Utes built this perennial Pac-12 power from the ground up, nothing given, everything earned.

The culture was there on full display — the culture that has been painstakingly established brick by brick with the Utes and the culture that is still being cultivated with the Trojans’ freshly-imported leaders. USC had multiple opportunities in the first half to deliver a knockout blow and turn the Pac-12 title game into a romp.

Caleb Williams led scoring drives on each of the Trojans’ first two possessions. Utah had no answer for the Heisman hopeful as he raced right down the field for 75 yards on both drives, first in seven plays and then in six.

USC was up 14-3 and had the ball spotted first-and-goal on the Utah 3-yard-line. Early second quarter. Chance to really put the Utes in a bind.

Austin Jones was stuffed at the line of scrimmage, then Williams fired incomplete on back-to-back passes and USC settled for a field goal.

The kick from Denis Lynch split the uprights with 12:08 to play in the second quarter. Those were the last USC points until the 10:52 mark of the fourth quarter.

In the interim, Utah rattled off 24 unanswered. The Utes figured out the defense in the second and third quarters. USC had 1 yard of offense in the third frame. A lower-body injury to Williams suffered mid-game absolutely changed things, but Utah forced the issue with its dominance at the line of scrimmage.

They bullied USC’s offensive line with their defensive front.

That sack stalled out a USC drive at midfield and made way for a 14-play, 81-yard touchdown drive from Utah to tie the game at 17-all heading into the halftime break. Utah took the momentum and never gave it back.

And the Utah offensive line mauled USC’s defensive front.

Utah was bigger. Utah was tougher. Utah played more physical football. Those have been the hallmarks of Utah’s program under Whittingham of late. Connor O’Toole and Gabe Reid were absolute monsters for the Utes on the defensive side of the ball. Keaton Bills was awesome on the offensive line.

They had seven sacks and 11 tackles for loss. They made Williams’ night miserable. They took advantage of a patchwork USC offensive line. They only gave up one sack going the other way. Their last four touchdowns came on plays of 57, 60, 53, and 23 yards; sure felt like USC broke.

Championships are won at the line of scrimmage.

The Pac-12 — even one that includes Lincoln Riley and his high-flying offense — is no exception. Utah imposed its will.

Riley has a massive choice to make

In a title game, USC put forth a disastrous display of tackling.

No one wanted to tackle. No one tried to wrap up. No one stuck to their fundamentals.

Utah wideout Money Parks scored on this play.

USC missed more than 20 tackles in one game.

On one leg, Williams clawed the Trojans back to within three points early in the fourth quarter. You’d think the fight the quarterback displayed might light a fire under the defense to go out and hold up their end of the bargain. Instead, the Trojans gave up a 60-yard run-and-catch score to Utah tight end Thomas Yassmin that looked… not good.

USC’s defensive problems are obvious. They’re not big enough on the defensive line to consistently stop the run. They don’t have the depth in the front seven. None of that should have been news to folks on Friday night in Las Vegas. The Trojans have mostly worked around that this season.

But Riley is going to have to decide this offseason if Alex Grinch is the answer at defensive coordinator going forward.

Maybe that seems like an overreaction to one game. But USC under Lincoln Riley is not a team constructed to play for double-digit regular-season wins and nothing more. It’s a program investing major resources to win major trophies.

Oklahoma’s defense, coordinated by Grinch, kept the Sooners from being serious national title contenders. Those OU teams had Heisman Trophy quarterbacks, too. And they played a ton of games that looked like the games USC played this season. This is not a new development for Riley; his defenses haven’t been good enough when the CFP has been on the line.

And Grinch can be forgiven for not having depth of talent to work with. USC expects that to change. He can’t be forgiven for that display of tackling. Tackling is detail. Tackling is coaching. Tackling is want-to. Those things don’t take years to fix.

Earlier in the week, I was having a conversation with a colleague about whether a No. 4 seed USC could actually give Georgia a game in the Playoff. We were both skeptical. Riley might need to part with Grinch to get where he ultimately wants to go, I said then.

What the country just watched is why.

The College Football Playoff will have to wait a bit longer

There was a push after the last set of CFP rankings were revealed to solidify the field regardless of what happened during conference championship weekend. Because the No. 5 and No. 6 teams (Ohio State and Alabama) couldn’t play their way into the field, some argued the top four teams — including USC — shouldn’t be able to play their way out of the field.

But USC now has two losses and was thoroughly handled in its conference title game. Yes, USC beat UCLA and then beat Notre Dame and has a road win over Oregon State that has looked better with each passing week, but the games have to matter.

The CFP was on the line. USC knew the stakes. It didn’t rise to the challenge.

I’m guessing that’s the approach the CFP selection committee takes. I’m guessing the committee will take Ohio State. That’ll leave the Utes to head back to the Rose Bowl, the Trojans to head somewhere they don’t want to be, and the 10-2 Washington Huskies somewhere they really shouldn’t be (boy did UW get hosed in all this).

And the Pac-12 will wait another year to end the CFP drought.