LAS VEGAS — Have you ever been to a good show in Las Vegas? The singing, the dancing and the theatrics. The smoke, the lights and the smells.
We saw one on Sunday night, not in a seedy casino lounge or a dark hotel lobby but in a football palace built just off Las Vegas Boulevard. There was plenty of smoke (pregame fireworks caused the haze to linger for three quarters). There were main characters and main actors (Heisman Trophy backup quarterbacks Miller Moss and Garrett Nussmeier). There was even dancing (an LSU player was penalized for a hip-swing in the second quarter).
Singing, chanting and swaying? That’s what two groups of enthusiastic fans did, too, two of college football’s biggest brands colliding in front of them.
It all came down to one sensational final act: a late-game drive, a heroic catch and a blistering run for a game-winning touchdown.
USC and LSU gave millions of viewers a playoff-worthy spectacle, with a championship atmosphere, all during a holiday weekend on Sunday night – a thrilling, exciting spectacle in Las Vegas that Wayne Newton himself would proudly endorse.
The result — USC 27, LSU 20 — doesn’t justify the beauty of the game, the intense moments, the stellar quarterback play, the momentary defensive lapses and the waves of dizzying changes of pace.
And now we’re left to dissect the schedule and review, or hype, a Week 1 game between two teams that, let’s be real, we don’t really know much about.
Can USC now seriously compete in its new big league?
Can LSU bounce back and make the 12-team playoffs?
What we saw Sunday night was a Trojans defense, revamped and bolstered by a new coordinator, that made better tackles than any Lincoln Riley defense in his eight-year head-coaching career (the unit stopped LSU on two critical fourth-quarter drives). We saw a quarterback, Miller Moss, who shined on the grandest stage after waiting three years for his chance (he completed 75 percent of his passes and finished with 378 yards).
We saw one receiver, Kyron Hudson, make two of the greatest catches you’ll ever see: an acrobatic one-handed catch in the third quarter and a game-changing reception in the fourth, when he snatched a ball from Moss on USC’s final touchdown drive despite a hit (a targeted hit, at that) from an LSU defender.
We saw, perhaps most surprisingly of all, a USC defensive tackle — yes, a tackle. They stopped the run (minus a 39-yard burst, LSU had just 78 rushing yards) and put together a goal-line defense in the first quarter (LSU failed on a fourth-and-goal from the 3).
Those superlatives made their coach the most pleased. Lincoln Riley seemed almost surprised by it all, certainly impressed, with a unit that a year ago ranked 119th nationally.
Did we do it? How? Are you sure?
Riley made one of the most talked-about decisions of the offseason by firing coordinator Alex Grinch and hiring UCLA’s D’Anton Lynn, one of the game’s most touted young defensive minds. A new coach. A new scheme. New players. A new mentality.
“I was proud of how hard and how well we played and how much we trusted him and didn’t get scared. We just kept working hard,” Riley said. There’s a “vibe” to the defense, he said, a confidence. “It was great to see that moment and in that stadium, how much we trusted (the new system).”
The overreactions are obvious:
– Moss, sharp and cool, composed and calm, is the latest contender for Riley’s Heisman Trophy.
– USC’s defense, physical, aggressive and smart, is back in championship form.
– Riley, the $10 million man in his third season, will finally deliver a championship to Los Angeles.
On the other hand, the other $10 million man, Brian Kelly, was “pissed off,” he told reporters after the game, especially by an offense that failed to turn a game it was leading by one into two in the second half. The Tigers had that opportunity twice, leading 17-13 with the ball and momentum on their side.
They lost a yard on a third down and one yard, but Lynn’s new defense stopped them. On another offensive series, they gained three yards when they needed six, but again Lynn’s defenders stopped them short of the first down line.
They blew a 304-yard outing by new starter Nussmeier with the old starter, Heisman winner Jayden Daniels, watching from the sidelines. In the stands, those rowdy Louisianans headed en masse toward the exits, into the dry heat of Las Vegas and, at some point, toward a round-trip flight home, angry and (probably) hungover.
These are the games that make you and break you. They get coaches fired and hired, they energize fan bases, inspire them and disenfranchise them.
“That was a playoff game,” USC athletic director Jen Cohen said.
It certainly felt that way, two giants of the game from the two most powerful football leagues, each their commissioners looking out from this football palace, the bright lights of the Strip coming in to illuminate another magical Las Vegas spectacle.
One with a new twist.
“Today was a really good Big Ten football game,” Riley smiled.
