Freshman tight end Xavier Grimble had quite an eventful third quarter, as the USC Trojans lead the Utah Utes 17-14 after three quarters at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Grimble helped widen the lead with a nine-yard touchdown catch early in the quarter, but he also fumbled at midfield which led to a touchdown for Utah.
USC quarterback Matt Barkley completed eight of 10 passes in the quarter for 95 yards and a touchdown.
Utah had all the momentum to end the first half, cutting the USC lead to 10-7, then received the kickoff to open the third quarter. However, the Trojans were able to shutdown the Utes on three plays, forcing them to punt.
After the Trojans started the ensuing drive on their own 12 yard line, Barkley threw down the middle to Grimble for a 36-yard gain to completely change the field position. Grimble caught three passes for 57 yards on the drive, including the touchdown, and highlighted some tremendous production by the USC freshmen in Saturday night's contest:
- TE Grimble has five catches for 65 yards and one touchdown (and a fumble)
- WR Marqise Lee has two catches for 34 yards
- TE Randall Telfer caught two balls for 28 yards
- RB D.J. Morgan ran for 27 yards on eight carries
That's 154 of USC's 365 yards, 42.2% of the total, from freshmen tonight.
The Trojans have had a pair of great open field tackles during the game. One in the first half was a tackle by safety T.J McDonald just shy of the first down marker on a third down play. The other was by linebacker Dion Bailey, as he stopped Ryan Lacy on a run on a fake punt.
After Grimble's fumble, Los Angels native Ryan Dunn ran 51 yards on a reverse, down to the USC one-yard line, and John White IV punched it into the end zone on the next play to cut the USC lead to 17-14.
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