Matt Barkley leads Southern Cal past Utah in PAC-12 showdown
Fitzgerald Cecilio
Salt Lake City, UT
Matt Barkley threw for 303 yards and three touchdown passes as Southern Cal overcame a shaky start en route to a 38-28 victory over Utah Thursday in a PAC-12 matchup at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Barkley completed 23 of 30 passes and delivered touchdowns heaves to tight end Randall Telfer and wideout Robert Woods in the pivotal second quarter to eventually give the Trojans a 24-21 advantage after trailing 14-0 in the opening period.
"I felt really calm, and I felt like our team was and our coaches were. I felt we did a lot better job as a staff today handling negative plays than we did last time on the road," Trojans coach Lane Kiffin said.
The Utes (2-3, 0-2 PAC-12) earlier raced to a two-touchdown lead after defensive end Nate Fakahafua stripped Barkley of the ball and returned it for an eight-yard touchdown and an 11-yard touchdown pass by John Hays to wide receiver Kenneth Scott.
Running back Silas Reed then put the Trojans (4-1, 2-1 PAC-12) on the board with a three-yard touchdown run that capped a nine-play, 75-yard drive led by Barkley.
The Trojans started the second quarter with a 32-yard field goal before Hays staked the Utes to a 21-10 lead with an 18-yard touchdown pass to DeVonte Christopher.
Then, Barkley threw a 23-yard scoring heave to Telfer and a six-yard touchdown pass to Woods to put the Trojans ahead, 24-21.
Barkley gave the Trojans a 10-point cushion with this third touchdown pass, this time an 83-yard throw to wide receiver Marqise Lee, before cornerback Nickell Robey intercepted a pass by Hays and returned it for a 38-yard touchdown.
Utah's junior running back Kelvin York finished the game with a five-yard touchdown run for the final score.
"We didn't get it done, but I'm proud of how we fought. We played the entire 60 minutes. We didn't play as smart as we would have liked the whole game. We made an incremental improvement as an offense so it was a great step forward," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.
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