USC Football

2023 - 1 - 2

Tulane scores 16 in final 4 minutes, stuns USC in Cotton Bowl (ESPN)

Tulane reeled off 16 points in the last 4:07 of the game against USC in the Cotton Bowl, including a game-winning touchdown in the final seconds following a ...

[Jha'Quan Jackson](https://www.espn.com/college-football/player/_/id/4427575/jha'quan-jackson), an 87-yard catch-and-run. [Mario Williams](https://www.espn.com/college-football/player/_/id/4431618/mario-williams) signaled for a fair catch but fumbled the ball out of bounds at the 1. That capped a frantic finish for the 16th-ranked Green Wave in a [46-45 win](/college-football/boxscore/_/gameId/401442013) over Heisman Trophy winner [Caleb Williams](http://www.espn.com/college-football/player/_/id/4428884/caleb-williams) and No. 10 [Southern California](/college-football/team/_/id/30/usc-trojans) on Monday. Williams got hurt on a 59-yard run early in the Pac-12 championship game loss to Utah on Dec. "It's going to linger. The Cotton Bowl was Williams' third game this season with five TD passes. USC's only other loss was also to the Utes, who had a game-winning 2-point conversion at home in mid-October. "I've rarely at the end of the year felt so conflicted," Riley said. "We were debating whether or not to onside kick," said Fritz, the seventh-year Tulane coach. His career-best fourth touchdown started the final scoring surge for American Athletic Conference champion Tulane, which was in the New Year's Six game as the highest-ranked Group of 5 team. The lone win came in 2020, with

USC collapses as Tulane pulls off stunning comeback in Cotton Bowl (Los Angeles Times)

Despite five touchdown passes by Caleb Williams, USC could not hold on as Tulane storms back for a 46-45 victory in the Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas, ...

[USC’s Pac-12 title game heartbreak](https://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/story/2022-12-03/usc-vs-utah-takeaways), the pain in his left hamstring a lasting reminder of all that was lost that night in Las Vegas. Early bettors still appear to think the Trojans are the right side as 82% of the bets and 72% of the money was on USC at DraftKings as of Friday morning. [Justin Dedich](https://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/story/2020-11-12/usc-center-justin-dedich-brett-neilon-injury) hadn’t given much consideration to the fact that one day two staples of [USC](https://www.latimes.com/sports/usc)’s offensive line would be gone. [Alex Grinch](https://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/story/2022-09-02/lincoln-riley-alex-grinch-defensive-coordinator-usc-football) isn’t the kind to sugarcoat. [Notre Dame](https://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/story/2022-11-26/usc-defeats-notre-dame-lincoln-riley-recap), it was bothering. [Reggie Bush](https://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/story/2020-06-10/usc-reinstates-reggie-bush)? Meanwhile, the Cotton Bowl was the reasonable best-case scenario for Tulane as a Group of 5 program. Ever since, any finger-pointing from outside the program has trained on USC’s coordinator and the direction he’s taken [the Trojans](https://www.latimes.com/sports/usc) defense. The drive was set up after Solomon Byrd recovered a fumble by Tulane running back Tyjae Spears with 10:46 to go in the fourth quarter. (A two-point conversion pass failed.) Earlier in the drive, Spears had a 47-yard scamper. And after Tulane got the ball back on the ensuing free kick, the Green Wave went 66 yards in 12 plays to score the winning touchdown. The final blow was a six-yard touchdown pass by Michael Pratt to Alex Bauman with nine seconds to go.

No. 8 USC Football Falls To No. 14 Tulane 46-45 In Thriller At ... (University of Southern California Official Athletic Site)

Caleb Williams was 37-for-52 passing for 462 yards and a Cotton Bowl-record five touchdowns in the Trojans' final game of the season.

Two plays later, defensive tackle Patrick Jenkins met [Austin Jones](/sports/football/roster/austin-jones/12988) in the end zone and smothered him for a safety. The 87-yard catch-and-run by Jackson for the Green Wave matched the longest touchdown in the 87 Cotton Bowl games played. Williams injured his hamstring on a 59-yard run early in the Pac-12 championship game loss to Utah on Dec. The Green Wave scored 16 points in the final 4:07, the game-winning touchdown coming after they got the ball back following a safety. Tyjae Spears ran for 205 yards and his career-best fourth touchdown started the final scoring surge for the American Athletic Conference champion Green Wave (12-2), who completed an FBS-record 10-win turnaround around after going 2-10 last season. 8 USC Football in the Cotton Bowl on Monday.

Alex Grinch gets buried by angry fans after Tulane stuns USC in the ... (Trojans Wire)

Tulane stunned USC in the Cotton Bowl, and DC Alex Grinch is getting ripped apart for another terrible defensive performance.

Rent him a car to drive back to LA. You’ve given up almost 40 to Tulane. It's a waste of money. How do you bring Alex Grinch back after this effort? [January 2, 2023]

USC football's Cotton Bowl collapse vs. Tulane drives Twitter wild (ClutchPoints)

The USC Trojans football team's shocking Cotton Bowl collapse to the Tulane Green Wave drove Twitter absolutely nuts.

[January 2, 2023] The wild finish drove Twitter Little did USC football know that the Green Wave had them right where they wanted them.

USC football: 3 takeaways from heartbreaking Cotton Bowl loss to ... (Saturday Blitz)

USC football was looking to finish the season strong, but Tulane had other ideas, storming back for an upset win. What'd we learn?

The Colorado transfer had the best game of his career on the big stage, catching six passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns. It was almost more than half of his output last year with Colorado. The Green Wave stormed back after trailing 45-30 with under five minutes left and the USC defense had yet another meltdown.