Counting Down Utah Football’s Best 2022 Plays: USC Trojans
Jul 10, 2023, 3:15 PM
SALT LAKE CITY – We are 8 weeks out from the Utes’ season opener against Florida at Rice-Eccles Stadium and counting down the best play in each of Utah football’s 14 games in 2022 to celebrate. Today’s focus is on the USC Trojans.
While not every game went Utah’s way last season, they did enough to stamp their ticket to the Pac-12 Championship Game in Las Vegas, go back-to-back as conference champions, and earn their second berth in a row to the “Grandaddy of them All”.
Many believe Utah has a good chance of three-peating in 2023 due to the talent returning and the coaches’ aggressive approach in the Transfer Portal to address a few deficiencies. Unfortunately, we still have some time to go before we find out, but in the meantime let’s take a trip down memory lane, focusing on Utah’s epic game in Salt Lake City against USC.
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Cam Rising & Utah’s ‘Unwavering Belief’
Let’s be honest here, there were tons of incredible plays and individual efforts in this “instant classic” game but there is one play, and one play only that stands above the rest.
Cam Rising’s two-point conversion to give the Utes the one-point upset over the No. 7 Trojans, 43-42.
UTAH LEADS!@Utah_Football converts for 2 to take the 1-point lead late! pic.twitter.com/e2R04hx8SI
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 16, 2022
After a disappointing outing in Pasadena the week before that put the Utes in a bit of a make-or-break situation for the season the following week hosting USC at home, Rising talked about the team needing “unwavering belief”. Rising brought up the idea twice, once in the UCLA post-game press conference and then again after practice ahead of the matchup with the Trojans.
Rising delivered “unwavering belief” for his team and their fans on a night the Utes chose to honor teammates Ty Jordan and Aaron Lowe with hand painted helmets.
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Utah ran down the clock while trailing by seven points before Cam Rising ran in a one-yard touchdown with 48 seconds left in the game.
Rather than going for the tie, Kyle Whittingham elected to go for two and the win. Rising ran in the two-point conversion to put the Utes up 43-42 while throwing up a “22” for Jordan and Lowe in the process.
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The Trojans were left with 48 seconds to get in field goal range but were unable to get down the field allowing the Utes to pull off the upset, and hand USC their first loss of the season.
Michelle Bodkin is the Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of both the Crimson Corner Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and The Saturday Show (Saturday from 10 a.m.–12 p.m.) on The KSL Sports Zone. Follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Threads: @BodkinKSLsports
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