USC defeats UCLA and now must wait for Pac-12 South fate

USC has done all it can to win the Pac-12 South and now it must wait.

The Trojans defeated cross-town rival UCLA 36-14 to finish the conference season 7-2 and nestle up behind Colorado, which maintained its lead in the Pac-12 South with a 38-24 win against Washington State earlier in the day. The Buffaloes have one final conference game against Utah to determine the Pac-12 South victor.

If the Buffaloes beat the Utes, they’ll play in the Pac-12 title game. If they lose, USC goes by virtue of a head-to-head tiebreaker.

USC knew what it had to do heading into Saturday nights contest against UCLA. While the game was close early, USC seized control late in the second quarter and never relinquished.

Quarterback Sam Darnold who has been stellar since earning the starting job in the fourth game of the season, had another strong performance completing 69.4 percent of his passes for 267 yards and two touchdowns. However, he also threw two interceptions for the second consecutive game.

Running back Ronald Jones rushed for 121 yards and two scores. It was his third triple-digit rushing effort of the season.

But the night really belonged to the Trojan defense, which held the Bruins to 266 total yards of offense, their second-lowest output of the season. The running game, which is second-to-last nationally, was once again ineffective in the defeat with just 55 yards.

USC will finish the season against traditional rival Notre Dame, but that game will only be useful for the College Football Playoff standings, in which the Trojans are steadily ascending. However, not playing in the Pac-12 title game will surely eliminate any outside chance the Trojans have of making the four-team playoff.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday