USC’s coaches thought Texas had sniffed out their play call on the Trojans’ final drive of regulation on Saturday. The plan was for Sam Darnold to throw a pass up the middle of the field to Velus Jones Jr., a slot receiver that USC had lined up as a running back in hopes of a favorable matchup.
The Longhorns anticipated the mismatch and called a timeout. So USC countered … by doing almost nothing. The Trojans stuck with the same play with one small tweak. Instead of using Jones, USC sent in freshman running back Stephen Carr.