Cal Football Rewind: 5 Game-Changing Plays from the USC Win

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LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 10: Iman Marshall #8 of the USC Trojans reacts with head coach Clay Helton after his unsportsman like penalty to give the California Golden Bears a first down during the fourth quarter against the California Golden Bears at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on November 10, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

5 – Taunting

USC nearly had the ball back with over three minutes on the clock and a timeout remaining in the fourth quarter. On third-and-13, Garbers tried to get the first down with his arm, but his receiver, Nikko Remigio, just couldn’t get a foot down in bounds on the conversion. Initially ruled a catch, the referee crew was going to overturn the call and Cal was going to have to punt.

But a veteran USC cornerback made a huge, huge mistake. Senior Iman Marshall went over to the Cal sideline and started talking to players and coaches over there, and he must have, at some point, said the magic words. The ref threw a flag, and after the replay review concluded that the pass to Remigio was indeed incomplete, the15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was enough yardage to give Cal a free first down, maybe the biggest first down of the game.

The Trojans were one replay review away from getting the ball back with plenty of time and a timeout in their back pocket. Down by one, they just needed to get into field goal range to put Cal away and pick up their sixth win. Instead, Cal was able to keep the ball and needed just one first down to put the game away.

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Senior running back Patrick Laird took care of the rest, converting a fourth down with just over a minute left to play after USC had used their final timeout. He needed just one yard, but gained 14 for his longest run of the day. Cal used victory formation to run out the clock, and clinch a major win for the Wilcox era.

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