Despite beating No. 10 Utah 30-23, USC cannot catch a break with its quarterback depth chart. First, the Trojans lost started J.T. Daniels in Week 1 to a season-ending knee injury. Then, against the Utes on Friday night, they lost freshman Kedon Slovis for the rest of the game.
The injury happened on the first possession of the night, no less, when Slovis got drilled on a pass attempt over the middle to Amon-Ra St. Brown. Slovis had trouble getting up off the field at first, and then immediately was sent to the locker room for further evaluation. After the game, coach Clay Helton only said that Slovis got "dinged" but did not elaborate further.
Slovis' replacement was junior Matt Fink, and in the first half, it was hard to say he didn't rise to the occasion with 203 yards passing on 13 completions and two touchdowns. Both were big-time downfield throws, but the second made by St. Brown was a jump ball situation.
Fink finished the game with 351 yards, three touchdowns and an interception in the win. He was a bit uneven in moving the offense, which is to be expected given the situation he was put in, but overall did enough with the deep passes to put points on the board.