SALT LAKE CITY _ Adoree' Jackson lost his shoe.
On the play that would decide the game for USC on Friday evening, Jackson lined up opposite Utah receiver Tim Patrick. Patrick made a beeline for the front corner of the end zone. Quarterback Troy Williams lobbed it.
The pair grappled. Their feet tangled. And Jackson lost his shoe, and, at that moment, USC might have lost a grip on a season rumbling off the tracks.
Jackson slipped. Patrick, unguarded at the last instant, pulled in the pass with 16 seconds remaining, capping No. 24 Utah's late comeback over USC, 31-27.
The loss dropped USC to 1-3, and 0-2 in the Pac-12 Conference, unleashing further unrest among an unhappy team, and raising questions about the efficacy of Coach Clay Helton, who is now 1-5 since being named USC's full-time head coach.
"We had our opportunity tonight," Helton said. "And we let it slip away."
In the postgame locker room, after USC had let a 14-point lead get away, Helton praised the team's fight.
"I'm heartbroken for them," Helton said. "I truly believe that we can be a really good football team. We've got to just finish with wins."
Two late decisions came to define the game. Facing a fourth and three, on Utah's 37-yard line, with about five minutes and 40 seconds remaining, Helton decided to punt. Chris Tilbey pinned Utah (4-0) on its own seven-yard line.
"If you don't make that, you put them basically 30 yards away from field-goal range," Helton said.
The Utes went to work. They converted four third downs on the drive. They'd already converted one fourth down, when, on the 23-yard line, they faced another.
It was fourth and one. A 40-yard field goal would've been within kicker Andy Phillips' range.
Instead Utah Coach Kyle Whittingham went for it. Utah gained five yards. On the next play, Patrick made his winning catch.
"You play video games against USC," Patrick said. "Those are the ones you dream about."
Helton defended the decision to punt.
"You've got to trust your defense," Helton said. "And I trust them."
He continued: "Would I change the decision? No."
The late collapse ruined quarterback Sam Darnold's confident, dynamic debut. He chucked the ball to all parts of the field: an easily floated ball on a corner route to Steven Mitchell for 22 yards; a strike, in stride, to Steven Mitchell Jr. on a crossing pattern for a big gain; a late third-down strike to Tyler Petite, with a linebacker grasping at his legs.
In the third quarter, he executed two of his best passes of the game, on two consecutive plays. First, he placed a delicate pass in the pocket between the linebackers and safeties on a seam to Taylor McNamara for 21 yards. On the next play, he hung a raindrop to JuJu Smith-Schuster along the sideline for 35.
He finished 18 of on 26 for 253 yards, plus another 44 yards on nine rushes, including a quarterback keeper when he helicoptered into the end zone.
"You walk into a hostile atmosphere like this on a rainy night and you go out there and do what he did?" Helton said. "As good as you could hope for."
Darnold's presence could not change one vexing problem. For the second game in a row, USC could not get out of its own way on offense. Against Stanford, it was penalties. Against Utah, it was fumbles.
On the first drive, Justin Davis burst through a hole for 16 yards. He was hit. He fumbled. Utah recovered.
On the second drive, Darnold scampered on a quarterback draw for 14 yards. He was hit. He fumbled. Utah recovered. Darnold muttered an expletive.
On the third drive, Ronald Jones II took a handoff on a third and one. He wasn't even hit. Yet he too fumbled, after bumping into center Nico Falah.
"Those extra possessions that we could've had earlier, those were the difference," Jones said.
Between fumbles, Utah punished USC on the ground. The Utes did not throw a single pass on their first drive. USC could not stop them. They ran 12 times on 12 plays to go 59 yards for the game's first score.
Jackson gave the offense a brief reprieve from the dropsies with a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown immediately following Utah's score.
A long USC drive, aided by a 50-yard Davis scamper, plus a field goal, gave USC a 17-10 lead at the half.
Davis eclipsed 100 yards in the half, to become USC's first 100-yard rusher this season. But he was used sparingly in the second half. He finished with with 126 yards in 10 carries.
Fumbles, though, came to define the game. After Darnold's third-quarter run gave USC a 24-10 lead, Utah answered with a long, 84-yard march to the one-yard line. Quarterback Troy Williams handed to Armand Shyne. Rasheem Green's helmet popped the ball loose. It pinballed around. Porter Gustin leapt at it, as it nosedived into a pile of bodies.
Had USC recovered, Utah might have been done.
An offensive lineman, Isaac Asiata, emerged from the pile, holding the ball high, and the Utes had life.
