Pac-12 Champs!

The Trojans fought for 60 minutes to claim a 31-28 win over the Stanford Cardinal and become the first Pac-12 South team to win the Pac-12 title game.

In a matchup featuring USC's Ronald Jones II and Stanford's Heisman candidate Bryce Love, both RBs stepped up to the plate.

While Love had 125 rush yards and a TD, Jones posted 140 yards and 2 scores, moving up to No. 5 on USC's all-time career rushing yards chart.

USC QB Sam Darnold put on a show, throwing for 325 yards and 2 TDs.

In doing so, he set USC's single-season mark for total offense.

Darnold was rewarded with the Pac-12 Championship Game MVP trophy.

Though Darnold took home the trophy, it was senior captain Uchenna Nwosu who made what will be remembered as the play of the game.

USC was up 24-21 when Stanford worked its way into 1st-and-goal position, threatening to take its first lead of the night. After 3 big stops from the USC defense, it was 4th-and-goal from the 1.

Stanford handed the ball off to Cameron Scarlett, but Nwosu came tearing across from the other side of the line to drag him down short of the end zone.

Despite starting the ensuing drive on their own 1, the Trojans marched down and scored the field thanks in part to 2 big connections between Darnold and WR Michael Pittman Jr.

Pittman had a career day, making 7 catches for 146 yards — a Pac-12 Championship Game record.

But between all those impressive performances, one outshined the rest in USC head coach Clay Helton's eyes.

Helton gave the game ball to senior captain Chris Hawkins, whose grandmother passed away at 12:15 a.m. the morning of the game.

With his grandmother on his mind, Hawkins went out and racked up a career-high 13 tackles, plus 2 TFL.

I'm glad she was looking down at me, watching me today. And I'm just glad that I was able to go out there and put my best effort forward for her. —Chris Hawkins

WATCH ALL THE HIGHLIGHTS OF USC'S WIN!

Up next for the 11-2 Trojans is a New Year's Six bowl game. USC will learn where it's headed during ESPN's bowl announcement show, which begins at 9 a.m. PT.

Pac-12 Champs! USC beats Stanford to win its first conference title since 2008

The Trojans fought for 60 minutes to claim a 31-28 win over the Stanford Cardinal and become the first Pac-12 South team to win the Pac-12 title game.

In a matchup featuring USC's Ronald Jones II and Stanford's Heisman candidate Bryce Love, both RBs stepped up to the plate.

While Love had 125 rush yards and a TD, Jones posted 140 yards and 2 scores, moving up to No. 5 on USC's all-time career rushing yards chart.

USC QB Sam Darnold put on a show, throwing for 325 yards and 2 TDs.

In doing so, he set USC's single-season mark for total offense.

Darnold was rewarded with the Pac-12 Championship Game MVP trophy.

Though Darnold took home the trophy, it was senior captain Uchenna Nwosu who made what will be remembered as the play of the game.

USC was up 24-21 when Stanford worked its way into 1st-and-goal position, threatening to take its first lead of the night. After 3 big stops from the USC defense, it was 4th-and-goal from the 1.

Stanford handed the ball off to Cameron Scarlett, but Nwosu came tearing across from the other side of the line to drag him down short of the end zone.

Despite starting the ensuing drive on their own 1, the Trojans marched down and scored the field thanks in part to 2 big connections between Darnold and WR Michael Pittman Jr.

Pittman had a career day, making 7 catches for 146 yards — a Pac-12 Championship Game record.

But between all those impressive performances, one outshined the rest in USC head coach Clay Helton's eyes.

Helton gave the game ball to senior captain Chris Hawkins, whose grandmother passed away at 12:15 a.m. the morning of the game.

With his grandmother on his mind, Hawkins went out and racked up a career-high 13 tackles, plus 2 TFL.

WATCH ALL THE HIGHLIGHTS OF USC'S WIN!

Up next for the 11-2 Trojans is a New Year's Six bowl game. USC will learn where it's headed during ESPN's bowl announcement show, which begins at 9 a.m. PT.

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