Jeremy Payne broke two tackles on his way to the game-winning touchdown and TCU shocked Southern California 30-27 in overtime to win the Alamo Bowl in dramatic fashion Tuesday in San Antonio.
TCU faced third-and-20 and needed at least a field goal to match USC and force a second overtime. Ken Seals threw a checkdown to the running back Payne, who made multiple Trojans miss while remaining inbounds along the left sideline and then sprinting to the end zone.
“We’re trying to figure out if (we’re) about to kick a field goal,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said in the postgame TV interview. “He makes about four guys miss. You got to give our guys credit. So proud of this group, they hung in there. It didn’t look great. Jeremy made plays, Ken made plays. Defense kept us in the game.”
The unlikely play capped a comeback from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit for TCU (9-4).
Payne finished with 73 rushing yards and one touchdown along with six receptions for 50 yards and the winning score. Seals, who got the start after quarterback Josh Hoover opted out in anticipation of entering the transfer portal, finished 29-for-40 for 258 yards, the one TD and one interception.
“He’s going to be a Fort Worth legend,” Dykes said of Seals, a former starter at Vanderbilt who backed up Hoover for two years. “Never buy a drink in Fort Worth the rest of his life. He’s a great college football story. Just persevered, hung in there, and then he got his time. He got his time, he got his chance, he made the most of it and he was ready.”
Jayden Maiava completed 18 of 30 passes for 280 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions for USC (9-4). King Miller rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown but was stuffed twice from the 2-yard line during overtime, leading the Trojans to settle for Ryon Sayeri’s fourth field goal of the night. Tanook Hines caught six passes for 163 yards.
Jaden Richardson made a highlight-reel play to put the Trojans ahead in the final minute of the third quarter. A backup wide receiver with 11 receptions in two seasons for USC, he leapt and leaned back with his right arm outstretched to pluck Maiava’s 21-yard pass out of the air. Richardson tapped one foot in bounds on his way down for his first FBS touchdown.
The two-point conversion, a pass to Taniela Tupou, was successful to give the Trojans a 21-14 lead. Sayeri converted from 41 yards out for a 10-point cushion with 9:37 to play.
The Horned Frogs answered with a 75-yard drive culminating in Payne’s 5-yard touchdown run with 4:24 left. TCU forced a USC three-and-out and used the remaining 2:44 to set up Kyle Lemmermann’s 27-yard field goal to force overtime.
Freshman running back Jon Denman rumbled in from the 5-yard line to put TCU up 7-3 early in the second quarter. The drive was arranged by Jamel Johnson’s fifth interception of the season.
USC answered quickly. Miller had a 24-yard rush across midfield before ending the drive with a 2-yard score.
TCU wideout Major Everhart converted a fourth-and-2 in the red zone, nearly scoring a touchdown on an 11-yard jet sweep, and Seals cashed in on a 1-yard keeper on the next play to make it 14-10 with 4:58 left in the half.
Sayeri cut the margin to 14-13 with his 28-yarder just before halftime.
Christian Pierce intercepted Seals during the first minute of the second half and USC drove to the TCU 7, but Maiava underthrew a pass to the end zone that Channing Canada picked off.
–Field Level Media
