Barkley completed 12 of 15 passes for 141 yards after two early fumbles. (Jerry Ting/NT)

The Trojans fumbled on their first two possessions of the night, the first being returned for a Utah TD, and the second giving Utah a short field on which it was able to find the endzone again jumping out to a 14-0 lead.

Once USC was actually able to hold on to the ball, the Trojans began to find a rhythm, going 75 yards before finally scoring on a Silas Redd touchdown run to cut Utah's lead to 14-7. Redd took the majority of carries with Curtis McNeal sidelined by injury.

USC inched closer with an Andre Heidari field goal, that ironically was no-good on his first attempt, but the miss was nullified by a Trojans' false start.

Sitting at 14-10, Utah answered with another score to widen its lead to 21-10.

On the ensuing drive, USC began to find some success, particularly on a big 41-yard catch-and-run by Robert Woods, who had previously come out of the game with what many had thought to be a concussion following a bit hit by Utah safey Brian Blechen.

The Trojans capped the drive with a beautiful one-handed catch by TE Randall Telfer for a score as USC narrowed the margin to 21-17.

USC then caught a huge break when Utah's Dallin Rogers fumbled while being tackled, but landed on a USC defender, preventing him from being ruled down.

Barkley found Woods - who still did not look to be concussed - for the score to take a 24-21 lead, which is how the half eventually ended.

It was a remarkable recovery by USC after such a sloppy start. The difference seemed to be center Khaled Holmes finally neutralizing Utah's all-everything nost tackle Star Lotulelei, who remained relatively quiet after making his presence well-known the first two series of the game.

Utah gets the ball to start the second half.

Reach Staff Reporter Scott Enyeart here; follow him here.