Plaschke: USC rediscovers its best self as it dazzles in final minutes against UCLA

As the clock ticked down on a long cold Pasadena night, a small but solid cheer rose from the shivering Rose Bowl masses.

“We are … SC!”

For the longest time in this 92nd meeting with UCLA, they weren’t.

The Trojans stumbled. They failed. They stank.

But then, in the last breath of this street fight, they found themselves.

Lincoln Riley became SC coach. Jayden Maiava became SC quarterback. Ja’Kobi Lane became a SC receiver.

And when it was done, a group of hugging young men in cardinal and gold jumped out of the blue Rose Bowl with a 19-13 victory and a renewed definition of self.

For one of the few exciting times in this desultory season, they really were SC.

Read more: USC overcomes early miscues to defeat rival UCLA and become bowl eligible

“Great, great win,” Riley said.

While this sixth win for the 6-5 Trojans qualifies them for a bowl game, they are still clearly not as good as they should be. But seeing them in the scarf-biting pressure late Saturday night, they just might be tougher than anyone thinks.

And while they will rightfully be major underdogs to playoff-bound Notre Dame at the Coliseum in their regular-season finale next week, the drama of Saturday’s win showed they may still be capable of marching to midfield and planting the Trojan sword.

While they’re essentially done — they missed the playoffs, and that’s all that matters here — this team isn’t actually done yet, and the final weeks of this disjointed dance could still be interesting.

“Winning breeds confidence, it breeds excitement, it’s a validation of the things you do,” Riley said. “For us to win one, especially like this, obviously this is a massive win for us.”

Things got extremely interesting with 11:13 left in the game and the Trojans trailing 13-9.

They had already blown three separate previous possessions from inside UCLA’s five-yard line and settled for three field goals after lousy runs and misplaced passes.

They had also failed to take advantage of three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties assessed to UCLA at the end of the first half, resulting in the Bruins kicking off the second half from Alhambra.

Read more: Plaschke: Can dynamic new USC quarterback Jayden Maiava resurrect Lincoln Riley?

The overmatched hosts had seemingly handed USC the game on a platter, but for the longest time the Trojans refused to take it.

Then, at the start of the fourth quarter, USC pretty much ripped it out of UCLA’s hands.

The rally started, as these things often have later, with a punt by the great Eddie Czaplicki that pinned UCLA at the one-yard line.

“It’s almost like a Zen thing, there’s no question about anything I’m doing right now,” said Czaplicki, who has arguably been their best player in recent weeks.

The Bruins went three-and-out and their own player, Brody Richter, laced one to center field. One play later, Maiava flipped a backfield pass to Makai Lemon, who then completed a 39-yard pass to a wide open Kyron Hudson, who carried it down to the four-yard line.

It was a great call from Riley on a play that the weakened Trojans — 27 players called in sick Tuesday — had barely tested.

“We almost didn’t repeat it,” Hudson said. “It’s trusting each other.”

He was asked if Lemon threw it that well in practice.

“He threw it even better, that’s the crazy thing,” Hudson said. “Makai, he’s a great athlete, a great player.”

This time the Trojans finished for once, Maiava running away from two Bruin defenders to find a leaping layup in the back of the end zone.

The only better finisher Saturday was a former Bruin who was presented with a roaring standing ovation after the first quarter. Yes, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was here.

As for Maiava, he is still very much a work in progress. In his second game after taking over the starting job from Miller Moss, he wasn’t great, going just 19 of 35 for 221 yards while making several questionable decisions, but he made the one throw that counted.

“We have a great group,” Maiava said. “We have a robust group.”

They have a group that is slowly finding itself, better late than never, and ended the game by stopping the Bruins on a fourth-and-one failed quarterback sneak by Ethan Garbers.

“It was huge for us to give us that confidence again that, for us, we really are the best team in the nation,” safety Akili Arnold said.

If nothing else, on a Saturday night reveal, they were once again the best team in Los Angeles.

They were again SC.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.