Five takeaways from CU's 48-41 loss to USC

Well, Colorado wasn’t able to topple Caleb Williams and the Trojans at home, but the Buffs who lost against at Oregon weren’t the same Buffs who lost 48-41 against USC.

A valiant second half effort looked reminiscent to the Buffs' same fight and resilience they displayed during the nonconference slate. Still, leading up to that late push, Colorado’s defense allowed Williams to execute a high-scoring and high-yardage game (498 total offense) and Colorado’s offense was late to respond to USC’s active scoring.

Head coach Deion Sanders and Shedeur Sanders don’t believe in moral victories, but that second half reignited QB Sanders tendencies, brought forth a young star and got the Buffs (mostly) back on track.

Here are five takeaways from the game:

It was one of the freshman fairytales when a player gets little to no live reps at his position, and then one game day, he step ups and shines. Omarion Miller did just that and almost single-handedly got Colorado back in the game Saturday.

After a USC's sixth score that put CU down 41-14, Sanders connected with Miller for his first and longest catch of the season, 65 yards, putting the Buffs in scoring position and resulting in Anthony Hankerson getting across the plane.

On the next drive, Sanders found Miller again for a 44-yard reception and Michael Harrison followed up with a touchdown. Miller almost secured the 2-point conversion, but he was out by a small margin. However, he redeemed himself in the end zone by catching a laser from Sanders, and the Buffs found themselves inching closer behind the Trojans 48-34.

He stepped up in crunch time and the Buffs discovered a new tool in their already deep group of pass catchers in Miller.

“I didn’t think we were going to get that performance from Omarion,” coach Sanders said. “I haven’t seen it yet. No. he hadn’t practiced well and it’s why he hadn’t played, but he was forced into action and he showed up and showed out.

"We celebrated him after the game because of how he stepped up and now I’m certain his confidence will soar through the roof.”