Alabama understands that stopping Indiana’s powerful offense in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day starts with containing Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
“[Mendoza] is operating at a really high level,” Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said. “When you watch the tape and the challenge, really the cry for our guys [is] to have to operate at a really consistent level, and you’re going to have to take away those windows that he’s wanting to get the ball through.”
During top-seeded Indiana’s undefeated season, Mendoza threw for 2,980 yards and 33 touchdowns for a team that ranked eighth in total offense (472.8 yards per game). Despite his impressive numbers, ninth-seeded Alabama isn’t showing signs of being intimidated by Mendoza heading into the College Football Playoff quarterfinal showdown.
“He’s a man, just like me,” Alabama defensive lineman Tim Keenan III said. “He put himself in a position to achieve the accolades, so we need to make sure we do what we need to, to play our game.”
Added Alabama safety Keon Sabb: “Congrats to him for winning [the Heisman], but we’ll play our game.”
Alabama is planning to put pressure on Mendoza in an effort to force potential turnovers and limit Indiana’s attack, cornerback Zabien Brown said.
“I want to stop quarterbacks whether they’ve won the Heisman Trophy or not,” Wommack added.
He feels they fabricate calls just so their friends can see them on TV.
But, to be honest, the Rams star receiver doesn’t seem too upset about the situation.
During a livestream Tuesday with YouTubers N3on and Adin Ross, Nacua was asked if he thought referees might bend the truth at times when making their calls.
“Oh, a hundred percent,” Nacua answered matter-of-factly. “Yes, the refs are the worst.”
The third-year player continued in the same casual manner, saying that NFL officials are generally part-time employees who probably get a thrill when they appear on screen during national broadcasts — even if it’s while making a call.
“These guys are lawyers, and like really they want to be on TV, too, bro,” Nacua said. “You don’t think he’s texting his friends in the group chat like, ‘Yo, you guys just saw me on “Sunday Night Football.” Like, that wasn’t [pass interference], but I called it.’”
He added: “I mean, these guys are normal human beings, too.”
The NFL’s competition committee states on the league’s football operations website that “criticism of officiating has always been considered conduct detrimental to the League.” Such conduct is often met with a fine. Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Chiefs coach Andy Reid have all been fined for public criticism of officiating in recent years.
The NFL did not immediately respond to questions from The Times on a possible fine for Nacua.
During another portion of the livestream, Nacua agrees to do a celebration dance of Ross and N3on’s choice after his next touchdown. With Nacua out of earshot, the two YouTubers discuss whether the 2023 Pro Bowl player would get in trouble if they have him perform a move that references an offensive stereotype about Jewish people. Ross is Jewish, but he often performs the move and teaches others how to do it in his livestreams.
He ends up teaching the move to Nacua, who practices it with Ross and promises to do it during a game. Ross does not explain the meaning of the move to Nacua, and the star receiver gives no indication he knows its background.
The Times reached out to the Rams and Nacua’s agent and did not receive an immediate response.
Who’s going to stop the unstoppable offense? Who’s going to score on the persistent defense? Who’s going to outwit the coaching genius?
Who can possibly halt the Rams on their thunderous march toward a Super Bowl championship?
After yet another jaw-dropping Sunday afternoon at a raucous SoFi Stadium, the answer was clear.
Nobody.
Nobody can spar with the Rams. Nobody can run with the Rams. Nobody can compete with the Rams.
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Gary Klein breaks down what went right for the Rams in their 41-34 victory over the Detroit Lions at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.
Nobody is talented enough or deep enough or smart enough to keep the Rams from winning their second Super Bowl championship in five years.
Nobody. It’s over. It’s done. The Rams are going to win it all, and before you cry jinx, understand that this is just putting into words what many already are thinking.
The Rams’ second-half domination of the Detroit Lions in a 41-34 win should again make the rest of the league realize that nobody else has a chance.
The Seahawks? Please. The 49ers? No way. The Eagles? They’ve been grounded. The Bears? Is that some kind of a joke?
The Patriots? Not yet. The Broncos? Not yet. The Bills? Not ever.
The Rams trailed by 10 points at one juncture Sunday and then blew the Lions’ doors off in the second half to clinch a playoff berth for the seventh time in nine seasons under Sean McVay, setting them up for the easiest ride in sports.
With a win in Seattle on Thursday night — and, yes, they should beat a team that just barely survived Old Man Rivers — the Rams essentially will clinch the NFC’s top seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
That means they have to win only two games at SoFi to advance to a Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. That means they can win a championship without leaving California, three games played in the sort of perfect climate that gets the best out of their precision attack.
And as Sunday proved once again, they’re good enough to win three essentially home playoff games against anybody.
“I love this team,” McVay said.
There’s a lot to love.
They have an MVP quarterback, the league’s most versatile two-headed running attack, an interior defense that gets stronger under pressure, and the one weapon that no team can match.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua is tackled by Detroit cornerback Amik Robertson during the second half Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Is he unbelievable or what? He is Cooper Kupp in his prime, only faster and stronger. He caught a career-high 181 yards’ worth of passes on yet another day when he could not be covered and barely could be tackled.
“He’s unbelievable,” McVay said. “He’s so tough, a couple of times he just drags guys with him … he epitomizes everything we want to be about … he’s like Pac-Man, he just eats up yards and catches.”
Pac-Man? The Rams even score on their old-school references.
In all, it was another Sunday of totally fun football.
They outscored the league’s highest-scoring team 20-0 at one point, they outrushed the league’s toughest backfield 159-70, they racked up 519 total yards against a team once thought destined for a championship.
And they did it with barely a smile. With the exception of Nacua repeatedly banging his fist to his chest — can you blame him? — the Rams are steady and steadfast and just so scary.
”All we want to do is go to work and find a way to be better,” said Matthew Stafford, who likely answered the crowd’s chants by clinching the MVP award with 368 yards and two touchdown passes. “It’s a fun group right now but we understand there’s more out there for us.”
Lots, lots, lots more.
This year a similar column appeared in this space regarding the Dodgers. By the first round of the playoffs, one just knew that they were going to run the table.
“Guys just kept competing, staying in the moment,” McVay said.
This moment belongs to them. One knew it Sunday by the end of the first half, which featured a Stafford interception and a struggling secondary and Jared Goff’s vengeful greatness and a 10-point Lions lead.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford passes in the first half of a 41-34 win over the Detroit Lions at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Then the Rams drove the ball nearly half of the field in 30 seconds in a push featuring Stafford and Nacua at their best. Stafford connected with Nacua on a brilliant 37-yard pass in the final moments that led to a Harrison Mevis 37-yard field goal to close the gap to seven.
“Right before that I told the guys, ‘Let’s go steal three,’” Stafford said.
Turns out, they stole a game.
“One of the key and critical sequences,” McVay said of that late first-half hammer, which led to a dazzling third quarter that finished the flustered Lions.
“We never panic,” Blake Corum said. “Because we know … what we have to bring to the table.”
What they’ve increasingly been bringing is a running attack that perfectly complements the awesome passing attack, as evidenced Sunday by Corum and Kyren Williams combining for 149 yards and three touchdowns.
The Lions’ more vaunted backfield of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery? Seventy yards and one score.
“We push each other to the limit,” Corum said of Williams.
Rams running back Kyren Williams stiff-arms Detroit Lions safety Erick Hallett II during the first half Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Potentially disturbing was how one noted Ram may have pushed past his limits, as receiver Davante Adams limped off the field early in the fourth quarter after apparently reinjuring his troublesome hamstring.
To lose him for the playoffs would be devastating, as he frees up space for Nacua and is almost an automatic touchdown from the five-yard line and closer.
Then again he’ll have a month to heal. And the Rams still have a bruising array of tight ends led Sunday by the touchdown-hot Colby Parkinson, who caught 75 yards’ worth of passes and two scores, including one inexplicable touchdown in which he clearly was down at the one-yard line.
The Rams got lucky there. But even if the right call was made, they would have scored on the next couple of plays. The way the Rams attacked, they could have been scoring all night.
“You knew that it was going to be that kind of game where there was some good back-and-forth,” McVay said. “You needed to be able to know that points were going to be really important for us, and our guys delivered in a big way.”
Just wait. By the time this season is done, McVay’s guys will have delivered a trophy representing something much bigger.
USC (9-3), ranked No. 16 in the AP poll, is preparing to play Texas Christian (9-4) on Dec. 30 in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. USC finished 7-2 in its second season in the Big Ten and won four of its last five games, the only setback during that stretch being a 42-27 loss to Oregon, which is the No. 5 seed in the College Football Playoff.
Asked about signing the No. 1 recruiting class for 2026, Riley said: “It was a great day. We tried to keep the focus on building next year’s team. The amount of guys that we signed is a big portion of it and as we start to look ahead … half of our day and maybe even more is pointing towards next year and coming years. Meanwhile, obviously getting ready for this bowl game. It was a lot of hard work to add talent and people who care about this place and starting to put next year’s team together has been exciting here these last few weeks.”
Riley has a 35-27 record in his four seasons at USC and is hoping to improve his bowl record to 3-1. He guided the Trojans to wins in the 2023 Holiday Bowl and 2024 Las Vegas Bowl.
Riley watched the CIF state Open Division bowl game between Santa Margarita (coached by former Trojans quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer) and De La Salle on Saturday and was impressed by the performance of USC commit Trent Mosley, who had 11 catches for 183 yards and two touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in the Eagles’ 47-13 win.
“He was someone we targeted very early on,” Riley said. “I thought he was super impressive and it was important. He’s one of the best receivers in the country. He’s proven that and he just played out of his mind. It’s a great family and he’s a really smart kid.”
Asked what advice he gives to players who are deciding what to do next in their careers, Riley said: “Yes, it’s an important decision. The guys that make the right decision no matter what it is get a leg up on the rest of their lives. Consequently, a wrong decision can be catastrophic. That’s the world we all live in. I just try to educate them on their options. I don’t like telling guys you should do this or you shouldn’t do that. It’s more about, here’s this option, this is what it would look like, here’s what you need to consider. Sometimes the decision’s pretty clear one way or another, other times it’s not. I try to give them as much guidance as I possibly can.”
Given that USC will be missing quite a few players who were key contributors throughout the season, Riley is not ruling out the possibility of younger players seeing action against TCU.
“There’s gonna be guys all over the place who are going to have opportunities,” Riley said. “All sides of the ball, all position groups, maybe it’s some of the guys you saw a little bit during the season and in some instances you’ll see guys get some burn in this game that haven’t played at all or very little. Bowl games are great, but days like this are the most valuable part of it because we’re just pouring reps into all of these guys, it’s super competitive and the energy level is just different. All these guys feel it’s their time.”
Riley admitted he and his staff had to make hard decisions based on the incoming freshmen, a majority of whom are spring enrollees.
“It’s huge, it’s a high, high number that are going to be here and it’s important,” he said. “We’ve had to make a bunch of roster decisions in the last couple of weeks. We have a large number of players who have already signed and some of the decisions we had to make were based on knowing what we have coming in, and when you sign as many as we did, you’re going to have tough decisions to make.”
