No. 16 USC football is proving its toughness one play at a time

The Iowa football team, for a brief moment, owned the Coliseum.

The Hawkeyes had used their old-school brand of physical defense and a persistent run game — with some unexpected passing mixed in — to gain an 11-point lead over USC.

An impressive amount of Iowa fans slipped on head-to-toe rain suits in the tunnels of the Coliseum and at times made just as much noise as the Trojan faithful as the Hawkeyes lumbered on, rushing for 100 yards in the first half and passing for another 112.

“We knew we shouldn’t be in this predicament right now,” safety Christian Pierce told reporters after the game.

The No. 16 Trojans (8-2, 6-1) dug deep and reclaimed their home field in the second half to win 26-21 and keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive by tapping into their toughness.

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