As far as the scoring went for the Trojans it was the Caleb Williams and Travis Dye Show again who combined, along with three different receivers, for all seven TD’s in a 42-25 win over Arizona State in the Coliseum. The Sophomore QB for USC connected on 27-of-37 for 348 yards and 3 TD’s as well as rushing 8 times for 44 yards and another score while Senior RB Travis Dye picked up two more on the ground while rushing 13 times for 62 yards. Arizona State stayed in this one a lot longer than most folks would have imagined, only down a TD at the end of the 1st Qtr, 14-7, and just four points at the break, 21-17. But after the half scoring got a little harder as they gave the ball back on four of their first five possessions either through being forced to punt or getting in their own way with a fumble and an interception. They did pick up eight more points at the end of a 10 play 75 yard drive early in the 4th Qtr on a TD run by Xazavian Valladay and successful two point conversion, but USC picked up three more TD’s in the 2nd half to easily win the game 42-25.
After the struggle with Oregon State the week before folks expected them to blow out the struggling Sun Devils early. But after the explosive start to the season just winning isn’t as satisfying as the AP dared to call the first half “fairly average,” and USC Head Coach Lincoln Riley had this to say afterwards; “It just wasn’t quite us. Wasn’t quite the edge that we’re used to playing with, and that we expect to play with.” RB Travis Dye had this diagnosis of their sluggish start; “You come off a win like Oregon State, and it’s almost like you feel like you’re over the hump, and you’re thinking, OK, we made it. That’s absolutely never the case. You’re never at the point where you’ve made it. We had to realize that, and we did in the second half.”
Arizona State Junior QB Emory Jones had a good game against the Trojans, connecting on over 70% of his passes for 243 yards and a TD while also rushing for another score with Valladay picking up the majority of their 88 yard total on the ground as well as that 4th Qtr rushing TD and a 29 yard TD pass from Jones half-way through the 1st Qtr. And although there was only 10 seconds difference in time of possession, USC led 29-to-20 in 1st downs and 485 to 331 in total yards—Arizona State posting a minus six yards rushing in the 2nd half. The craziest statistic of the whole game was the interception thrown by USC QB Caleb Williams on the opening drive of the second half with the crazy part being that it was the very first turnover by the Trojans all year long and as the AP wrote; “The Trojans had been the only team left in the FBS without a turnover.”
USC stays at home to host the very feisty Washington State Cougars this coming weekend while Arizona will go back home to face the Huskies—a team that will be looking to get back on track after dropping their road game to UCLA.