San Jose State at No. 6 USC
Although San Jose State was able to keep the game close the first half, only down by seven at the break, USC ran away with it in the 3rd and 4th Qtr while outscoring the Spartans 35 to 14 and in the end put up twice as many points as their opponents, 56-28. Last year’s Heisman Trophy Winner, USC’s QB Caleb Williams, picked up right where he left off connecting on 70% of his passes for 278 yards, 4 TD’s and no interceptions. On the ground, in a committee like approach, the Trojan’s rushed 34 times for 160 yards and 3 TD’s with Austin Jones, MarShawn Lloyd, and Quinten Joiner picking up most of those yards and Jones responsible for two of the three rushing TD’s. In the air Williams spread the wealth around connecting multiple times to six different players with Tahj Washington, Zachariah Branch, Dorian Singer, and Brenden Rice each the recipient of a TD pass from Williams.
The Spartans put up a better effort than probably most folks expected with an attack that was as balanced as it could possibly be as QB Chevan Cordeiro connected on 21-of-38 for 198 yards, 3 TD’s and no interceptions with Jr. Wide Receiver Nick Nash the recipient of all three scores. On the ground they also picked up 198 yards and another TD on 27 carries as RB Quali Conley picked up 108 of those on just six carries with RB Kairee Robinson and Cordero picking up most all of the rest.
On the other side of the ball the Trojans picked up one sack and seven tackles for loss against two sacks and four tackles for loss by San Jose State. USC outpaced Spartans in total yards 501-396, first downs by just one 25-24, and actually lost the time-of-possession battle. There was certainly mixed reactions to USC’s effort against San Jose State since they’ll be facing much more talented offensive teams on their schedule than the Spartans. Alex Grinch for the Los Angeles Times seemed to think that, “USC’s defense against San Jose State tilted in the positive direction;” while the popular sport’s writer Bill Plaschke seemed to think that in spite of the win there was, “no defense for its damn defense.”
Looking initially at USC’s schedule most folks came to the conclusion that they probably wouldn’t have to deal with a loss until the final three weeks against either Washington, Oregon, or UCLA. However, after watching Colorado’s upset of TCU they may need to get it together a lot sooner as they’ll be traveling to Bolder at the end of the month. Up next for USC in Week 1 is the Nevada Wolf Pack.
Nevada at No. 6 USC
The Trojans wasted no time in this one with three scores in the first and two more by the break while holding the Wolf Pack to just seven points through three quarters, eventually winning in a blowout 66-14. USC’s QB Caleb Williams was even better in this one connecting on 75% of his passes for 319 yards and five TD’s with no interceptions. Williams’ backup, Miller Moss, also got some playing time connecting on 7-of-10 for 134 yards and another TD adding to the total of 453 yards in the air and six TD’s. Seven receivers were the target of multiple pass completions with Tahj Washington, Duce Robinson, Brenden Rice, Zachariah Branch, and Michael Jackson III all catching at least 1 TD each. On the ground USC rushed 20 times for 215 yards, a 10.8 yard average per carry, with RB’s MarShawn Lloyd and Quinten Joiner each picking up a TD and well over half of the total yards.
For Nevada their starting QB Brendon Lewis, who was under a lot of pressure the entire time he was in, connected on 18-of-29 for 182 yards none of which translated to points on the scoreboard. Their one TD in the air was courtesy of his backup, Freshman QB AJ Bianco, who came in and connected on 4-of-5 for 129 yards and 1 TD—a completion to Jamaal Bell who took it 77 yards to the house early in the 4th Qtr. Although they did pick up one rushing TD courtesy of Jr. RB Sean Dollars the Wolf Pack’s running game was basically ineffective against a motivated USC defense who held them to a total of 49 yards on 38 attempts, a mere 1.3 yards per carry while also picking up 5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss. The Trojans had over 300 more yards of total offense and doubled the number of first downs compared to Nevada in spite of the Wolf Pack having possession of the ball for ten minutes more. The Trojans will stay home one more week as they host Stanford on Saturday, September 9th, for maybe the last time ever.