No. 12 USC had to work far harder than a 22.5-point favorite should, but the Trojans escaped Piscataway with a 42-35 win over Rutgers on Saturday.
USC never fell behind, yet Rutgers kept the game hanging around with enough explosive plays and enough answers to make this one uncomfortable deep into the second half. King Miller led the ground game with 102 yards and a touchdown, while quarterback Jayden Maiava threw for 277 yards and two scores. The biggest swing came from Prophet Brown, whose 99-yard interception return for a touchdown pushed USC ahead 27-14.
The victory moved USC to 4-0 and set up a Big Ten test next week against Oregon, which is 3-1, in Los Angeles.
Rutgers entered the day having lost to UMass and Boston College in its first two games, but the Scarlet Knights never drifted out of the picture. Dylan Lonergan threw three touchdown passes, and Antwan Raymond ran for 122 yards and a score. Rutgers also kept one second-quarter touchdown drive alive with a fake punt and finished with 460 total yards, just one shy of USC’s total.
Still, the Trojans’ defense gave Rutgers too many openings. USC allowed five plays of 20 yards or more, and in three games this season the Trojans have given up scores on 10 of 13 red-zone trips. That’s the kind of leakage that won’t play well against offenses like Oregon, Ohio State and Indiana in conference play.
USC was also without star freshman receiver Trent Mosley, who sat out because of a knee injury. Freshman Kayden Dixon-Wyatt stepped in and caught five passes for 77 yards.
For Rutgers, the loss came with another turnover problem attached. The Scarlet Knights have held a lead for only 2:54 all season, all of it on the opening drive in a 37-21 loss to UMass. They never led against Boston College or USC, and Lonergan’s two interceptions Saturday pushed Rutgers to a minus-7 turnover margin, including Brown’s pick-six.
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USC Escaped Rutgers But One Troubling Issue Still Lingers
USC survived a tense battle with Rutgers, pulling out a 42-35 win that was far less comfortable than the ranking suggested. The Trojans needed big days from redshirt sophomore Miller and redshirt-freshman Riley Wormley to keep the offense moving, with both players supplying key runs and touchdowns as Rutgers stayed within striking distance throughout the afternoon.
The result will count, but it also left a familiar concern hanging over the Trojans. USC leaned heavily on individual playmakers, and the offense still had stretches defined by penalties and uneven passing, the kind of issues that can make even a win feel like a warning sign. Rutgers kept forcing USC to answer, and the bigger question now is whether the Trojans can clean up the rough edges before a tougher spot in the schedule turns those flaws into something more costly. [Read more 🡒]
USC Stayed Unbeaten But One Problem Looms Before Oregon
Southern California escaped its Big Ten opener with a 42-35 win over Rutgers, a game that looked more comfortable on the scoreboard than it felt on the field. Jayden Maiava threw for 277 yards and two touchdowns, King Miller added 102 rushing yards and a score, and the Trojans did enough to stay unbeaten even as Rutgers Dylan Lonergan pushed back with 272 passing yards and three touchdowns.
The bigger concern now is what comes next. USC gets Oregon at home, and the Ducks will be a far different test than a Rutgers team that hurt itself with turnovers, including a 99-yard interception returned for a touchdown. The Trojans survived this one, but the margin for error gets a lot thinner from here. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Fans Wont Like How USC Kept That Drive Alive
USCs first road trip of the season had the kind of third-quarter sequence that tends to linger long after the final whistle. In the middle of a pivotal drive against Rutgers, an inadvertent whistle wiped out a completed third-down pass, forcing the down to be replayed and turning one clean conversion into a fresh round of pressure for the Trojans.
From there, the drive took a winding path, with USC failing on the replayed third down before going for it on fourth and eventually hitting a 32-yard completion to keep things moving. It was the sort of break-and-response sequence that can swing a road game, and the No. 12 Trojans made enough of those plays to leave New Jersey with a win and a 4-0 record. [Read more 🡒]