Jayden Maiava lit up Louisiana for five touchdown passes, and No. 14 USC rolled to a 49-30 win Saturday night in Los Angeles behind another big showing from its young offensive playmakers.
Maiava finished 19 of 29 for 261 yards with an interception as the Trojans improved to 3-0 and wrapped up their nonconference schedule with 494 yards. Two of his scoring throws went to freshman tight end Mark Bowman, while freshman receiver Trent Mosley added both a touchdown catch and an 86-yard punt return score.
“We got a lot to clean up,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said. “Again, good for us to be able to play a bunch of players, which we've been able to do in all three games here in nonconference.”
The game turned sharply late in the second quarter, when USC grabbed momentum with back-to-back highlight plays. On one snap, Louisiana safety Maurion Eleam got both hands on Maiava’s pass but couldn’t secure it, and the ball bounced straight to freshman wideout Kayden Dixon-Wyatt for a 19-yard touchdown and a 21-10 lead.
Then Mosley made the night look easy. He slipped out of one tackle, shed another and took the punt back 86 yards for a touchdown with 1:24 left in the half.
“The big punt return was a huge play in the game,” Riley said. “I thought we did a pretty decent job early in the game, after they had a little bit of momentum, of grabbing it back and really maintaining it through about midway of the third quarter.”
USC’s freshman class kept showing up. Mosley now has four touchdown receptions, Dixon-Wyatt has two scores, and Bowman found the end zone twice while catching six passes for 83 yards, all in the first half.
“I mean, (if) there's another team having more young guys contribute in the country right now, I'd love to see it,” Riley said.
Bowman, a five-star recruit from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, had been quiet through the first two games before breaking out with a 35-yard catch-and-run in which he hurdled two defenders at once.
“He's got some skills. He's dangerous when he gets the ball in the open field.” Riley said.
Louisiana had an early chance to make things uncomfortable. Cornerback Avery Demery intercepted Maiava on USC’s first possession, the quarterback’s first pick of the season, but the Cajuns could only turn it into Tony Sterner’s 47-yard field goal.
That missed chance loomed large. Louisiana stayed within reach early, but the first half left them chasing a game that was starting to tilt USC’s way.
“I felt like (would) have been more deflating to get nothing,” Louisiana coach Michael Desormeaux said. “To get on the board first, I think, was something. ... But it's definitely a missed opportunity.”
Lunch Winfield tried to keep Louisiana in it, throwing for 212 yards and rushing for 91 more with three total touchdowns. Steven Blanco added a scoring run, but the Ragin’ Cajuns couldn’t capitalize on their early openings and couldn’t hang around for long.
Desormeaux didn’t sugarcoat the challenge after the loss.
“What I told our team is if we play another team this talented, it means we have a pretty special finish to this year,” Desormeaux said.
USC also got a much stronger ground game than it had in its first two outings. King Miller broke loose for 128 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, with five runs of at least 10 yards. The Trojans had eight plays of 10 yards or more on the ground against Louisiana, a welcome sign after explosive rushing had been hard to find.
Not being able to run the ball when they have needed to has cost USC multiple conference wins in the past two seasons, so the development there will matter as the schedule turns tougher.
USC goes to Rutgers next Saturday.
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USC May Have Found The Missing Piece In Its Passing Game
Freshman tight end Bowman gave USC a much-needed spark in its 49-30 win over Louisiana, leading the Trojans in receiving with six catches for 83 yards and scoring the first two touchdowns of his college career. It was the kind of performance that can change how an offense looks, especially for a team still trying to sort out its passing-game identity early in the season.
Bowman became the first USC tight end to score multiple touchdowns in a game since 2022, and his presence was impossible to ignore before he was held out in the second half after taking a big hit. Lincoln Riley praised his playmaking ability afterward, and Bowman pointed to the offensive line and quarterback Jayden Maiava for helping create those chances, a promising sign for a Trojans offense that may have found a new layer to lean on. [Read more 🡒]
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USC Still Has Something To Prove Before Big Ten Play
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There are still a few boxes to check in a game like this, and they go beyond the final score. USC wants the front seven to keep making life uncomfortable, the secondary to turn pressure into turnovers, and the offense to hit enough explosive plays on the ground to show it can create easy yards when the game is in hand. Those are the little signs a staff looks for before league play, and they are the ones that can tell you whether a good start is turning into something sturdier. [Read more 🡒]