Los Angeles, CA – USC’s freshman wide receivers continued to impress as Kayden Dixon-Wyatt had six receptions for 102 yards and Trent Mosley finished with four catches for 104 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Trojans to a dominating 39-0 shutout win over Fresno State Friday night at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
This is the first time that two freshmen receivers have recorded 100 plus yards in the same game since records available in 1973.
Jayden Maiava finished the game going 23-of-25 (.920) for 349 yards and three touchdowns. Maiava’s 92.0 percent completion percentage is the highest single-game completion percentage by a USC quarterback since at least 1995 (minimum 25 attempts). He broke the mark he set last week against San José State (86.2 percent going 25-of-29).
“We played at our standard for a higher level tonight, and that was really great to see on all sides,” USC head coach Lincoln Riley said. “There’s still a lot to clean up. Obviously, some of the turnovers, the most disappointing thing is we had a couple penalties that have to get a lot better. So it was a good win over a really well-coached team and obviously a really proud program, so a pretty complete game from the team.”
USC opened the first quarter with a 12-play, 82-yard drive that Maiava capped with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Tanook Hines, Maiava kept the drive alive when he hit Dixon-Wyatt for a 31-yard completion on fourth and five.
After forcing the Bulldogs to punt, Maiava hit Mosley for a 68-yard touchdown to give USC a 14-0 lead with 12:27 remaining in the second quarter.
USC’s defense forced a safety after Kennedy Urlacher hit Fresno State quarterback Jayden Mandal in the back of the end zone. On the ensuing drive, Maiava hit Mosley for a 10-yard touchdown to give the Trojans a 23-0 lead in the second quarter.
The Trojans capped a dominant first half with a Waymon Jordan 2-yard touchdown run for a 30–0 lead heading into halftime. USC was in control of the first half with 357 total yards on offense and the defense held the Bulldogs to 51 total yards.
Gary Patterson’s defense recorded its second safety of the in the third quarter and freshman running back Deshonne Redeaux scored on a 6-yard run to cap the night.
USC’s defense allowed only 116 total yards and forced two turnovers along with both safeties. Mandal was held 77 passing yards. This is the first time since records available in 1971 that the Trojans recorded two safeties in a game.
“You know we did some great things,” Riley said on the defense. “He makes things challenging on the other side, and I think what you saw was our belief in it was even higher than it was in week one.”
The Trojans return to the coliseum for their third straight home game when they host Louisiana Saturday, Sept. 12.
