USC’s defense recorded its first shutout since 2011 in a dominating 48-0 win over Utah State Saturday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Aggies were held to 190 total yards while the Trojans offense totaled 544 yards as they improved to 2-0 in the season.
The 103 net yards passing by Utah State tonight was the fewest passing yards surrendered in a game by the Trojans since holding California to 93 net passing yards on Nov. 10, 2018.
“Very proud of the defense. I was told it’s the first shutout at SC since 2011,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said. “It’s very hard to shut people out in modern-day college football. I’m really proud of us maintaining our play defensively the entire night. The offense did a good job running the ball — that was a big emphasis point, so we’re proud of the way the guys responded and ran the ball.”
Running back Woody Marks finished with 13 carries for 103 yards and his running mate Quinten Joyner added 10 carries for 84 yards. Both career highs for Joyner.
USC kicker Michael Lantz converted a 23-yard field goal to give the Trojans an early 3-0 lead. Utah was forced to punt on its next possession. Joyner led the ensuing drive with a 32-yard run then capped the drive with a 9-yard touchdown run to give USC a 10-0 lead in the first quarter.
After another Utah State punt, USC went on an 11-play, 77-yard drive which resulted in a 2-yard touchdown run from Marks. USC took a 17-0 lead at the beginning of the second quarter.
The Trojans added a 24-yard field goal from Lantz to extend the lead 20-0 with 1:41 left in the second quarter. On the next possession, Utah State quarterback Bryson Barnes’ pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and intercepted by USC linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold.
“I think the scoreboard and the statistics don’t really show how well the defense might have done,” Mascarenas-Arnold said. “The standard is the standard on our side of the ball and it’s the standard for the whole team. We know what we gotta do, and I think we had good execution today.”
USC capitalized on the turnover with a Miller Moss 6-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Makai Lemon. The Trojans took a 27-0 lead with four seconds left in the first half. In his first career start at the Coliseum, Moss went 21-for-30 for 229 yards and a TD. He completed 70 percent of his passes tonight and has completed 69.7 percent or more of his passes in each of his first 3 career starts.
The running game continued to dominate for the Trojans in the second half as Joyner scored his second touchdown of the game to give USC a 34-0 lead in the third quarter. Backup quarterback Jayden Maiava saw his first action as a Trojan, coming in late in the third quarter. In his first series, he led USC on a 59- yard scoring drive, going 5-for-5 passing and then scoring on a 7-yard TD run. Maiava finished 8-for-11 for 66 yards passing with his 7-yard TD run.
“He did a good job. It was fun to get him in the game,” Riley said of Maiava’s play. “Like a lot of these young guys, you never know when that opportunity is going to come. These reps are invaluable. Just glad we figured out how to turn some lights on so we could get the rest of them in.”
Running back A’Marion Peterson had a career-high in carries (3) and yards (18) and scored his first career touchdown on a 9-yard run in the fourth quarter.
USC will have a bye before they return to action against Michigan on Saturday, Sept. 21 for their Big 10 debut.
