Los Angeles, Ca- USC quarterback Jayden Maiava threw five touchdowns and King Miller rushed for 128 yards to help the Trojans improve to 3-0 after a 49-30 win over Louisiana Saturday night at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
True freshman tight end Mark Bowman finished with six receptions for 83 yards and two touchdowns. Fellow freshman Trent Mosley continued to impress with an 86-yard punt return for a touchdown and added another score with his fourth receiving touchdown as a Trojan.
“A little bit of an up and down win.” USC coach Lincoln Riley said. “Had some really good contributions on all three sides, especially early in the game and the early part of the third quarter. We’re getting a lot of stops defensively. Obviously, the big punt return was a huge play in the game.”
After Louisiana got on the board first with a field goal, USC took a 7-3 lead when Maiava hit Bowman for his first career touchdown.
Bowman caught a 9-yard touchdown to give USC a 14-3 lead early in the second quarter. Louisiana answered with a 1-yard touchdown run from Steven Blanco to cut the lead 14-10.
USC came back with a 12-play, 102-yard drive that was capped by a Maiava 19-yard touchdown pass to Kayden Dixon-Wyatt.
Mosley ended the first half with an 86-yard punt return for a touchdown and opened the third quarter with a 21-yard touchdown reception to give USC a 35-10 lead.
“We’ve played a ton of young guys, some early in games, some later.” Riley said. “Generally, I feel very positive. If there’s another team having more young guys contribute in the country right now, I’d love to see it.”
Louisiana quarterback Lunch Winfield passed for 212 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 91 yards and two running touchdowns.
Zacharyus Williams scored his first career touchdown on a 44-yard pass from Maiava and Miller scored from 12 yards out to put the game away in the fourth quarter.
USC opens BIG 10 conference play when they hit the road for a matchup against Rutgers on Saturday, Sept. 19.