LOS ANGELES-The USC Trojans needed just four plays to put away Arkansas State in the team’s college football season opener at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. They all came in the first two quarters of play. They were the kind of big plays that is expected of the Trojans during the 2015 college football season. It was those big plays that also offset some of the rust of a summer layoff that the Trojans exhibited in the first half against the Red Wolves.
Nonetheless, touchdowns by JuJu Smith-Schuster, Steven Mitchell Jr., Tre Madden and Taylor McNamara scored first half scores to give the Trojans a comfortable 28-0 lead, enroute to USC posting a 55-6 win. It was the plays by Smith-Schuster, Mitchell, Madden and McNamara that separated the Trojans from the Red Wolves.
Smith-Schuster turned a routine, short pass into a 61-yard touchdown for the first score of the game. Mitchell, on a feed from quarterback Cody Kessler, who just managed to escape a sack, made good with a 14-yard catch-and-go for the Trojans’s second score of the night. It then Madden’s turn to his damage to the Red Wolves, turning in a 65-yard run in the second quarter to give USC a 21-0 lead.
It was an impressive run by Madden, who broke a couple of tackles, reversed field and outsprinted Arkansas State defenders to the endzone. McNamara finished the Trojans’ 28-point first-half explosion by hauling a Kessler pass for two yards for a touchdown. That would be more than enough for the No. 8 ranked team in the country to make its point on how good they will be this season.
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com