Trojans Start Season with a Win

Los Angeles, CA (News4usonline) – The  USC Trojans were not spectacular in their season and home opener against San Jose State. But they didn’t have to be. Ranked No. 14 in the country, the Trojans slowly dissected San Jose State’s defense and bottled up the Spartans’ offense on their way to a lopsided 42-26 win at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. 

“It’s good to get the first one under our belt. It was kind of a tale of two games for us,” USC head coach Lincoln Riley said after the game. “The first three quarters there was a lot of good football out there. All three sides of the ball were playing complementary to one another. We really dominated the game through three quarters, so a lot of exciting ball.”

By halftime, the Trojans had already rolled up 312 yards in total offense and put up 28 points in securing a 28-0 lead going into halftime. Suffice to say that the Trojans were and are a more superior team. 

“That’s a really great football team. We struggled all day trying to find a way to stop them,” San Jose State head coach Ken Niumatalolo said. “When you can run the ball like they were doing early on in the game, gaining six yards of play. It makes it tough to play defense. They kind of had the same quality there just because of the run game, big physical line, and a super elusive physical runner. So it kind of had us on our heels a little bit defensively.”

The Trojans got three rushing scores in the first half. A Jayden Maiava touchdown throw in the second quarter to account for their four touchdowns through the first two quarters.  Maiava’s scoring toss gave the Trojans an almost insurmountable lead against the outmanned Spartans. 

“Games like this, I take it for what it is,” Riley added. “You don’t hide behind the fact that the fourth quarter wasn’t good enough, but you also don’t pretend that we didn’t dominate the game for three quarters. All in all we have a lot of work to do.”

An Early Run 

The Trojans had three drives in the first quarter. The dominance was obvious. The Trojans had seven first downs and gained 121 total yards in offense. San Jose State’s offense did next to nothing with zero first downs and a total of 11 yards. 

The first series of the game resulted in the Trojans getting a chance to hop on the scoreboard first, thanks to a Jayden Maiava quarterback sneak into the endzone for a 1-yard touchdown run. On that first series, the Trojans never made it to third down and pretty much cruised their way down the field for the game’s opening score. 

Unlike their first drive, the Trojans got cute and got bottled up in the red zone and found themselves denied by the San Jose State’s defense, which started to tighten up. A promising drive, however, wound up flat with Maiava being tackled just shy of the goal line on a fourth down run. 

With San Jose State’s offense going next to nowhere in the opening quarter, USC and Maiava were able to get their hands on the ball one more time before the period ended. 

Capping a Big First Half

The Trojans made short work once the field shifted. Two plays into the second quarter,  freshman running back Riley Wormley popped into the endzone with the first touchdown of his collegiate career to give the Trojans a two-touchdown lead. 

USC’s second touchdown seemed to have lit a spark underneath the visitors. San Jose State took their first possession of the quarter right at the Trojans, mixing in timely passes and an effective running game to march down the field into the red zone.

But on a fourth down, the Trojans stuffed Spartans running back Jabari Davis for a minus two play at the 10-yard line. That defensive stand appeared to have deflated the Spartans. Maiava then drove the Trojans down the field and ended the series with a 9-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Kayden Dixon-Wyatt. 

King Miller closed out the scoring in the first half for the Trojans when he romped into the endzone to cap a 4-yard scoring run with 30 seconds left in the period. Maiava led the Trojans on three scoring drives in the second quarter where they blew open the game.  

“Overall, it was a great team win,” Maiava said. “Shoutout to Trent, shoutout to the guys up front and the running back room. Everybody played great for three quarters, and now it’s on to the next.”

Cover Art: File photo: Sammy Saludo/News4usonline