USC wins rival game against UCLA

PASADENA, Calif. –  The 2024 college football season has been a rocky one for the USC Trojans. The season started with a bang when the Trojans traveled to Las Vegas and knocked off LSU. 

The win against the Tigers gave the Trojans an immediate boost to be considered one of the best teams in the country.  

That was back in September. Since that incredible and uplifting win, USC has struggled to gain traction in the Big Ten Conference. As a result, the Trojans have played to pedestrian levels throughout the season and are now just considered to be another so-so team with the hopes of landing a bowl game. 

Just a couple of months ago that almost seemed like a sure thing. Not so much now. Not with a 6-5 record. But the one solace the Trojans do have in their back pocket is the fact that they won their crosstown rivalry game against UCLA. 

“Awesome win,” USC head coach Lincoln Riley. “Really proud of this group. It’s been an interesting week and we just decided from the very beginning that nothing out of our control was going to be an excuse, and the guys handled the week really well. The only thing I can compare to is going through Covid football season. The guys just had a mentality the entire week.”

Reflective of the season, the Trojans looked good at times and raggedy at others. As a whole, the game was a challenge for the eyes as both teams at times seemed to have problems moving the ball. In an offensively-challenged first half, the Trojans led the Bruins, 9-3.

 It was not until the second half that the ballgame started to pick up some tempo and flow. UCLA scored on two drives in the third quarter to take the lead. The Trojans answered with 10 points in the final period to claim the rivalry victory. At least for this year.  

“We were just pretty awesome defensively – we really were, we played at a high level, excited to see our front continuing to get more active, really starting to affect the game more and more, some of those young guys really come on and play,” Riley added. “We have a lot of opportunities offensively to really extend the game or extend the lead. We didn’t play really good in the red zone but we got the one there at the end. We were tough and resilient, special teams was really good again.”

Up until late in the fourth quarter when Jayden Maiava connected with Ja’Kobi Lane to complete a 4-yard touchdown pass for the go-ahead score, the offense of the Trojans was going nowhere.  

“I have to be better with my ball security, but Ja’Kobi is a great player and a great athlete and if he’s out there I obviously know he can make the catch,” Maiava said.

Until Maiava engineered the game-winning drive, the Trojans were putting up field goals and could not finish off drives, which left USC running back Woody Marks bewildered. 

“We just weren’t capitalizing. When you get that close you just have to punch it in. You have to find a way. It’s a good thing we got those points, but we can’t settle for three,” Marks said. 

Outside of the third quarter when they surrendered 10 points to the Bruins, USC’s defense played well all night. After that 10-point blitz in the third period, the Trojans blocked the Bruins from scoring a point in the fourth quarter to notch their sixth win of the season.   

“We kept swinging and we were able to affect the quarterback,” Riley said. “That, for us, has maybe been our Achilles heel defensively this year. Especially early in the year. To be able to see some of these young guys starting – and not just young guys – but the whole d-line step up and affect the quarterback, that changes the way we play the game.”