The eyes of Los Angeles were elsewhere, the city’s focus trained five miles up the 110 Freeway. The rest of the country, meanwhile, presumably had drifted off to sleep, unenthused by late-night football between two bottom-half Big Ten teams.
But after three weeks spent unraveling for all the world to see, USC returned to a sparsely-filled Coliseum Friday night with its confidence shaken and egos bruised amid a three-game slump, only to do some of its best work of the season during a 42-20 win over Rutgers.
“We got over the hump,” running back Woody Marks said. “We needed that really bad, just to go out and play dominant all four quarters.”
Whether anyone actually was watching as USC stopped the bleeding from its brutal month spent crisscrossing the country was of little concern. Nor did it matter, for one night at least, that its dominant performance came against an inferior opponent, in the midst of its own implosion.
Because for the first time since USC’s season came apart at the seams with losses to Minnesota and Maryland, the Trojans looked like the team they once claimed to be, actually capable of finishing games and competing in their new conference. And in the locker room they celebrated accordingly, singing the fight song so loud that it could be heard through the walls.
“Fun to see the guys with big smiles on their faces,” coach Lincoln Riley said.
Nothing changed about the prognosis of USC’s season following a nightmare October. The Trojans (4-4, 2-4 Big Ten) still had few postseason options available beyond a second-rate bowl game. They still were a flawed team with a litany of volatile variables. But the version of USC that showed up well after midnight Eastern time on Friday at least offered something to build on, with the second half of the schedule still ahead.
For Riley especially, it only reinforced the notion that the right decision, amid a frustrating stretch, was to “stay the course.”
“When you have adversity, it tests your resolve and it tests how committed you are to the process and the things you do,” Riley said, “and going through these last few weeks have made me even more sure of where we’re at and what we’re doing.”
That plan certainly came together on the offensive end. Marks had three touchdowns on the ground, the most of his college career. USC averaged more than 8.7 yards per play, by far its highest total of the season. Quarterback Miller Moss hit several explosive plays in the passing game, throwing for 308 yards that included six completions of 18 yards or more. And amid the onslaught, a No. 1 receiver also appeared to emerge as Makai Lemon continued his recent surge by putting together a career night with 134 yards and a touchdown, as well as an 80-yard kick return.
It was Lemon who delivered in the most critical of moments, midway through the third quarter. Rutgers had just cut the Trojans’ lead to eight, leaving bleary-eyed fans worried that another late collapse was coming.
But those nerves were calmed by the very next play. That’s when Moss found Lemon sprinting free downfield. Lemon, who had 14 combined receptions over his previous two games, caught the pass and burst in the other direction, sprinting across the field for 70 yards before he was stopped.
The quarterback ran it in for a touchdown two plays later.
“You’ve seen him slowly build towards a game like this,” Moss said of Lemon. “Having him healthy really helps us offensively. I don’t think anyone is surprised by that.”
What was surprising was how quickly USC ran away with the game after that. Where it had watched second-half leads evaporate in previous weeks, this time the Trojans finally pushed the pedal to the floor.
Once again, Lemon provided the gas, breaking free for a 40-yard touchdown reception that put the game away. USC’s defense even clamped down at a critical time, slamming the door on Rutgers in the second half, despite being down four of five starters in the secondary. The Trojans even tallied four sacks, more than they’d managed in the previous four games combined.
USC still gave up more than 400 yards for the third week in a row, much of which came through the air against that shorthanded secondary. With USC leading throughout and Rutgers’ dynamic running back, Kyle Monangai, banged up, the Scarlet Knights had no choice but to rely on quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis, who threw the most passes of his career (47) and fell just six yards short of his high in yardage (313).
But when USC’s defense most needed stops, it managed to find them.
The most critical came just before the half, at the tail end of a 16-play Rutgers drive. Two USC pass-interference penalties thrust Rutgers to the doorstep of the goal line with a chance to cut the Trojans’ lead to just 12. But reserve cornerback Prophet Brown dove to break up the first-down pass. Then pressure from linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold forced an incompletion on second down. And on third down, DeCarlos Nicholson, another of USC’s backup corners, broke up a jump-ball pass, forcing Rutgers to settle for a field goal.
On a night when everything finally was working, that proved enough for USC. The question now, after a desperately needed bounce-back win, is whether it will be enough to keep the momentum going.
“Whatever is stacked against us, we really don’t give a damn,” Riley said. “We’re just going to keep going.”
Go beyond the scoreboard
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