On their lone Friday night matchup of the season, the No. 19 USC Trojans beat the Northwestern Wildcats 38-17.
With only three Division 1 matchups on the night, the entire country focused their attention on the Trojans and they did not disappoint.
After the Wildcats won the toss and deferred to the second half, redshirt junior quarterback Jayden Maiava and the USC offense made an immediate statement. Highlighted by two third down conversions and a gutsy fourth down pickup, Maiava capped off a 16-play, 82-yard march down the field with a laser to junior wideout Makai Lemon, who walked into the endzone for six.
Northwestern wasn’t fazed, as they responded with a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive of their own. Led by graduate quarterback Preston Stone, the Wildcats had no issue getting down the field. Stone found junior wideout Griffin Wilde just short of the pylon, before he dove into the red grass to tie the game up at seven.
With the first two drives combining for 29 plays, they took up the entire first quarter.
After what looked to be the first three and out of the game, head coach Lincoln Riley trotted out #80, senior Sam Johnson, to punt it away to the Wildcats, or so we and everybody in the stadium thought. Three weeks ago, Riley planned for this moment, changing third-string senior quarterback Sam Huard’s number to 80, the same as Johnson’s. Disguised as Johnson, Huard took the snap in punt formation, and fired a bullet to freshman receiver Tanook Hines for a huge 4th down pickup.
When asked about the throw from Huard, junior wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane simply described it as a dot.
“Sam stepped in there and made a good throw,” Riley said. “It was a key point of the game.”
This built the momentum up for the offense, and Maiava eventually found the endzone with his legs from six yards out.
The back and forth nature of the contest continued, as the Wildcats answered right back, led by redshirt sophomore running back Caleb Komolafe. Following a 37-yard scamper, Komolafe punched it in from two yards out to tie the game back up.
The Trojans’ defense seemed confused throughout, with no way of stopping the Wildcats. Everything looked lost when Maiava was intercepted on a beautiful read by graduate defensive tackle, Najee Story, who rumbled down the sideline for what seemed to be a walk-in pick-six to put his team ahead. Then, out of nowhere, Maiava bulldozed the 270-pounder and forced the ball free, leading to a touchback and a spark plug for USC.
“That dude was pretty big, but knowing [Maiava], he was gonna go, and he did, he continued to fight,” Riley said. “When your quarterback’s like that, it permeates throughout the entire team.”
The rest of the squad felt Maiava’s effort, as the next play from scrimmage, redshirt freshman running back King Miller popped loose for a 55-yard dash, before scoring from 12 yards out to give the Trojans a 21-14 lead with under two minutes to play in the half.
From that moment, the Trojans didn’t look back, outscoring the Wildcats 17-3 in the second half. Lane made another highlight reel grab, climbing the ladder over the defense and hauling in a 10-yard touchdown. In addition, USC’s defense held strong, and finally showed signs of stopping the run game.
Riley cited his defense’s success to their big down stops: “We were better on third down, we did a better job in the running game, but the third down defense is what I’d really point towards. We really settled in there.”
Maiava ended the game with 299 yards passing and three total touchdowns, adding on an interception and a forced fumble on the same play. His number one target was Lemon, who went for a career day, with 165 total yards and two touchdowns. He hadn’t recorded over 100 yards in a game since USC’s Sept. 27 loss to Illinois. Miller had another efficient day on the ground, rushing for 8.5 yards per carry and 127 yards.
The Trojans head into this upcoming week with an extra day to rest, before hosting the Iowa Hawkeyes, looking to keep their hopes of a playoff berth alive.