USC proves that lunch can’t come after dinner as University of Louisiana redshirt junior quarterback Lunch Winfield couldn’t keep up with the Trojans in their late night matchup.
The Ragin’ Cajuns struck first, scoring a field goal after USC redshirt senior quarterback Jayden Maiava threw an opening drive interception. From that moment, however, Maiava and the Trojans dominated, earning a 49-30 win to move to 3-0 on the season.
Maiava bounced back from his early interception with a Heisman-caliber performance, adding another 261 yards and five touchdowns to his season total.
Maiava shouted out his teammates, specifically “the guys up front, the running back room and the receivers,” for trusting him to get them the ball.
Instead of relying on his dynamic wide receiver core, Maiava primarily utilized his true freshman tight end Mark Bowman, who logged 83 yards, 2 touchdowns and one highlight reel hurdle.
USC head coach Lincoln Riley said after the game, “[Bowman] has got some skills and is dangerous when he gets the ball in the open field.”
USC also found utility in their crowded running back room, with four separate backs making a tangible impact in this game. They were led by redshirt sophomore King Miller with 128 rushing yards and one touchdown.
Similarly, to the other Trojan receivers, freshman phenom Trent Mosley didn’t put up an eye popping statistical performance. However, he still made a couple standout plays. He came down with an impressive 21 yard touchdown grab early in the third quarter as well as an 86 yard punt return touchdown with just a minute and a half left in the first half. His return gave the Trojans a 28-10 lead at halftime, with momentum heading into the third quarter.
Mosley’s punt return wasn’t the only special play by the special teams tonight, as redshirt freshman safety Alex Graham blocked a punt early in the second half, setting up USC’s offense for Mosley’s aforementioned touchdown catch to bring it to 35-10.
Defensively, the Trojan front four dominated the trenches. Freshman defensive end Luke Wafle and junior defensive tackle Jide Abasiri made big plays around the line of scrimmage all night.
However, USC’s defense struggled to contain Winfield’s mobility, as he ran for 91 yards and two touchdowns. The Trojan defensive backups struggled once again, allowing the Ragin’ Cajuns to put up 13 fourth-quarter points.
A few poorly timed penalties also hurt the Trojans, namely a roughing the kicker on a missed field goal attempt that led to a touchdown for the Ragin’ Cajuns.
“The biggest negative to me on the night was the penalties,” Riley said.
Moving forward, the Trojans also need to focus on containing mobile quarterbacks, as a performance like today spells trouble for later season competitions against premier mobile quarterbacks such as the University of Washington’s Demond Williams or the University of Indiana’s Josh Hoover.
USC hopes to stay unbeaten next week after traveling to New Jersey where they will open Big Ten conference play against Rutgers University next Saturday, Sept. 19 at 12:30 p.m. PDT.
Edited by Adriana Brady and Sammie Vassallo