It seemed, at first, like a strange fit. A West Coast power, known for its flash, paired with a conference known for its bulk and corn-fed brawn. Two years of patronizing tones from the rest of the Big Ten Conference suggested as much about USC, which, until this fall, hadn’t offered much reason to believe it belonged in such a weight class.
But as the mightiest the Big Ten had to offer were beaten up Saturday, USC didn’t just look the part of a conference heavyweight in a 48-0 beatdown of Utah State. It bullied its way to the forefront of the College Football Playoff conversation before its Big Ten slate had even begun.
That effort started, once again, on defense, where USC’s rebuilt unit clamped down, pitching a shutout for the first time since November 2011. The No. 13 Trojans held Utah State to 190 yards and gave up just one third-down conversion, and only twice did the Aggies get past the 50-yard line before the final minutes.
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It wasn’t just a stifling USC defense that did the overpowering. After finding little room against Louisiana State, USC proved it could exert its will on the ground against Utah State. Led by Woody Marks and Quinten Joyner, who combined to average more than eight yards per carry, USC piled up 249 yards and five touchdowns on the ground.
The rushing attack was so dominant that quarterback Miller Moss didn’t need to do much. Moss still threw for 229 yards and a touchdown in an efficient performance — and could’ve had two more scores, had his receivers not dropped two gimmes in the first half.
The mistakes made — a fumble here, a missed opportunity there — mattered little. Even a power outage in the Coliseum, that delayed the fourth-quarter lighting of the torch, could only delay the inevitable.
By that point, the path to the playoff had cleared up considerably for the Trojans, whose schedule suddenly didn’t look so stifling.
Michigan, the defending champion and USC’s next opponent, barely could move the ball with a new quarterback and was blown out of the Big House by Texas. Notre Dame lost on a game-winning kick to Northern Illinois, a team it paid $1.4 million to play. Penn State needed a late comeback to beat Bowling Green, while Oregon barely slipped past Boise State.
With a trip to Ann Arbor looming, this was a critical week to get itself in order. And USC did just that.
USC made a point to establish the run early, and its pair of backs wasted no time. Marks rolled for 49 yards on his first three carries, before Joyner’s first three went for 53. Each ripped off a run of 30-plus yards before USC finished its second drive. By that point, the Trojans were averaging a cool 14.6 yards per carry.
After USC settled for a field goal on its opening drive, Joyner punctuated the next possession, bursting through the Utah State front mostly untouched for a nine-yard touchdown. USC just kept rolling from there. Next, it was Marks who punched it in from two yards out, capping a methodical, 11-play drive with his third touchdown in two weeks.
The Trojans threatened multiple times to break the game open from there before finally putting the Aggies out of their misery before halftime. The defense made a fourth-down stop in Utah State territory early in the second quarter, then picked off a pass from Bryson Barnes at midfield two drives later. But USC’s offense fumbled away one possession and dropped a sure touchdown pass on another, delaying its knockout blow.
Perhaps in past years those missed opportunities might’ve come back to haunt USC. But not Saturday. Not with its defense dominating, holding Utah State to a measly 101 yards in the half.
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The interception from linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold handed Moss and Co. another opportunity with a minute remaining in the half. And this time, the Trojans finally broke through, as Moss found Makai Lemon for a six-yard score, giving USC a seemingly insurmountable, four-score lead.
The Trojans (2-0) piled up three more scores in the second half anyway, grinding away at the Aggies until there was little left. It was the sort of suffocating performance that would make the Big Ten proud.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.