Miller Moss passed for 229 yards and one touchdown as No. 13 Southern California notched its first shutout in nearly 13 years while rolling to a 48-0 victory over Utah State on Saturday night in nonconference play at Los Angeles.
Woody Marks rushed for 103 yards and one touchdown on 13 carries and Quinten Joyner added 84 yards and two scores on 10 rushes for the Trojans (2-0). Moss completed 21 of 30 passes, including a scoring toss to Makai Lemon.
The shutout was the first for USC since a 50-0 trouncing of UCLA on Nov. 26, 2011.
Backup quarterback Jayden Maiava scored his first career touchdown for the Trojans, who had advantages of 544-190 in total yards of offense and 28-10 in first downs. A’Marion Peterson rushed for a score and Easton Mascarenas-Arnold had an interception for USC.
Bryson Barnes was 18-of-27 passing for 103 yards and one interception for the Aggies (1-1). Ike Larsen and Jordan Vincent had 11 tackles apiece for Utah State.
The Aggies tried to spoil the USC shutout bid, but Elliott Nimrod’s 52-yard field-goal attempt was wide left and short with 1:08 left in the game.
There were problems with the banks of lights at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum throughout the contest. The issues caused a short delay with 10:12 left in the game, but play resumed when the lights on USC’s side of the field came back on.
The Trojans drove at least 77 yards on each of their first three possessions while taking a 17-0 lead.
Michael Lantz kicked a 23-yard field goal to cap a nine-play, 77-yard drive on USC’s first possession. Joyner added a 9-yard rushing score to finish an eight-play, 88-yard excursion to make it 10-0 with 4:23 left in the opening quarter.
The Trojans again traveled 77 yards, this time on 11 plays, to move ahead by 17 on a 2-yard scoring run by Marks with 13:06 remaining in the first half.
Lantz tacked on a 24-yard field goal with 1:41 left in the half. Moss added a 6-yard scoring pass to Lemon with four seconds to go, and USC led 27-0 at the break.
Joyner added a 2-yard rushing score to boost the Trojans’ lead to 34 with 5:31 left in the third quarter. Moss exited the game at this point.
Maiava scrambled for 7 yards for a touchdown with 14:15 remaining in the contest to make it 41-0. He completed 8 of 11 passes for 66 yards. Peterson added a 9-yard touchdown run with 6:32 left.
–Field Level Media
