The USC Trojans delivered a huge surprise to all of college football and, most importantly, their fans on Halloween night. USC football looked dead in the water against the Wisconsin Badgers for all four quarters last week. Saturday, USC looked like the better football team than the Ohio State Buckeyes for four quarters. What a turn of events.
The talent obviously is there for USC, and the Trojans stack up with just about any team in the country. In this game, their best players were the best players on the field. It started with Jayden Maiava; Maiava was 15-for-22, threw for 222 yards and a touchdown. He dissected one of the best defenses in the country. It also helped that his playmakers showed up.
A lot of talk in this game surrounded Heisman
favorite and star Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith; he got outplayed by two USC freshmen. Mark Bowman and Trent Mosley both dominated to a standard we expect to see from Jeremiah Smith. The Trojans' run game bounced back in a huge way as well. They did not run for -17 yards; instead, they were extremely effective. Both Waymond Jordan and King Miller had success and made their presence felt. This was a big step forward for the offense.
As good as the offense was, the defense did its part. Jeremiah Smith had his highlight plays and some production. The Buckeyes' run game was not shut down, either. Yet, this was still the Trojans' most impressive defensive performance of the season. They made things tough for the Buckeyes' backup quarterback, Luke Fahey, and they got red-zone stops consistently. USC was up 27-9 at one point in this game, and that was in part due to this defense being ready.
This was an all-around performance, and a lot of credit has to go to Lincoln Riley; this team responded extremely well. With all the smoke about Lincoln Riley getting fired and the amount of pressure that was on Riley heading into this week, he answered the bell. Who knows what the rest of the season looks like, but what is known is that USC has the ability to play well. They can make a title contender look like it doesn't belong on the same field. That is the team that needs to be seen on a consistent basis.
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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC football shocked college football world in upset of Ohio State
