Jayden Maiava threw for 412 yards and four touchdowns to lead USC to a 59-20 win over visiting Georgia Southern on Saturday evening in Los Angeles.
Maiava completed 16 of 24 passes without a turnover. Makai Lemon caught four passes for 158 yards and two long touchdowns, doing most of his damage in the first quarter. Ja’Kobi Lane added three catches for 91 yards, including a spectacular one-handed touchdown snare in the opening quarter.
Waymond Jordan rushed for 167 yards on 16 carries and scored a touchdown for the Trojans. Eli Sanders added 52 rushing yards and two scores.
USC (2-0) lost a fumble on its first drive and Georgia Southern capitalized when Weston Bryan tossed a 32-yard touchdown pass to Camden Brown, who made the grab despite drawing a pass-interference penalty.
The two-point attempt was unsuccessful, leaving the score at 6-0.
The Trojans then wasted no time moving downfield, taking a 7-6 lead on Lane’s 12-yard touchdown catch as he was getting his right arm held by a defender.
USC got the ball back and came up with the first of back-to-back big plays by Lemon.
He caught a short pass that he turned into a 62-yard touchdown by breaking tackles and weaving through defenders, stretching the lead to 14-6 with 6:53 left in the first quarter.
Maiava then found Lemon for a 74-yard touchdown with 2:14 left in the opening quarter, extending the lead to 21-6.
Georgia Southern (0-2) didn’t initially fade away, answering back with a 24-yard touchdown pass from JC French IV to Brown to trim the lead to 21-13 with 11:32 left in the first half.
The Trojans tacked on a 26-yard field goal and then stopped the Eagles on downs, allowing them to expand their lead to 31-13 with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Maiava to tight end Walker Lyons.
Maiava threw for 304 yards and four touchdowns in the first half.
Jordan scored on a 36-yard touchdown run on USC’s first drive of the second half to make it 38-13, and Sanders scored on a 1-yard run to make it 45-13.
After the Eagles scored on a 13-yard touchdown pass from French to Dalen Cobb, the Trojans answered with a 5-yard touchdown run by Sanders for a 52-20 lead, and a 41-yard touchdown run by King Miller to make it 59-20.
–Field Level Media
