Adams powers Oregon past the Trojans


Maya Dondonyan | Daily Trojan

Maya Dondonyan | Daily Trojan

No. 22-ranked USC had no answer for Oregon’s senior transfer quarterback Vernon Adams Jr., who threw for 407 yards and six touchdowns on his way to leading the No. 23-ranked Ducks past the Trojans, 48-28, at Autzen Stadium on Saturday. Adams completed 20 of his 25 passes, and his six touchdowns is the most any USC team has ever allowed in a single game.

“Tremendous football player. We knew we would have to get him on the ground and we just didn’t get him on the ground enough,” said interim head coach Clay Helton, who drops to 4-2 at the helm this season. “Credit to him, I have a lot of respect for the young man.”

The Ducks’ victory (8-3, 6-2 Pac-12) gave them their fifth consecutive victory, while it also snapped USC’s (7-4, 5-3 Pac-12) four-game winning streak. Playing without two starting linebackers in freshman Cameron Smith and senior Lamar Dawson, who are both out with season-ending injuries, the Trojans defense gave up 578 yards of total offense to the Ducks.

“Obviously it was unacceptable and disappointing, and we got to go fix it,” defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox said after the game.

The USC offense posted 424 total yards, which was aided by the efforts of junior running back Justin Davis, who rushed for 141 yards on 16 carries, good enough for an average of just under nine yards per carry.

Adams connected with different receivers on each of his six touchdowns, as the USC secondary struggled to contain the explosive Ducks passing game , which averaged a little over 20 yards per completion. It was balanced by the legs of running back Royce Freeman, who rushed for 147 of Oregon’s 171 yards yards on the ground.

USC fell behind early after Adams and redshirt junior receiver Bralon Addison hooked up for a 48-yard touchdown pass that gave the Ducks an early 7-0 lead. Redshirt junior Cody Kessler and the USC offense tied the game with a 27-yard touchdown strike to junior wide out Darreus Rogers. Kessler threw for two touchdowns, while completing 30 of his 41 passes for 238 yards.

“They were getting pressure on me but at the end of the day, we’ve got to make our plays,” Kessler said. “It’s on all of us.”

_DSC4112

Maya Dondonyan | Daily Trojan

Oregon didn’t waste any time on the ensuing drive, scoring on its first play after Adams hit tight end Evan Balylis for a 52-yard score.

After Kessler threw a 12-yard score to freshman Tyler Petite for the first touchdown of his USC career, which tied the game at 14 early in the second quarter, the flood gates opened. The Ducks scored 24 consecutive points, including 17 to close out the first half, to take a 38-14 with 11:35 remaining in the third quarter. In the first half alone, Adams threw for 313 yards and four touchdowns.

Facing its largest deficit of the season, USC attempted to battle back, beginning with a 12-yard touchdown run by freshman running back Ronald Jones II. The comeback would continue after sophomore Adoree’ Jackson notched his first punt return for a touchdown this season, running it back 41 yards to the house to cut the lead to just 10 heading into the final quarter.

Down 38-28 early in the fourth, Kessler and the Trojans were driving with the opportunity to trim the lead to just one score before Kessler was sacked and fumbled. The Ducks recovered and Adams threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Charles Nelson to essentially put the game away for Oregon.

Though the fumble was USC’s only turnover of the game, mistakes hindered the Trojans all game long. The team committed 12 penalties for 124 yards.

“We made enough mistakes,” Helton said. “It was not a good day and that is my  responsibility as a head coach.”

The team got a scare when sophomore wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster went down with an ankle injury in the second quarter. Smith-Schuster, who underwent surgery to repair a broken hand earlier this season, stayed in the game and said he was fine postgame.

Despite falling to the Ducks in the two teams’ first meeting since 2012, the Trojans were on the receiving end of some good news after the game. Crosstown rival UCLA had just defeated No.18-ranked Utah, 17-9, which meant that USC stills control their own destiny in the race for a Pac-12 South title.

USC and UCLA  will go head to head in their annual rivalry game with a Pac-12 South crown on the line next Saturday at the Coliseum.

“I never though we’d be in that situation after losing a game,” said redshirt junior offensive tackler Chad Wheeler.

The Trojans have not defeated the Bruins since 2011, but they will be looking to change that with the high stakes of this year’s game. The winner of next week’s game earns a trip to play in the 2015 Pac-12 Championship Game in Santa Clara the following week.

1 reply
  1. Carbo6
    Carbo6 says:

    No doubt Clay Helton has done his best but him and his staff are just not at the level to consistently beat a quality opponent. USC needs a mature proven defensive minded coach who can win the big games.

Comments are closed.