No. 14 USC scorches Rice in season opener

In a sizzling season opener where temperatures rose to nearly 99 F, the No. 14 Trojans overwhelmed Rice University on all fronts to win 66-14. USC tied a Pac-12 record for interceptions returned for touchdowns in a game in the process.

“It’s one of those moments you don’t want to minimize it. I think it is meaningful to us all,” said head coach Lincoln Riley about the team’s opening performance. “Those of us who have been on these journeys before, we understand that this is just the beginning.” 

Saturday’s game marked the debut of many new faces on the squad, ranging from Riley to star sophomore quarterback Caleb Williams. The Trojans came off with a strong start in their opening drive, scoring a quick 4-minute touchdown to reigning Biletnikoff winner junior wide receiver Jordan Addison – who transferred to USC from Pittsburgh. 

“[Addison] got here and it was almost as if we have been throwing to each other for the past year,” said Williams about his immediate connection with Addison. “It’s been easy and it was really cool to get involved and get him his first touchdown in the Coli.”

The USC defense, on the other hand, had a slow start, failing to contain the Rice offense on multiple third-down plays in their first drive, leading to Rice tying up the score 7-7 on a 4th and goal run by Owls redshirt junior running back Ari Broussard. 

However, the Trojans’ offense marched down the field once again to regain the lead 14-7 at the beginning of the second quarter with a run by Stanford transfer senior running back Austin Jones. The defense also was able to settle in, stopping the Owls in their own half and forcing them to punt. The Trojans, as they would for seven of their nine drives in the game, quickly scored again with a handoff to freshman running back Raleek Brown for his first collegiate touchdown. This brought the Trojans up 21-7.

The Owls’ offense still persisted as redshirt senior running back Cameron Montgomery broke out for a 55-yard run in the ensuing drive, bringing Rice deep into USC territory. However, the Trojan defense did not break, and sophomore defensive back Calen Bullock intercepted redshirt junior quarterback Wiley Green and returned it 93-yards for a touchdown. The defense was initially able to stop Rice on the next drive; however, redshirt sophomore rush end Romello Height was penalized for targeting and had to leave the game, which extended the Owls’ drive. Rice ended up scoring with another rushing touchdown by Broussard to cut the lead to 28-14.

With 1:35 left in the second quarter, Williams orchestrated a 67-yard drive, ending in kicker Denis Lynch hitting a 25-yard field goal as time expired, putting USC ahead 31-14 at the half. 

The Trojans kept the momentum going at the start of the third quarter with a 40-yard interception returned for a touchdown by Alabama transfer senior inside linebacker Shane Lee, giving the Trojans a 38-14 lead. 

“It was cool, just a really good way to come out of the half and really set the tone on defense,” Lee said about getting the interception. 

The Trojans got their third pick-six of the game in the following drive as senior inside linebacker Ralen Goforth intercepted junior quarterback TJ McMahon — who took over for Wiley in the second half. These 3 pick-sixes tied both USC and Pac-12 records and were one shy of the NCAA record.

“I have been playing ball around here for a long time and you don’t break records very often,” said Riley about the Trojans’ 3 pick-sixes. “That was a very cool thing for us defensively.”

In Rice’s third possession of the second half, redshirt freshman defensive back Xamarion Gordon managed to get yet another interception for the Trojans —although this time it was not a pick-six. With a short field inside Rice’s half, Williams found Addison again for a quick touchdown, putting USC up 52-14. 

“We have a lot of confidence, and we didn’t just build that confidence coming out here just being excited for the first game,” Williams said about the team’s conviction during the game. “We built that [confidence] through workouts, we built that through [player-run practices], we built that recently through spring ball.”

Jones then proceeded to score a 28-yard touchdown run with 1:29 left in the 3rd quarter and the Trojans led 59-14. With USC showing their dominance and the sun beating down on the Coliseum, some fans began to leave  — both satisfied and sunburned. 

Redshirt freshman quarterback Miller Moss took over toward the start of the fourth quarter. In his first drive, Moss wasn’t able to lead the Trojans up the field and 2 holding penalties and a false start led to USC’s first punt of the game. Moss was able to bounce back later in the quarter with a 40-yard pass to Brown so redshirt junior running back Darwin Barlow could punch it in for the Trojans to finish the game 66-14. 

Brown was injured later during the fourth quarter and had to be carted off at the end of the game. He left with an ice pack taped around his ankle and his availability moving forward is unknown.

“I think it is very fair. We’ve got to prove who we are as a team. The more we do that, the more the fans will respond, the more that place will be filled up,” said Riley about building up support for the Trojans after this win. “We are going to do everything we can as a team to keep working so that people can’t even stand the thought of not coming to a USC football game.”

The Trojans head up north next week to take on Stanford Saturday at 4:30 p.m.