USC football returns in a resounding way
Zachariah Branch’s stellar debut stole the show in the Trojans’ opening game.
By STEFANO FENDRICH
College football was back at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday, and USC picked up right where it left off. It was an offensive masterclass for the Trojans, who downed San Jose State 56-28 to get that coveted first win of the year.
The Trojans went to battle against the Spartans in a tale as old as time, but it was a new face that stole the show. Freshman wide receiver Zachariah Branch opened the season behind multiple more experienced receivers on the USC depth chart. But that didn’t stop Branch from having an instant impact on the already high-powered USC offense.
Branch totaled four catches, 58 receiving yards, 232 all-purpose yards, one receiving touchdown and a 96-yard kickoff return touchdown that sent the Coliseum into a frenzy. Branch did it all.
“Once I tapped that endzone, the crowd turned me up a little bit,” Branch said in a postgame press conference. “Our coaches always tell us to trust our instincts, trust our process and just go out there and execute … and I was blessed enough to get those opportunities, I just tried to capitalize off it.”
Branch’s kick-return even had SJSU stopping to watch and marvel at his unreal speed.
“I had my back turned [on the kickoff], and the guy I was blocking was just like, ‘Oh, he gone,’ and I turned around, and we were both watching it,” said redshirt senior rush Jamil Muhammad. “I just knew he was going to take one to the house tonight.”
According to 24/7 Sports, he was the highest-ranked receiver in the 2023 class, so his dominance shouldn’t have been a surprise. But no one would have thought he would set his mark this early and this prominently.
Branch’s highlight reel overshadowed the continued dominance of junior quarterback Caleb Williams. Williams showed exactly why he won the Heisman last season, completing 18 of his 25 pass attempts and throwing for 278 yards. He threw four touchdowns to four different receivers in the contest.
Williams had another Heisman-worthy moment in the second quarter. He dropped the snap, almost ran into his running back by his side, rushed to pick up the ball and calmly flung it off his back foot with SJSU defenders in his face to wide-open redshirt senior wide receiver Tahj Washington for a 76-yard touchdown. It was the longest touchdown of Williams’ career.
Junior quarterback Caleb Williams had all eyes on him as the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, and he didn’t disappoint. Williams threw for 278 yards and added four touchdowns in the 28-point win. (Brooks Taylor / Daily Trojan)
But even with the 28-point victory, Williams wasn’t satisfied with how the team played.
“Walking off the field, there’s a bit of frustration,” said Williams. “In the first half, it just felt like we weren’t hitting on certain calibers and things like that we’re gonna hit on here soon.”
The question on many people’s minds heading into the game was centered around how the new-look USC defense would play. Under scrutiny throughout the offseason, the defense had a rocky start.
The Spartans’ first two drives were long and well-sustained by the run game. The defense overall was vulnerable to the run throughout the game, especially to the quarterback. San Jose State junior quarterback Chevan Cordeiro rushed for 52 yards and picked up multiple first downs with his legs.
The defense was doing well in the second quarter, but with eight seconds left in the first half, they started to bend a bit more. Cordeiro hit redshirt junior wide receiver Nick Nash in the endzone for a 28-yard touchdown to make it a 21-14 game right before the half. USC can allow some of these blunders against San Jose State, but not against, say, Oregon or Notre Dame.
The defense showed flashes throughout the game of being a dominant unit, but the aforementioned run defense was lackluster, allowing a whopping 7.3 yards per rush.
Head Coach Lincoln Riley knows the defense is all anyone is going to talk about for USC for the rest of the season, but he still has immense faith in the progress the defense is making.
“It’s gonna be a climb, I like what I see out there in terms of our good plays and how our guys are flying around the depth that we have, we will continue to improve the baseline,” he said. “The ceiling for [the defense] is much higher than it was 12 months ago, and no matter what the score was … there’s going to be that climb to the next step and that’s where our focus is going to stay.”
USC football returned from its long hibernation and, in many ways, did not disappoint. It’s clear this team knows they haven’t even reached their ceiling yet.
“I spoke to a bunch of leaders in the game right after the coach took me out, and the message was we got a special team but we have a long way to go and a lot to get better at,” Williams said.
The Trojans will return to the Coliseum next weekend, where they’ll take on the University of Nevada, Reno at 3:30 p.m.
