If this is the end, what an ending it was.

Stanford and USC have been playing each other in football since 1905. However, this one made history as the Trojans won 56-10, their largest margin of victory over the Cardinal since 1977. This is also the first team in USC football history to score 50 or more points in three consecutive games to open a season.

“It’s fun to see the team really playing at a high level together for a sustained period and just continue to feed off of one another,” Head Coach Lincoln Riley said in a press conference. “Great win, great way to start Pac-12 play. I’m proud of taking advantage of the moment.”

With USC scheduled to leave for the Big Ten Conference and Stanford for the Atlantic Coast Conference next year, this may be the last time Stanford is in the Coliseum for a long time — and that reality was not lost on the Trojans.

“This is potentially the last SC-Stanford game for a while and this was a series that we talked to the team a lot [about] last year,” Riley said. “This was a series that in recent years kind of went a little bit of a different way. I’m really, big picture, proud to be able to get the final last two.”

All three facets of USC’s game — offense, defense and special teams — were in sync against Stanford, leading to a 49-3 score at halftime. USC scored the first 35 points of the game, with one of those scores coming on a 75-yard punt return from freshman wide receiver Zachariah Branch.

On defense, USC only gave up 136 yards and three points in the entire first half. Combining that with 414 yards on offense, the Trojans nearly quadrupled the yards gained by Stanford in the first half.

“It’s probably the best half of football we’ve played this year,” Riley said. “It was one of the more complete halves where all three sides were firing on all cylinders. We took some steps. Guys were really excited to play, really ready to play, really energized and combined that with some great football.”

Despite having a 46-point lead, the Trojan defense kept making big plays in the second half, including a pass breakup in the endzone from junior safety Calen Bullock to force a turnover on downs. The only blemish on the defense was giving up a touchdown with 3:35 left in the game to cut the Trojans’ lead down to 39.

“We’re not looking at the score,” redshirt senior safety Bryson Shaw said. “There’s a gold standard we’re trying to reach here at this program. We’re trying to be known as a defensive program. We respect Coach Riley. We respect that offense. And we’re happy as hell that the offense plays like they did. But we want this team to be known as a defensive football team.”

While the defense was not perfect Saturday night, 10 points is the least amount of points the Trojans have allowed since their first game in the 2021 season and the least they’ve given up in a conference game since October 7, 2017.

“We’re an extremely physical group,” redshirt senior rush end Solomon Byrd said. “I didn’t know it [was] as much as this. You see it in practice and stuff, but that’s practice. But we’re an extremely physical group, we’re ready to get after it.”

The intense energy from game start to game finish not only came from the players, but from the coaching staff as well. The lone touchdown Stanford scored came off a one-yard rush from sophomore quarterback Justin Lamson but only after Riley challenged the call that Lamson crossed the plane of the goal line.

“The score is irrelevant,” Riley said. “I expect our defense, our special teams, our offense to continue to play at a high level no matter what the scoreboard says. That’s why we challenged that last touchdown, we don’t wanna give anybody an inch. I still don’t think he was in.”

Now, after a historic win, USC gets to take a short rest. Since the Trojans played in Week 0, they have an off-week next Saturday before returning to play at Arizona State Sept. 23.

But for some Trojans, that rest started in the middle of the game against the Cardinal. Junior quarterback Caleb Williams, and most of the first-team offense, did not take a single snap in the second half, which a team can afford to do when leading by 46 halfway through the game.

“I prepare to play four quarters plus,” Williams said. “You treat every team the same, every moment the same. I’m not pacing myself at all. I’m going out there and trying to kill. That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to make everyone feel our pain and play on our own terms.”

This mentality will be an important one to hold onto for the Trojans as six of USC’s last nine opponents are ranked in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll. Their first game against one of those ranked teams comes on Sept. 30 against a revitalized Colorado Buffaloes team on the road.

“In due time, there’s going to be a little more adversity that strikes us and we’re really going to see what the Trojans offense is made of,” senior wide receiver Brenden Rice said. “And I feel as though the cream is going to rise to the top. So, I can’t wait for that.”

As for now, the Trojans find themselves undefeated, sitting at the top of the Pac-12 standings going into the bye week.