No. 5 USC will travel to Arizona State for its first road test of the season against the Sun Devils Saturday. The Trojans will face an unranked Arizona State squad that is struggling with injuries.

USC has been firing on all cylinders on offense, starting the season 3-0 for the second straight year under Head Coach Lincoln Riley. The Trojans have defeated San Jose State 56-28, Nevada 66-14 and, most recently, Stanford, 56-10. Their 42-point average margin of victory this season is second only to Oklahoma, Riley’s previous head coaching destination, in all of Division I football.

Having an early bye week in the season this past week, Riley and the Trojans are only focusing on one game at a time.

“We’re just ready for one [game]. You go play them all no matter what, whether it’s a more natural break in the middle. We’ve all been a part of these stretches before,” Riley said in a press conference Tuesday. “There’s positives and negatives both ways; I think the bottom line is we have to handle it.”

Although junior quarterback Caleb Williams was his usual self against Stanford, leading the Trojans to 49 points in the first half, USC’s defense took the spotlight in the pounding of the Cardinal. The Trojan defense held the Stanford quarterbacks to only 140 passing yards, its fewest passing yards allowed since Week 11 last season against Colorado.

“We look nasty, man,” senior inside linebacker Mason Cobb said in the Tuesday press conference. “There’s sometimes where guys are just flying around, and it looks crazy out there, and I love seeing that bunch of maniacs.”

Freshman wide receiver Zachariah Branch returned a punt for a 75-yard touchdown against Stanford. Since 1971, Branch is one of just three USC players to have a punt return for a touchdown, a kickoff return for a touchdown and a receiving touchdown, joining Adoree Jackson in 2016 and Curtis Conway in 1992.

“Zach [being] as electric as he is, there’s a lot of guys on this team that can just go ahead and take off,” senior wide receiver Brenden Rice said. “I’m happy for the young freshman. He’s going ahead and he’s doing his thing consistently. That’s one thing to do it one game, but he’s doing it consistently.”

USC heads to Tempe, Arizona for its matchup against the 1-2 Sun Devils. Arizona State played Fresno State last Saturday and got shut out 29-0 by the group of five Bulldogs. It was the first time the Sun Devils had been shut out at home in 35 years — the last time coming at the hands of USC. Arizona State was also without its starting quarterback, freshman Jaden Rashada. The four-star recruit is expected to miss the next 4-6 weeks.

The Trojans are preparing for anybody at quarterback for the Sun Devils.

“They got an athletic team, a lot of big guys, around and up front, a lot of dynamic running backs,” junior inside linebacker Eric Gentry said. “You know, we don’t know their QB situation right now, but we’re just really ready to play football.”

Gentry will travel to Arizona State for the first time since transferring to USC from the Sun Devils in Fall 2022. Gentry hasn’t had as much of an impact for the Trojans as he was last season, only appearing in two games this season and totaling four tackles.

Redshirt junior quarterback Trenton Bourguet and redshirt sophomore quarterback Drew Pyne left Saturday’s game against Fresno State and both never returned to the game, forcing fourth-string redshirt sophomore quarterback Jacob Conover to finish the game under center. Pyne had four turnovers — two fumbles lost and two interceptions — with the Sun Devils totaling eight turnovers overall.

The Trojans hope to take advantage of Arizona State’s turnover struggles.

“You got some leftover food on the table, a lot of hungry guys I think. Especially because we only have two this season, so we need a lot of them,” Cobb said.

The Trojans will also get their top prize in the transfer portal back in Cobb. The transfer from Oklahoma State last saw action in the Trojans’ first game against San Jose State, where he recorded six total tackles.

Defensive Coordinator Alex Grinch said he’s excited that Cobb will most likely suit up for the second time this season.

“You never know when those [injuries] are going to come,” Grinch said. Cobb having the opportunity to recover from his injury “would obviously highlight” the bye week.

The Trojans swept their first three games against unranked opponents, but, as of now, they only have three more games left against unranked opponents, including the Sun Devils. This signals that USC has a tough schedule ahead, with games against No. 19 Colorado, No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 11 Utah, No. 10 Oregon, No. 8 Washington and No. 22 UCLA.

The Trojans will look to perfect their final Pac-12 season and start conference play 2-0. USC will travel to Mountain America Stadium to take on the Arizona State Sun Devils in its first road test of the year Saturday at 7:30 p.m.