The heat was blistering in Los Angeles on Saturday ahead of No. 13 USC’s home opener against Utah State. But come night, the Trojans were cool, calm and collected as they pummeled the Aggies in the trenches 48-0 in their home opener at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. 

While last week was all about the heroics of the new starting quarterback, redshirt junior Miller Moss, this game was all about the running back room and redshirt senior running back Woody Marks. USC’s (2-0) game-winning touchdown scorer against LSU (1-1), Marks followed up that performance with 103 yards rushing and 39 yards receiving Saturday.

USC put up a dominant display as it finished with 249 rushing yards, averaging just under seven yards a carry and five total rushing touchdowns. It was the most rushing yards the Trojans have had in a game since Nov. 3, 2018, when they had 332 against Oregon State. 

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Moss had a fairly productive game but fell victim to two drops in the end zone from his wide receivers on what would have been easy scores for his resume. All-in-all, he finished with 229 yards, completing 21 of 30 passes and tossing one touchdown before sitting out part of the third quarter and all of the fourth. Moss did seem to cement his favorite target as he and redshirt junior tight end Lake McRee connected four times for a game-high 81 receiving yards.

Defensive Coordinator D’Anton Lynn’s new-look defense continued to impress, pitching a shutout and allowing just 190 total yards. It wasn’t until the end of the fourth quarter that Utah State (1-1) got to USC’s 20-yard line.

The Aggies were without their starting quarterback, graduate Spencer Petras, because of an ankle injury — and were forced to have backup junior quarterback Bryson Barnes lead the offense. Barnes finished the day going 18 for 27 passing, with 103 yards and one interception.

USC kicked off its scoring by punching it in via the rushing game on two straight drives. The first came from redshirt freshman running back Quinten Joyner, who also had a productive day on the ground with 84 yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns. Marks got his score on a 2-yard run after an 11-play drive as the Trojans jumped out to an early 17-0 lead. 

The Trojans had a few drives stall near the end of the first half before Moss found sophomore wide receiver Makai Lemon with four seconds to go for a 6-yard score. USC followed that up on its first drive of the second half with Joyner’s second touchdown of the day to extend the lead to 34.

With a little more than three minutes left in the third quarter, Head Coach Lincoln Riley gave most of his starters a rest as transfer redshirt sophomore quarterback Jayden Maiava got his first start in the cardinal and gold. Maiava led two more Trojan touchdown drives, including evading pressure and running it in himself from seven yards out in the fourth to put the cherry on top of the Trojan’s home-opening victory.