After Friday night’s matchup between No. 20 USC and Northwestern began with four straight touchdown drives between the two teams, it looked like Trojan fans were set to witness a high-scoring, nail-biting affair at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

While USC’s (7-2, 5-1 Big Ten) offense delivered on that end, scoring another 24 points before the night was over, the defense held Northwestern (5-4, 3-3) to just a field goal in the second half, securing a 38-17 victory for the Trojans’ fifth win at home in as many games this season.

Redshirt junior quarterback Jayden Maiava recovered from a rough performance against Nebraska (6-3, 3-3) last week, throwing for 299 yards and two touchdowns on 24-of-33 passing. Maiava also picked up his sixth rushing touchdown of the season early in the second quarter, outmaneuvering a horde of Wildcats on a scramble to give the Trojans a 14-7 lead.

After going relatively quiet in USC’s previous two games against No. 10 Notre Dame (6-2) and Nebraska, making just six total catches for less than 100 yards, junior wide receiver Makai Lemon exploded for a season-high 161 yards on 11 catches, including a touchdown catch to open the game’s scoring and a massive 52-yard play in the third quarter. Lemon also picked up his second rushing touchdown of the season on a fourth-quarter drive to put USC up 35-17.

Junior wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane, Maiava’s other preferred target, picked up 74 yards of his own on seven completions to go along with a highly-contested catch in the end zone for a third-quarter touchdown that could have easily been an interception by Northwestern.

Amid an abundance of injuries to the Trojans’ potent running back room, redshirt freshman running back King Miller stepped up once again to continue a dominant stretch in which he has rushed for 100 or more yards and a touchdown in three of USC’s last four games.

Miller’s 12-yard rushing score came as the clock wound down in the first half, giving the Trojans the lead before halftime, but his biggest play of the night came moments before with a 55-yard dash deep into Northwestern territory.

The Trojans came out with the win despite the best efforts of Wildcat redshirt freshman running back Caleb Komolafe, who rushed for 118 yards and a touchdown while catching five passes for 40 yards. In total, Komolafe led Northwestern in both receiving and passing yards, accounting for 158 of the team’s 280 total.

As a whole, USC’s defense dominated in the second half, holding the Wildcats to just 28 rushing yards and sacking graduate quarterback Preston Stone twice. The second of those sacks — courtesy of sophomore defensive tackle Jide Abasiri — stopped Northwestern’s only significant drive of the half at the Trojans’ 10-yard line, forcing the Wildcats to settle for a field goal in what would end up being their only scoring play of the half.

With the win, USC improves to 7-2 on the season and remains firmly in the hunt as it seeks to secure the program’s first-ever College Football Playoff bid. The Trojans will be back at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum next week as they take on Iowa (6-2, 4-1) on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.