No. 13 Southern California beats Utah St. 48-0

Miller Moss threw for 229 yards and scored a touchdown as No. 13 Southern California earned its first clean sheet in nearly 13 years, posting a 48-0 victory over Utah State in nonconference play in Los Angeles on Saturday night.

Woody Marks ran for 103 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries and Quinten Joyner added 84 yards and two scores on 10 carries for the Trojans (2-0). Moss completed 21 of 30 passes, including a touchdown throw to Makai Lemon.

The clean sheet was USC’s first since its 50-0 win over UCLA on November 26, 2011.

Backup quarterback Jayden Maiava scored his first career touchdown for the Trojans, who held a 544-190 lead in total yards of offense and a 28-10 lead in first downs. A’Marion Peterson ran for a score and Easton Mascarenas-Arnold had an interception for USC.

Bryson Barnes completed 18 of 27 passes for 103 yards and had one interception for the Aggies (1-1). Ike Larsen and Jordan Vincent each had 11 tackles for Utah State.

The Aggies tried to thwart USC’s shutout attempt, but Elliott Nimrod’s 52-yard field goal attempt with 1:08 left in the game went too far left and fell short.

There were lighting issues at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum throughout the game. The issues caused a brief delay with 10:12 left in the game, but play resumed when the lights on the USC side of the court came back on.

The Trojans moved at least 77 yards on each of their first three possessions, building a 17-0 lead.

Michael Lantz kicked a 23-yard field goal to cap a nine-play, 77-yard run on USC’s first possession. Joyner added a 9-yard rushing score to cap an eight-play, 88-yard run to make it 10-0 with 4:23 left in the first quarter.

The Trojans again covered 77 yards, this time in 11 plays, and took a 17-yard lead with 13:06 minutes left in the first half on a 2-yard touchdown run by Marks.

Lantz kicked a 24-yard field goal with 1:41 left in the half. Moss threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Lemon with four seconds left, and USC led 27-0 at halftime.

Joyner scored on a 2-yard run to increase the Trojans’ lead to 34 with 5:31 left in the third quarter. Moss left the game at that point.

Maiava ran 7 yards for a touchdown with 14:15 left to make it 41-0. He completed 8 of 11 passes for 66 yards. Peterson scored a 9-yard touchdown with 6:32 left.

–Field level media