USC finishes off Stanford -- with 624 yards
For a decade, Stanford has owned the Pac-12 Conference and dominated USC in particular with a simple, consistent formula. Stanford runs the ball better than anyone. It stops the run better than most. It chokes out opponents through ball control and command of the game.
By the time Ronald Jones II galloped into the open field and somersaulted into the end zone on Saturday night, one thing was clear: USC was playing Stanford football better than even Stanford.
Just as USC’s victory a week ago over Western Michigan was much closer than it appeared, the final score in USC’s 42-24 win over Stanford didn’t do full justice to USC’s dominance.
USC outgained Stanford 624 to 342 — and 75 of those Stanford yards came on one play early. USC gained 307 yards on the ground — 119 from freshman Stephen Carr and 116 by Jones. USC never trailed. In the second half, Stanford never came within closer than two scores. After the first three drives, Stanford scored just 10 points.
The Trojans faced the biggest test of its regular-season conference slate in Week 2 and passed it emphatically. USC bypasses the other power in the North division, Washington, this season. Now, in just one conference game, USC has put itself in a strong starting position.
Stanford has owned USC in the past decade. The Cardinal have won seven of the past 10 games, tied for the USC’s worst 10-game stretch in the rivalry since one that spanned parts of the 1930s and 1940s.
A season ago, Stanford so thoroughly dismantled USC in a 27-10 win that Sam Darnold, then the backup quarterback, had to call out players for quitting during halftime. On the flight home, Coach Clay Helton decided to make Darnold the starter. USC lost its next game and hasn’t lost since, an 11-game streak.
USC played Stanford’s style better than Stanford did on Saturday. USC controlled the trenches. The Trojans’ first four plays, and six of their first seven, were runs to Ronald Jones. USC’s first drive was flawless: 13 plays, 80 yards, no negative plays. The ball never touched the ground.
The early running attack gave quarterback Sam Darnold room to find a rhythm. After an opening game he called “definitely my worst in college,” he returned closer to his typical form. He’d tallied 11 completions and 141 yards before his first incompletion.
Darnold moved with the confidence and control he’d dissected teams with last season. Stanford sacked him once. Otherwise, the defense hardly touched him. He stepped up or escaped the pocket to extend plays and punished Stanford’s stout secondary with the extra time.
Darnold’s habit of forcing passes continued to nag. Stanford intercepted a pass on a third down in the first half on a prayer Darnold heaved into traffic. And he squandered a chance for a body blow in the third quarter when he threw a pass into double coverage, leading to another interception.
But he was dynamic and efficient otherwise. He finished 21 of 26 for 316 yards and four touchdowns. He also received help from his receivers. Steven Mitchell assembled the best game of his career: four catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns.
And Deontay Burnett, who is becoming difficult to ignore as a budding star in the slot, played a nearly flawless game. He compiled 121 yards and two touchdowns on nine receptions, including two highlight reel catches. He completed a full-extension, diving catch for a touchdown in the first half and set up USC’s fifth score with a one-handed grab on third down.
Starting with the Rose Bowl, Burnett has averaged 142 yards per game in his last three contests.
USC didn’t pull away until late, but it commanded the game from the start. The Trojans scored touchdowns on their first three drives, but the rush defense didn’t plug its holes early.
Bryce Love took one run 75 yards to tie the score at seven early. And Stanford scored on its next drives.
There would no more easy yardage for a long while.
OK, now Stanford’s dead, as Ronald Jones II applies the dagger
USC’s offense looks unstoppable, and just when you think, ‘Wow, that Stephen Carr is giving Ronald Jones II a run for his money,’ Jones goes off.
Jones made an ankle-breaking cut between two big blocks by Toa Lobendahn and Chris Brown and stormed into the end zone from 23 yards out to put this one out of reach with 4 minutes, 15 seconds to play.
Jones has run for 116 yards and two touchdowns in 23 carries, and Carr has 119 in 11 carries as the Trojans have rolled to 602 yards in total offense.
Stanford stays in the game as Chryst connects with Arcega-Whiteside
Stanford isn’t dead.
The Cardinal responded to USC’s length-of-the-field drive by going 74 yards in seven plays for a touchdown with 6 minutes, 41 seconds left in regulation.
Keller Chryst connected with JJ Arcega-Whiteside from three yards out for the score.
Arcega-Whiteside, who hauled in another Chryst pass for a 39-yard gain earlier in the drive, out-wrestled USC cornerback Iman Marshall just inside the right sideline of the end zone.
It’s Darnold to Mitchell and USC has doubled up Stanford
Some people said USC didn’t look like a No. 4-ranked team last week during a hard-fought win over Western Michigan.
Well, the Trojans look better than a No. 6-ranked team -- where they sat in the Associated Press poll this week -- against Stanford.
USC drove 90 yards in 12 plays, with Sam Darnold connecting with Steven Mitchell on an 11-yard scoring pass.
A key play on the march was a 35-yard gain on a Darnold to Deontay Burnett pass in which Burnett stretched with one hand and tipped the ball to himself before jetting down the left sideline.
Darnold has passed for 316 yards and four touchdowns. Burnett has nine catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns.
USC is out-Stanfording Stanford
USC is doing to Stanford what Stanford usually does: dominating the line of scrimmage on offense.
Through three quarters, the Trojans have a 448-239 edge in total yardage, including a 183-157 advantage in rushing yards.
Ronald Jones II and Stephen Carr each has 68 yards rushing. Sam Darnold has completed 18 of 23 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns, with two interceptions.
USC dominating on offense
USC’s offense is dominating, even though neither the Trojans nor Cardinal have scored in the third quarter.
USC has 427 yards in total offense. Stanford has 223 yards, but 75 came on one play -- Bryce Love’s touchdown run.
Photos from USC vs. Stanford
USC’s passing game shows up and USC’s gets another score before halftime
USC’s passing game, much maligned after its Week 1 performance, had itself a drive.
First, Darnold put a raindrop into the hands of Steven Mitchell Jr., who made a diving 49-yard catch. On the next play, Burnett made a highlight reel grab, with a full-extension diving catch on a 25-yard pass from Darnold. USC leads 28-17.
Stanford drive ends in a field goal
Stanford finally stopped USC’s offense but couldn’t tie the score. The Cardinal drove 41 yards in seven plays before settling for a 36 yard field goal from Jet Toner.
USC scores again to go ahead 21-14
USC has run three drives. It has three touchdowns. This one only took three plays.
Stephen Carr took the first one through a massive hole on the left side of the line for a 52-yard run.
Two plays later, Darnold tossed a 22-yard pass to Deontay Burnett, who broke a few tackles for the touchdown. USC leads 21-14.
Stanford ties the score again with a touchdown pass to Dalton Schultz
A long kickoff return gave Stanford great starting field position, on its own 46-yard line.
The Cardinal struck quickly again.
It needed just five plays to go 54 yards for the score. Keller Chryst finished it with a one-yard touchdown pass to Dalton Schultz.
Ronald Jones II puts USC ahead 14-7
USC’s second drive went much like the first. Ronald Jones II punched in a one-yard touchdown to cap another 80-yard drive.
Quarteback Sam Darnold has now completed all nine of his passing attempts for 109 yards and one touchdown.
Stanford answers with a 75-yard touchdown return
USC strikes first and leads 7-0
USC put together a textbook drive to get on the board first with a touchdown. The Trojans began by feeding Ronald Jones II, who took a handoff on USC’s first four plays.
Sam Darnold capped with a play-action touchdown pass to Steven Mitchell Jr. USC went 80 yards in 13 plays. It gained positive yardage on every play. There were no incompletions.
Daniel Imatorbhebhe not in uniform for USC
Tight end Daniel Imatorbhebhe is dressed in street clothes, signaling USC will be without one of Sam Darnold’s favorite targets.
Imatorbhebhe has a hip flexor injury but played in Week 1.
Big game but not a sell out
USC and Stanford kick off in just under an hour, and fans are starting to file into the stadium.
The game is early in the season, but it has significant implications for the Pac-12 Conference race and possibly even the playoffs. So will the Coliseum fill up? Not today. Officials expect maybe 80,000 fans, but the game is not a sellout.
USC finds some explanations for its run-defense failures ahead of game with Stanford
Cameron Smith found himself in the unusual position of evaluating USC’s game film in real time last Saturday. Serving a half-game suspension for a targeting penalty during the second half of the Trojans’ Rose Bowl victory last January, the linebacker watched Western Michigan have its way with USC’s run defense on a television in the locker room.
He dissected the first half as it happened.
“I got a perfect view,” he said.
What he watched he had never seen before. There was confusion, disorganization. Outside linebacker Porter Gustin’s back was turned to the line of scrimmage on a number of plays as he waved and tried to communicate defensive calls. Safety Chris Hawkins ventured down closer to the line of scrimmage to do the same.
Nor did Smith recognize what he saw in Western Michigan’s offense. The Broncos, he said, were running formations that USC hadn’t planned for.
USC players and coaches have pieced together a few hypotheses for why the Trojans front seven — expected to be a fearsome, imposing pillar of the team — was humbled against Western Michigan, which ran for 263 yards. How accurately USC has diagnosed its problems and how quickly it addresses them will help determine a crucial game Saturday against Stanford, a notoriously physical running team.
The first explanation is simple: Western Michigan was just plain good on the ground.
“They’re no joke,” Gustin said.
USC and Stanford make their arrival at the Coliseum
How they matchup: USC vs. Stanford
No. 6 USC (1-0) vs. No. 14 Stanford (1-0)
Today: 5:30 p.m., Coliseum. TV: Fox. Radio: 710
Marquee matchup
Sam Darnold vs. Stanford’s secondary: Darnold did not start against Stanford a season ago, and it was the one moment his frustration showed. After the game, he publicly called out the team for giving up at halftime. Stanford’s defense, anchored by cornerbacks Quenton Meeks and Alijah Holder, will be the best defense Darnold has seen other than Washington last season. Darnold has been a big-game performer. Against Washington, UCLA, Notre Dame and Penn State, he averaged a 66% completion rate, 303 yards, almost three touchdowns and a bit more than one interception.
Getting offensive
USC (521.0 ypg/49.0 ppg): USC’s opening-game rushing performance — Ronald Jones averaged 8.8 yards per carry; Stephen Carr 9.9 — should scare the rest of the conference. But the Trojans must find more receiving options than Deontay Burnett, who caught seven passes for 142 yards against Western Michigan. Help might be coming in the form of tight end Daniel Imatorbhbebhe. He played sparingly last week because of a hip flexor injury, but should see more action.
Stanford (656.0 ypg/62.0 ppg): No Christian McCaffrey? No problem. Stanford’s Bryce Love, “a kid with tremendous explosion,” USC Coach Clay Helton said, rushed for 115 yards last year in Stanford’s bowl game, which McCaffrey missed, and for 180 yards in the opener this season. Cameron Scarlett also rushed for three touchdowns against Rice. Last season, USC didn’t face quarterback Keller Chryst. Since Stanford installed him as the starter in its eighth game last season, the Cardinal hasn’t lost.
Sam Darnold, good enough to win USC’s opener, needs to be his best to beat Stanford
I thought we didn’t do too horribly. I mean, I felt worse than I actually played, honestly. It was good to look at the film. I actually came out of it really positive.
— USC quarterback Sam Darnold
It took most of a morning and part of an afternoon of pondering, but Sam Darnold’s parents finally remembered the one time as a high school quarterback when their son struggled during a game.
It was Darnold’s senior season. San Clemente lost to Tesoro 59-38. Darnold completed 15 of 24 passes with two touchdowns and one interception, but he lost two fumbles.
He also had bronchitis, on its way to becoming pneumonia.
So Darnold was physically ill the last time he felt as frustrated about a performance as he did immediately after USC’s win over Western Michigan last weekend. He called the start “definitely my worst in college.”
In last week’s opener, he had two passes intercepted and didn’t throw for any touchdowns. Now, with No. 6 USC set to face No. 14 Stanford on Saturday at the Coliseum, the key question is how Darnold will bounce back from a subpar performance.
Darnold said he’d never felt worse about a start than he did last Saturday. But by the time he walked out of the Coliseum with coach Clay Helton about two hours after the game, his outlook had improved. He spent time with his family that evening before retreating to watch the game film. He surprised himself. He wasn’t great, but the game was “a little bit better” than he thought, he said.
“I thought we didn’t do too horribly,” Darnold said of the passing game. “I mean, I felt worse than I actually played, honestly. It was good to look at the film. I actually came out of it really positive.”