It’s not prettiest win, but Trojans get back on the right track against Oregon State
Oregon State is the junk food of the Pac-12 Conference: empty calories. No. 14 USC’s 38-10 victory over the Beavers on Saturday left some Trojans sated. Others felt indigestion.
“We won a game,” linebacker Cameron Smith said outside USC’s locker room. “Why are we concerned? We’re gonna keep doing things that we do, and as long as we’re winning games, that’s all that we can worry about.”
A few minutes later, Smith’s fellow linebacker and fellow captain Uchenna Nwosu said, “There’s a lot more meat on the bone.”
USC (5-1, 3-1 in the Pac-12 Conference) is now off to its best first half in five years. Aside from sections of Saturday’s game and a win over Stanford, it has not won convincingly. Saturday’s official attendance of 60,314 was its lowest for a game at the Coliseum since Oct. 19, 2002.
The result was similarly inconclusive. USC won by enough to credibly claim progress. The Trojans scored on two passes of 30 yards or longer, ran the ball mostly at will and, for the first time in a long time, escaped without any apparent major injuries. They also played sloppily enough to invite skepticism.
The outcome itself was in doubt for all of about six minutes.
USC marched down the field and scored on its opening drive, then converted a Jack Jones interception into another touchdown. About 54 minutes of football remained, and USC led by 14. It was no lock that the Beavers, who had averaged less than 18 points a game against FBS opponents, would even score that many. (They would not.)
But a tour de force the game was not. USC committed numerous mistakes — three turnovers and sloppy special teams play to go with a general malaise. Oregon State (1-5, 0-3) generally refused to turn those mistakes into points.
In the first quarter, USC muffed a punt on the 29-yard line, but Oregon State proceeded to gain one yard, attempt a 46-yard field goal and watch as Jones blocked it.
After the next play, Darnold fumbled a pass, the ball slipping out of his hands mid-throw, and Oregon State recovered at the 23-yard line. Did the Beavers score on this second chance? They did not. Jordan Choukair missed a 37-yard field goal attempt wide right.
“It really felt like our defense did an amazing job,” Coach Clay Helton said.
In the second quarter, USC’s defense was backed up inside its own 10-yard line, then forgot to cover Tuli Wily-Matagi. It didn’t matter. Quarterback Darell Garretson’s pass was low, and the tight end dropped it. Oregon State settled for a field goal.
There was also a second-quarter red-zone trip stopped on fourth down and a third-quarter red-zone trip ended by a fumble, recovered by Christian Rector.
The defensive stops protected USC’s early lead, built by a 37-yard touchdown pass from Darnold to Tyler Vaughns and a touchdown run by Ronald Jones II. Jones II rushed only 12 times but ran for 79 yards, including a touchdown after Jack Jones’ early interception. Jones II has now scored a touchdown in the past 12 games he has played, the nation’s second-longest streak behind only Penn State’s Saquon Barkley.
USC added touchdown passes to Deontay Burnett and Josh Falo — in the first reception of his career — and a 51-yard scamper by backup quarterback Matt Fink.
Darnold rebounded from the roughest outing of his career to put up a typical stat line: 23-of-35 passing for 316 yards and three touchdowns. He connected on numerous forays downfield and completed passes to 12 players. But he also had another pass intercepted and lost a fumble.
He nearly lost another fumble that squirted 21 yards, to the edge of the goal line, before left tackle Toa Lobendahn scooped it inches away from a safety.
“It’s always frustrating when you turn the ball over,” Darnold said. “I’ve gotta stop doing it.”
Helton said he saw improvement, but he wrung his hands over USC’s giveaways.
“I thought it lost us rhythm,” Helton said. “But also it puts a terrible hurt on your defense.”
Afterward, USC wrestled with how to view the game. The Trojans outgained Oregon State 512 to 319 but were unsatisfied with their scoring.
“When you have over 500 yards and your guts are hurting inside that we left more out there, that’s a good feeling to have,” Helton said.
Darnold torched the secondary, but the game was close enough that Oregon State’s cornerback, Kyle White, declared, “He’s a normal Pac-12 QB.”
Darnold, White said is “OK.”
USC, White said, is “nothing special.”
USC does not want that to be a postgame refrain.
“We’ve gotta start dominating teams,” safety Chris Hawkins said.
Darnold blamed himself.
“I think we’re just a couple plays away,” he said. “A couple turnovers away.”
Or, as Jack Jones put it, “Closer than we were last week. But we’re not there yet.”
Follow Zach Helfand on Twitter @zhelfand
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