Advertisement

USC’s Nelson Agholor makes a major impact

Share

Now USC opponents have three wide receivers to worry about.

Freshman Nelson Agholor had a breakout performance in USC’s 62-51 loss to Oregon on Saturday at the Coliseum, catching six passes for 162 yards and a touchdown.

Agholor had two receptions for 110 yards and a touchdown in the first half. And he just missed having more.

On the Trojans’ first possession, Agholor and quarterback Matt Barkley appeared to connect for a 44-yard touchdown. One official ruled touchdown, but another signaled the pass was incomplete. Upon review, it was determined that Agholor did not have control of the ball.

Agholor caught a 34-yard pass on the next possession, which ended with an interception by Oregon.

Late in the second quarter, after Oregon missed a field-goal attempt, Agholor split two defenders and scored on a 76-yard touchdown.

More records

Barkley, who broke USC and Pac-12 Conference passing records in each of the previous two games, added another. His first-quarter pass to receiver Marqise Lee gave him 931 career completions, breaking the record of 930 set by former Arizona quarterback Nick Foles.

Of course, most of the record-setting belonged to Oregon.

Kenjon Barner finished with 321 yards rushing and five touchdowns, which both will go down on the dark pages of the USC record book for highs by an opponent.

With 730 yards, the Ducks also established a total offense record for a USC opponent. The previous record was 623 by Notre Dame in 1946.

Penalty progress

USC came into the game as the nation’s most penalized team, averaging 10.3 a game. But the Trojans were flagged only three times for 25 yards. Oregon was penalized 10 times for 79 yards.

Broadcast interference

Though Pac-12 officials continue to talk with DirecTV on a regular basis, conference Commissioner Larry Scott said he is “not optimistic” that a deal will be reached soon between the satellite provider and the Pac-12 Networks.

“I wish there was some encouraging update,” Scott said in a brief news conference at halftime. “We’ve got a team reaching out to them every week, hoping for a different answer.”

Southern California fans who subscribe to DirecTV have missed numerous Pac-12 football games carried only on the conference’s network this fall. Basketball season starts soon, and subscribers stand to miss 150 scheduled telecasts.

Scott also talked about discussions regarding a conference-wide policy on whether to open or close football practices to the media and whether to have a standardized weekly injury report. The subject was broached at a recent athletic directors meeting, with no consensus reached.

“We decided that until there is a national policy, it probably doesn’t make sense for us to do anything,” Scott said.

gary.klein@latimes.com twitter.com/latimesklein

Times staff writer David Wharton contributed to this report.

Advertisement