Maiava barely missed
Jayden Maiava finished 23 of 25 through the air for 349 yards. Two incompletions across a full evening of work is a line that rarely survives contact with a live pass rush, and USC did not need him after halftime. All three of his touchdown passes landed in the first two quarters of a 39-0 win over Fresno State on Friday night in Los Angeles.
Trent Mosley took the biggest of them 68 yards after a play-action fake left him alone in the middle of the field. The freshman receiver finished with a game-high 104 yards and caught a second touchdown, this one from nine yards, later in the same quarter. Kayden Dixon-Wyatt added six catches for 102 yards, including a 31-yard conversion on fourth down during the opening 82-yard drive.
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Two safeties and a shutout
USC scored 23 points in the second quarter alone and did it on both sides of the ball. Kennedy Urlacher bull-rushed through a blocker and shoved quarterback Jayden Mandal out of the back of the end zone for a safety, then knocked the ball loose on his second sack to set up a 2-yard Waymond Jordan touchdown before the break. Alex Graham produced a second safety in the third quarter.
Gary Patterson’s defense held Fresno State to 116 total yards, and 60 of those arrived on a final drive that died on fourth down inside the red zone. Mandal was sacked five times and threw for 77 yards on 7-of-15 passing, with Prophet Brown intercepting him in the first quarter. Jordan led the Trojans on the ground with 67 yards on 11 carries.
The number that matters
This was the first USC shutout since a 48-0 win over Utah State in September 2024, a two-year gap for a programme whose defensive figures have been the standard argument against it in every preseason ranking. Patterson was hired to close exactly that gap, and one night against a Mountain West opponent will not settle the question, though 116 yards allowed is a starting point.
The Trojans move to 2-0. Fresno State open 0-1 and now have to work out how much of Friday was them and how much was the venue.
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