No. 13 USC's revitalized defense dominates again in a 48-0 blowout of Utah State

LOS ANGELES — Quinten Joyner rushed for 84 yards and two touchdowns and No. 13 Southern California's revitalized defense had the Trojans' first shutout since 2011 in a 48-0 victory over Utah State on Saturday night.

Miller Moss passed for 229 yards and a touchdown while playing only the first 2 1/2 quarters in his first home start for the Trojans (2-0). Woody Marks ran for 103 yards and a TD, while A'Marion Peterson rushed for another score.

USC was in control all night at the Coliseum, building on its impressive season-opening victory over LSU with another demonstration of the thorough transformation of last season's pathetic defense.

After USC held the Tigers to 20 points in Las Vegas last week, defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn’s group yielded just 190 yards to the Aggies (1-1), with 40 of those yards coming against the Trojans' backups on a final drive that ended with a missed 52-yard field goal attempt with 1:08 to play.

The Trojans’ shutout in the first half was its first in any half since the 2022 season, and they held on to finish off the school's first shutout in 153 games since its 50-0 victory over UCLA in the final game of the 2011 season.

Makai Lemon caught a TD pass shortly before halftime, while Marks made three receptions in the Mississippi State transfer’s home debut, catching a pass in his 47th consecutive game to extend the nation’s longest active streak.

UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava finished up for Moss, rushing for a touchdown in the fourth quarter and passing for 66 yards while leading two scoring drives in USC's 544-yard offensive performance.

A power outage on the north side of the Coliseum forced the teams to begin the second half in less light than normal, and the game was delayed for a few minutes in the fourth quarter when all of the north-side lights went out. The Coliseum eventually restored power to the two main light towers.

Bryson Barnes passed for 103 yards for the Aggies, but the transfer QB couldn't win at the Coliseum for the second time in his football career. Barnes led Utah to a dramatic 34-32 victory over USC last season while filling in for injured Utes starter Cam Rising, sending Lincoln Riley and Caleb Williams to their first defeat at the Coliseum.

The loss was the first for Aggies interim head coach Nate Dreiling, the former defensive coordinator who got the job two months ago amid Blake Anderson's stormy departure from Logan.

After USC scored on four of its first five drives, Easton Mascarenas-Arnold's interception 1:14 before halftime set up a 40-yard TD drive ending in Lemon's artful catch-and-run for a 6-yard score with 4 seconds left.

Joyner rushed for his second TD on the Trojans' first drive after halftime.

The takeaway

Utah State: Not every defense the Aggies face will be as good as USC's group, so they'll hope to return to the form in which they racked up 343 yards passing in a season-opening win over Robert Morris, instead of the punchless attack that managed only 103 yards in the air at the Coliseum.

USC: Everything looked good, aside from a few short-yardage execution mistakes and a costly fumble by Lake McRee deep in Aggies territory. The Trojans are about to start a brutal four-game stretch of Big Ten play, but they couldn't feel much better about their progress so far.

Poll implications

USC should keep rising, with a top-10 berth seeming like a possibility if enough voters stayed up extra-late to watch this effort.

Up next

Utah State: Hosts No. 11 Utah on Saturday.

USC: At No. 10 Michigan on Saturday, Sept. 21 for the Trojans' Big Ten debut.