Outside of a few mistakes, the USC Trojans‘ game against the Missouri State Bears went exactly how every fan could have hoped, to the tune of a 73-13 victory. It was the most points the Trojans have scored since 1930.
The offense dominated, scoring on every drive in the first half, and all of the backups were playing at the start of the 3rd quarter.
It is hard to take a ton of stock in a game like this, but there are still plenty of things that we can learn.
Jayden Maiava Looks Calm And Collected
It may have been a lesser opponent, but we still wanted to see a new version of Maiava with good decision-making and calmness in the pocket. On the very first play, he was flushed from the pocket, nearly sacked, and then threw the ball across his body to the middle of the field. It ended up being a completion, but the mechanics looked like some of the bad tendencies from last season.
But that was it, after that play, Maiava was nearly flawless. He finished the game 15-18 passing with 295 yards and 2 touchdowns. He added 9 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground.
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The key was his precision and calmness in the pocket. He looked so much more comfortable commanding the offense, at the line of scrimmage before the snap, and in reading the defense during his progressions.
Next week’s opponent will not be a whole lot better, but it will be another opportunity for Maiava to show his operation of the offense.
The USC Trojans Running Backs Are Stacked
The running game should be really good this year, and Lincoln Riley will have plenty of options. The Trojans finished with 233 yards rushing and an impressive 7.8 yards per rush.
Waymond Jordan looked every bit the part. He finished with 5 carries for 42 yards and a touchdown. But it was his vision between the tackles and his one-step cut that shone. When it comes to Big Ten play, he is a back who will punish defenses, but can also make them miss.
Eli Sanders also lived up to what we thought he would be: fast. He finished with 5 carries for 33 yards, but he electrified the stadium with a play in the passing game. On a screen pass in the 2nd quarter, he followed his blockers in Elijah Paige and Tobias Raymond, and then split the two and took it 73 yards to the house.
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Bryan Jackson also got into the end zone in a goal-line situation, and walk-on King Miller broke one straight up the middle for 75 yards and a touchdown.
The Trojans ran the ball 30 times. Regardless of the opponent, that is a good thing for Lincoln Riley to continue.
It Is Going To Be The Lemon And Lane Show
Again, a lot of these observations are solely based on the first half since that is all that the starters played, but in terms of the receiving game, it is going to be the Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane show, at least in terms of the receiving room.
True Freshman Tanook Hines did get involved and had a nice catch for 11 yards, but in plays designed for wide receivers, Maiava was going to Lemon or Lane, as he should. Lemon finished with 7 catches for 90 yards, and Lane added 3 for 33.
Other receivers will be involved, but we will not see the constant rotations like we saw last year. Don’t expect Lemon and Lane to leave the field much.
Also, the tight ends and running backs are going to be more involved in the passing game, which is only going to make the offense better.
Offensive Line Looked Cohesive
The USC Trojans’ offensive line is one of the hardest to truly evaluate in a game like this because the competition is quite inferior, but that being said, I like what I saw.
All five guys played in unison and played a clean, crisp game. The center-QB exchange between O’Connor and Maiava never had any issues, and Tauanuu looked comfortable at right tackle in his first collegiate start.
The left side is going to be the strength with Elijah Paige and Tobias Raymond.
Maiava had clean pockets to operate from, and the line was athletic in the short passing game. As mentioned above, Paige and Raymond were instrumental in springing Sanders to a 73-yard touchdown.
This unit may not be truly tested for a few weeks, so they will have time to continue to grow as a unit, but good things from the first showing.
Kameryn Fountain Can Have A Special Year
The USC Trojans haven’t had a game-wrecking pass rusher since Tuli Tuipulotu. They may have that now in sophomore Kameryn Fountain. He finished tonight’s game with 2 tackles for loss and a sack.
His get off the line of scrimmage is elite, and he has plenty of pass rush moves. The Trojans were able to get a good amount of pressure last season, but they could never get home. That should change with someone like Fountain.
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In his post-game press conference, he spoke about dedicating the offseason to eliminating bad habits and focusing on all the little details.
It’s early, but he has the talent to be one of the top pass rushers USC has had in some time.
Christian Pierce Safety, Kamari Ramsey Nickel
There was a lot of hoopla when the USC Trojans released their first official depth chart and went with three linebackers and a 4-3 base defense. As expected, they ran a lot more with two LBs and 5 defensive backs.
Most of the time in these packages, we saw Christian Pierce on the backend with Bishop Fitzgerald, and Kamari Ramsey was roaming around as the Nickel. He can play in the box, in the slot, or back deep.
Ramsey is the true chess piece of this D’Anton Lynn defense. They love moving him around, and they demonstrated that this evening.
Kennedy Urlacher got some run as well on the backend, but the Trojans’ main three will be Fitzgerald, Pierce, and Ramsey playing all over.
It was a great win for the Trojans. Now time to reset and get even better for next week.
Fight On.