USC Beats No. 2 Ohio State 30-18 at the Coliseum, Where the Buckeyes Started a Freshman Quarterback and Never Led
The nation's No. 2 team went to Los Angeles without its starting quarterback and came home with its first loss of the night slate: USC never trailed, led 20-9 at halftime and beat Ohio State 30-18 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The biggest upset of the college football night happened in Los Angeles. USC beat No. 2 Ohio State 30-18 at the Memorial Coliseum on Saturday night, leading wire to wire against a Buckeyes team playing its first game without injured starting quarterback Julian Sayin.
Sayin is out indefinitely with an injury sustained against Indiana, USA TODAY reported, and freshman Luke Fahey started in his place. It showed early: Jayden Maiava hit Trent Mosley for a 69-yard touchdown to open the scoring, USC added a 9-yard rushing touchdown and two field goals, and the Trojans led 20-9 at halftime, with all of Ohio State's points coming on Connor Hawkins field goals — he kicked four of them on the night, Buckeyes Wire reported.
Any comeback path narrowed in the third quarter. Three plays after Floyd Boucard recovered an Ohio State fumble, King Miller plunged in for a goal-line touchdown and a 27-9 lead, USA TODAY reported. Fahey finally found the end zone late, throwing a 1-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Smith — Smith's 40th career touchdown catch, breaking the Big Ten record held by Braylon Edwards, the Columbus Dispatch reported — but the two-point conversion failed, and a late 32-yard USC field goal closed the scoring at 30-18.
Ohio State has not beaten USC at the Coliseum since 1946, USA TODAY noted, and that drought now stretches past this Halloween night: the Buckeyes' perfect start in Big Ten play is over, and the Trojans — written off after last week's loss at Wisconsin — own the win of the weekend.
