USC took down No. 2 Ohio State 30-18 at the Coliseum on Saturday night, a result that rescued a season many had written off just one week earlier. Jayden Maiava threw for 222 yards, the Trojans defense suffocated the Buckeyes for most of the night, and Lincoln Riley walked away with what multiple outlets are calling the biggest win of his tenure in Los Angeles.
The win came exactly seven days after USC's offense hit its lowest point under Riley, scoring just seven points in a 24-7 loss at Wisconsin that left the coach facing heavy criticism, according to The Athletic. That outing was described as the fewest points ever scored by a Riley-coached offense. A week later, USC surged to a 20-9 halftime lead over the Buckeyes, per CBS Sports.
USC struck fast. On the second play of the game, a 69-yard touchdown pass gave the Trojans an early 7-0 lead — CBS Sports and The Athletic identify the receiver as Trent Mosley, while cleveland.com reports the catch belonged to Trent Green. Freshman tight end Mark Bowman had missed the previous month with an injury, the Los Angeles Times reported. Bowman added a 70-yard catch-and-run that set up a King Miller touchdown run two plays later, the Athletic reported.
Defense Carries USC Through a Shaky Ohio State Start
Ohio State's first three possessions all ended on USC's side of the field, producing two field goals and a punt, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Buckeyes piled up 137 yards in the first quarter alone and scored just 12 points across their first six drives into Trojan territory, yet USC's defense kept finding ways to limit the damage in the red zone.
Late in the first quarter, Mosley added a 35-yard punt return, though USC gave some of that field position back with a 15-yard penalty for a late hit on the return, the Times noted. With 5:55 left in the half, USC's King Miller fumbled, Ohio State recovered, and the Buckeyes settled for a field goal.
USC nearly put the game away before halftime but King Miller fumbled a chance to give the Trojans a three-score lead, per the Times' reporting. Early in the third quarter, Desman Stephens II forced another fumble on an Ohio State drive, and Floyd Boucard recovered it at the USC 32 — one of two takeaways that helped USC's defense hold Ohio State out of the end zone for the first 57 minutes of the game, according to CBS Sports.
Ohio State's Freshman Quarterback Nearly Rallies the Buckeyes
Ohio State turned to freshman Luke Fahey, a Mission Viejo High product making his first career start, and he nearly willed a comeback — completing 21 of 38 passes for 260 yards with a touchdown and an interception, per cleveland.com. The Buckeyes finished with 464 total yards, including 204 rushing yards, and converted seven of 16 third downs, but the deficit built in the first half proved too much to overcome.
Reports differ on USC's exact rushing production: the Columbus Dispatch put the Trojans at 116 yards on 26 carries, while CBS Sports reported that King Miller and Waymond Jordan combined for 126 yards on the ground, averaging five yards per carry. Either way, USC's ground game complemented a passing attack in which Maiava's two big completions alone accounted for 139 of his 222 yards, according to the Los Angeles Times' recap by beat writer Ryan Kartje.
A Season-Altering Night for Riley and USC
The 30-18 final marked the most points any team had scored against Ohio State all season, and it dropped the Buckeyes to 58-2 against unranked teams under coach Ryan Day, per CBS Sports. The Athletic also noted it was Ohio State's second loss before November for the first time since 2011, a sign of how unusual the defeat was for a program accustomed to dominance.
The loss had national ripple effects, too. The Athletic's Austin Mock estimated Ohio State's College Football Playoff chances dropped to 71 percent after the game, down from 89 percent beforehand. USA Today reported that the Buckeyes surrendered their most points since a 2024 loss to Oregon.
For Riley and USC, the win carried its own historic weight. It marked only the sixth time in 21 tries that Riley's Trojans have beaten a ranked opponent, according to CBS Sports, and the first time Riley has beaten a top-five team since his debut season at Oklahoma in 2017 — when, fittingly, his victim was also Ohio State, per USA Today. CBS Sports framed the win as pushing USC, now firmly back in the Playoff conversation, into the group of teams still controlling their own postseason destiny entering the season's final month.
