The Sports Xchange
Oct 2, 2016
Sam Darnold passed for 352 yards and threw three touchdown passes to JuJu Smith-Schuster as the USC Trojans defeated the Arizona State Sun Devils 41-20 on Saturday night at Memorial Coliseum.
Smith-Schuster had seven catches for 123 yards and Justin Davis rushed 14 times for 123 yards and a touchdown.
The Trojans (2-3, 1-2 Pac-12) avoided starting conference play with three straight losses, something they haven't done since 2001.
USC led the previously unbeaten Sun Devils (4-1, 1-1) 27-6 at halftime and 41-6 after three quarters as it scored 34 straight points. The Trojans piled up 523 yards on offense and didn't turn the ball over.
Darnold completed 23 of 33 passes. Wide receiver Deontay Burnett caught seven passes for 93 yards.
Smith-Schuster scored on catches of 5, 3 and 67 yards. Davis had a 37-yard touchdown run that made it 24-6 late in the second quarter.
Sun Devils quarterback Manny Wilkens complete 13 of 24 attempts for 148 yards and one interception before leaving the game with an apparent leg injury in the second quarter after being sacked.
Brady White replaced him and completed 6 of 13 passed for 80 yards and a touchdown. Tim White had seven catches for 84 yards.
The Trojans had lost their first two Pac-12 games, 27-10 at Stanford and 31-27 at Utah.
USC took an aggressive approach early, going for it on fourth-and-2 from their own 42 in the first quarter while trailing 3-0.
Davis was stopped for a loss, but three plays later Jonathan Lockett intercepted Wilkens at the USC 5 and the Trojans went 95 yards in eight plays for the go-ahead touchdown.