The Sports Xchange
Oct 28, 2016
Redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Darnold passed for 231 yards and five touchdowns and sophomore running back Ronald Jones II rushed for a career-best 223 yards as Southern California rolled to a 45-24 victory over California on Thursday night in a Pac-12 contest at Los Angeles.
Senior receiver Darreus Rogers caught two scoring receptions as the Trojans (5-3, 4-2) won their fourth straight game. Sophomore running back Aca'Cedric Ware rushed for a career-high 130 yards as USC rolled up 398 yards on the ground while defeating the Golden Bears for the 13th consecutive time.
Darnold passed for five touchdowns for the second straight contest. He has thrown 16 scoring passes during USC's four-game winning streak.
Senior quarterback Davis Webb completed 34 of 54 passes for 333 yards and two touchdowns for Cal (4-4, 2-3). True freshmen receivers Demetris Robertson (nine catches for 92 yards) and Melquise Stovall (nine receptions for 87 yards and one touchdown) both had solid outings while picking up the slack for injured junior standout Chad Hansen (ankle).
But the Golden Bears' defense couldn't stop the Trojans, who had 629 yards of total offense.
USC took control by scoring the game's 21 points as Jones started strong en route to recording the 18th career 200-yard rushing game in school history.
The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Jones broke loose on a 61-yard scamper to set up the Trojans' first points, which came on Darnold's 3-yard pass to Rogers with 9:34 left in the first quarter. Exactly five minutes later, Jones caught a 16-yard scoring pass from Darnold to make it 14-0.
Darnold tossed a 13-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wideout Deontay Burnett less than three minutes into the second quarter.
Webb got the Golden Bears on the board with a 22-yard touchdown pass to junior running back Tre Watson with 7:55 left in the half. Darnold's 20-yard scoring toss to Rogers made it 28-10 with 28 seconds to play in the half.
Webb scored on a 1-yard run to pull Cal within 11 with 9:15 left in the third quarter but Jones broke loose on a 37-yard touchdown run and Darnold threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to redshirt freshman tight end Daniel Imatorbhebhe to make it 42-17 late in the third quarter.
Stovall caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Webb with 13:15 remaining.
Senior running back Justin Davis (ankle) missed his second straight games for the Trojans.