Utah State speared by Trojans, 48-0

Utah State football suffered their first season loss Saturday night, falling 48-0 on the road at #13 USC. The Aggies struggled on both sides of the ball, giving up 544 yards while mustering just 190 yards of total offense. 

“Hats off to USC,” said head coach Nate Dreiling after the game. “They proved why they’re one of the best teams in the country, and they’re going to be hard to beat.”

The Trojans were in control from the jump, receiving the opening kickoff and marching 77 yards down the field before ultimately settling for a field goal. The Aggies seemingly caught a break on USC’s third possession of the game in the form of an Ike Larsen interception, but an offsides penalty negated the takeaway. 

Later on the drive, USC’s Woody Marks found the endzone from two yards out to put the Trojans up 17-0. At the half, Marks had 103 rushing yards for the Trojans, while Utah State had just 101 total yards.

The Aggies struggled to find footing in the first half, with the Trojans largely dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. 

“Our players were a little shell-shocked and weren’t really playing our type of football,” Dreiling said. “Once they settled in there, we did a much better job. Then it just came down to tackling some of the best athletes in the world, and we were not able to do that consistently.”

The second half proved to be more of the same for the Aggies. USC moved the ball seemingly on command all night long against the USU defense, scoring three more times and five different Trojans finding the endzone in total. 

For the Aggies, the offensive struggles also continued into the second half. The Trojans attacked Utah State relentlessly with a pass rush that consistently forced USU quarterback Bryson Barnes out of the pocket and into early, off-target throws and a defensive line that allowed just 39 yards from scrimmage in the second half. 

“We knew coming in that they were really good up front, and we had some time in the beginning of the game,” Barnes said on the USC defense. “They were able to break through, get some stunts…but I mean, just good players up front.”

A bright spot for the Aggies is their secondary, which did an admirable job containing the speedy USC receivers. In a game where the Trojans largely asserted their will offensively, their biggest passing play was a 34-yard completion that ended in a fumble that the Aggies recovered. 

“They’re really a vertical shot team, big play type of team. So, our mentality was really to try and limit the big play as much as we can,” Utah State safety Jordan Vincent said on their approach. “In a way, we were successful, but they were able to put together some long drives.”

Vincent totaled 11 tackles for USU on the night, tied with Larsen for the team high. 

After a tough loss to top-ranked USC, Utah State will host another top-ranked team in Utah this Saturday in Logan. Although Saturday’s loss felt one-sided, a challenging, physical game like this one so early in the season could be a building block for the Aggies going forward. 

“I think the big thing it does, is whether you win or lose a game, you need to look what you can do better at. Was it just a matchup issue? We just couldn’t tackle?” said Dreiling. “We know we have a long way to go, but as long as we’re a little bit better than we were yesterday, that’s our whole mindset.”

Utah State will be back in action this Saturday. At 2:30 p.m., they will host in-state opponent Utah at Maverik Stadium.