USC Gets Redemption Against ASU

The No. 19 USC Trojans got redemption in their first road game against Arizona State defeating the Sun Devils 42-14. 

“They showed up in all three phases,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said, “They played a really good football game.”

Quarterback Cody Kessler threw for five touchdowns and 375 yards in the Trojans’ victory, four of the five touchdowns to different receivers. JuJu Smith-Schuster had 103 yards and two touchdowns in the win.

The Trojans were most dominant when the ball was in Adoree’ Jackson’s hands – Jackson had only three catches but racked up 131 yards including an 80-yard touchdown from Kessler in the first quarter for the game’s first score. Jackson’s performance proved that he is an explosive weapon on offense as well as defense.

“He’s pretty good but we’ve known this about Adoree’,” USC head coach Steve Sarkisian said about Jackson’s play on offense. “He’s electric,” said Kessler.

USC was also electric on defense tonight, capitalizing on turnovers.

“Last night as a team, it wasn’t just the defense, I probably went on a probably a 30 minute barrage about how to create turnovers and how we want to play defense,” Sarkisian said.

The Trojans did just that, forcing four Sun Devil turnovers. Arizona State was able to put together drives down the field but they had trouble putting points on the board. Late in the 2nd quarter, the Sun Devils had the ball on the goal line. The defense held strong and safety Chris Hawkins recovered Arizona State quarterback Mike Bercovici’s fumble and took in 94 yards for the score. On the ensuing kickoff, ASU’s De’Chavon Hayes fumbled the ball and USC recovered in the redzone. The Trojans converted touchdowns on all four of their forced turnovers, going into the half up 35-0.

While the Trojans were dominant they were not perfect; penalties took a toll on the team in crucial situations. USC had 10 penalties for 91 yards in the game. The Trojans are now 3-1 headed into their bye week. They will face the Washington Huskies on Thursday October 8th.