Ohio State traveled to California to take on USC without their starting quarterback, Julian Sayin. In his place was Freshman quarterback Luke Fahey. Fahey had come in after Sayin suffered an injury to his throwing arm in the team’s victory over Indiana on October 17th. With Sayin potentially sidelined for the rest of the season, Fahey had the chance to show he was ready for the spotlight.
USC quarterback Jayden Maiava found wide receiver Trent Mosley on a screen pass that he took 69 yards to the house to put USC up 7-0. Ohio State would respond with a 39-yard field goal. Running back Waymond Jordan rushed for a 9-yard touchdown to make it 14-3 at the end of the first quarter.
Connor Hawkins hit his second field goal of the day, this one from 34 yards out to cut the lead to 14-6. However, USC answered with a field goal from Ryon Sayeri to make it 17-9. Hawkins hit his third field goal of the day to make it 17-9. Just before halftime, USC’s Caden Chittenden hit a field goal to push the lead to 20-9.
After an Ohio State turnover, USC tight end Mark Bowman caught a short pass and turned it into the highlight of the day, jumping over two defenders and setting up a first-and-goal. Running back King Miller finished the drive with a 1-yard rushing touchdown to give USC a commanding 27-9 lead.
Ohio State added a 47-yard Hawkins field goal in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 27-12, then later Fahey found Jeremiah Smith for a 1-yard touchdown to make it 27-18 after a failed conversion. USC would ice the game with a 32-yard field goal to make it 30-18. Ohio State got one last gasp, moving the ball to the USC 12-yard line, but Fahey’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete, and USC secured the upset win.
Ohio State is now 6-2 and will likely need to win out to secure a playoff spot. They have Oregon, Northwestern, Nebraska, and Michigan remaining. It will be tough, but they can certainly pull it off.
USC faces No. 4 Indiana, who narrowly held off Minnesota this week, before finishing with Maryland and UCLA. If they win out, they will have a very legitimate case for their own playoff appearance. I would expect that they will be ranked at the very least after this week.
