was paid $1.15 million to travel to L.A.<\/a> for the privilege of getting whooped by USC. Fourteen receivers caught passes, three of them for touchdowns.<\/p>\nBut it was USC\u2019s running game that set the tempo. That plunged the dagger \u2013 with 25 seconds left in the second quarter.<\/p>\n
That got Trojans\u2019 fans\u2019 hearts racing.<\/p>\n
By halftime, the shifty Jordan \u2013 the Trojans\u2019 starter \u2013 had carried it five times for 42 yards and a score. His was the game\u2019s first touchdown of 11. It came on a 5-yard run in the first quarter, which cashed in on the 26-yard jaunt to set it up.<\/p>\n
Sanders added 34 yards on the ground on five carries and then a touchdown on a 73-yard sprint to the end zone off a screen pass from Maiava to increase USC\u2019s lead to 42-10. The senior looked like he was doing a Usain Bolt impression \u2013 lightning to Jordan\u2019s firefly. And Sanders also returned a punt for 19 yards.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, the understudies got some run too, with Calabasas freshman King Miller scoring on a 75-yard run and freshman backup QB Husan Longstreet scoring on runs of 5 and 17 yards.<\/p>\n
So, sure, Riley is the quarterback whisperer who has developed three Heisman Trophy-winners at the position (Caleb Williams at USC and Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield at Oklahoma, 2017), plus a runner-up in Jalen Hurts.<\/p>\n
But this season, a coach under pressure is going to be more grounded in his approach. Bet on Riley seeking balance, finding his zen \u2013 and committing to that bit.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll be happy to be handing it off to Jordan and Sanders, USC\u2019s Nos. 1-and-2 punch at running back that will leave opponents either wheezing in his dust or with their ankles broken.<\/p>\n
Along with homegrown sophomore Bryan Jackson, Sanders and Jordan were named to the 2025 Doak Walker Award Watch List, the award to the nation\u2019s most outstanding college running back. The Trojans are one of only four teams in the country with three candidates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty excited about the room,\u201d Riley said recently. \u201cI\u2019ll put it this way, I\u2019ll be disappointed if it\u2019s not the best room we\u2019ve had since we\u2019ve been at \u2019SC.\u201d<\/p>\n
The talk going into the season was that Jordan \u2013 a transfer from Hutchinson Community College who was last year\u2019s NJCAA DI Football Offensive Player of the Year \u2013 could be this year\u2019s Ashton Jeanty. The similarly shifty Boise State back was last season\u2019s Doak Walker winner after rushing for 2,601 yards on 7.0 yards per carry and 29 touchdowns.<\/p>\n
Add Miller, a senior transfer from New Mexico, where he ran for 1,000 yards in 2024 and was, by Riley\u2019s account \u2013 and now Missouri State\u2019s \u2013 the \u201cmost explosive\u201d of the quality running backs on this roster.<\/p>\n
Also, Jackson \u2013 who had five carries for 11 yards and a touchdown in the blowout \u2013 spent last season studying workhorse Woody Marks\u2019 best habits. Now playing for the NFL\u2019s Houston Texans, Marks ran for 1,133 yards and nine touchdowns in his one season here.<\/p>\n
Add the mobile Maiava to the mix and USC might just have a recipe for gaining ground on last season\u2019s unsatisfactory seven-win season. Its one ingredient: Run.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s football, of course, so Riley reminded after running up the score Saturday that it\u2019s going to take everyone doing his job to open the holes to spring Jordan and Sanders.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did a pretty good job, I thought, from our O-line standpoint. I thought the perimeter blocking from our wideouts was really good,\u201d Riley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, obviously,\u201d \u2013 obviously! \u2013 \u201cthe ball-carriers did a great job as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have tones of talent in the room and on the offense,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cSuper-excited to see what we do next week.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2013 Gotta hand it to them. I mean, they really better. If the USC Trojans want…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":188747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1369,1318,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68,56014],"class_list":{"0":"post-188746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college-sports","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ncaafootball","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usc-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115121625008156996","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}