USC Upsets No. 2 Ohio State 30-18 as Luke Fahey's First Start Ends in a Coliseum Loss

Ohio State spent two weeks building a game plan to protect a true freshman quarterback. USC needed 39 seconds to make it obsolete.

USC knocked off No. 2 Ohio State 30-18 on Halloween night at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, scoring on the second snap of the game and never giving the lead back. Luke Fahey, making a first career start with Julian Sayin sidelined by a throwing-shoulder injury, was steady enough to keep the Buckeyes within reach and never explosive enough to catch up. Fahey finished 21-of-38 for 260 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions, and the Buckeyes' only touchdown came with 2:12 left, too late to matter.

Jayden Maiava did more with less. The USC quarterback completed 15 of 23 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown, and two of those throws, a 69-yard touchdown to Trent Mosley on the opening drive and a 70-yard strike to Mark Bowman in the third quarter, accounted for nearly two-thirds of that yardage. One week after Wisconsin held the Trojans to seven points and minus-18 rushing yards in Madison, Lincoln Riley's team delivered arguably the biggest win of the Riley era in Los Angeles and handed Ohio State its second loss of the season.

Two Plays, 75 Yards, and a Coliseum on Its Feet

Maiava hit King Miller for 6 yards on the first snap, then found Mosley streaking behind the Ohio State secondary for a 69-yard score. The best pass defense in the country, one that entered allowing 5.2 yards per attempt, had just given up more than 13 times that on one throw.

Fahey, the Orange County native, answered with an 11-play drive that included a 23-yard strike to Phillip Bell and survived a throw to Devin McCuin that was ruled an interception before replay overturned it. Connor Hawkins finished it with a 39-yard field goal.

Then Ohio State handed one back. An Ohio State personal foul after a punt gave USC the ball at the Buckeyes' 31, Maiava found Mosley again for 18, and Waymond Jordan walked in from 9 yards out. It was 14-3 after one quarter.

Field Goals, a Fumble, and a Missed Chance

On the next drive, which spilled into the second quarter, Isaiah West ripped off runs of 17 and 18 yards, but it stalled at the USC 16 and Hawkins hit from 34. Ryon Sayeri answered from 54.

Kenyatta Jackson Jr. punched the ball loose from Miller and Earl Little Jr. recovered at the Ohio State 42. The Buckeyes turned it into a 13-play drive that reached the USC 1 on a Fahey keeper, went backward on a false start and ended with a 23-yard Hawkins field goal. A takeaway, a long drive and three points. That was Ohio State's night in one possession.

Maiava made them pay. In the final 1:46 of the half, throws of 15 yards to Zacharyus Williams, 12 to Mosley and 6 to Mark Bowman set up a 36-yard Caden Chittenden field goal with one second left. USC led 20-9 at the break despite holding the ball for barely 10 of the first 30 minutes.

The Turning Point: 70 Yards in One Snap

Pinned at its own 5 after a holding penalty on a punt return, Ohio State finally found a rhythm in the third quarter. Bo Jackson ripped off runs of 14 and 28 yards, Fahey hit Jeremiah Smith for 12, and a USC personal foul moved the ball to the Trojans' 31. A touchdown would have made it a one-score game.

Instead, the night flipped on a check-down. Fahey dumped a short pass to West, Desman Stephens II jarred the ball loose, and Floyd Boucard recovered at the USC 32. On the next snap that counted, Maiava found Bowman for 70 yards. After a 2-yard catch, Miller punched it in from a yard out. In 96 seconds of game clock, a potential 20-16 game became 27-9.

That sequence was the whole story in miniature. Ohio State won the line of scrimmage, the clock and the yardage. USC won the moments.

Ohio State Grinds, but Never Strikes

Ohio State answered with a 12-play drive that ate more than six minutes, then watched a Braylan Shelby sack push the Buckeyes back and settled for a 47-yard Hawkins field goal on fourth-and-14. Hawkins finished 4-for-4, and those 12 points were the backbone of the offense. That is not a compliment to the offense.

The next two possessions went nowhere, with another sack and a delay-of-game penalty in between. When Ohio State got the ball back at its own 20 with 7:57 to play, it needed two scores.

Fahey then led Ohio State's best drive of the night, a 13-play, 80-yard march with completions to Smith, McCuin and Bo Jackson, capped by a 1-yard touchdown pass to Smith with 2:12 left. The two-point try failed. The onside kick went nowhere, Tanook Hines scooped it up and returned it to the Ohio State 21, and USC ran three times before Chittenden's 32-yard field goal with 1:46 left made it 30-18. Fahey moved Ohio State to the USC 12 one last time, hitting Chris Henry Jr. for 39 and Smith for 20, but four straight incompletions, including an end-zone interception by Stephens that replay wiped out, ended it on downs with 36 seconds left.

The Fahey Verdict

Fahey's debut lands somewhere between encouraging and incomplete. The 5-foot-11 freshman, who beat out former five-star recruit Tavien St. Clair for the backup job in camp, threw no interceptions in a hostile night environment and kept the chains moving often enough for Ohio State to dominate time of possession.

What Fahey could not do was punish USC downfield. Until the 39-yarder to Henry late, no completion went longer than 27 yards. Smith, who entered with 984 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns, caught 10 passes for 83 yards and the late touchdown, almost all of it on quick throws built to protect a first-time starter.

As Undrafted's preview laid out, Sayin is not expected back this regular season. This is the quarterback Ohio State has, and Fahey will be better for this night.

Stars Beyond the Box Score

Bo Jackson was Ohio State's best player, carrying 21 times for 121 yards and adding a 17-yard catch on the touchdown drive. Kenyatta Jackson Jr.'s forced fumble was the defense's best moment.

For USC, Mosley did the damage early with five catches for 101 yards and the opening touchdown, plus a 44-yard punt return. Miller ran for 78 yards on 13 carries and shook off the second-quarter fumble to score the touchdown that broke the game open, and Jordan added 48 yards on 12 carries and a score.

USC's defense bent all night and broke once. Desman Stephens II forced the West fumble that flipped the game, and Deven Bryant led the Trojans with 11 tackles.

The Numbers That Mattered

Ohio State outgained USC 464 to 338, won first downs 25 to 15, ran for 204 yards to USC's 116 and held the ball for 39:28. On most nights, those numbers win going away.

They did not because USC's two longest plays covered 139 yards, because Ohio State was flagged 11 times, and because, outside of the one touchdown drive, every Ohio State possession that got inside the USC 35 ended in a field goal or a turnover.

What It Means

For Ohio State, this is a real problem. The Buckeyes fall to 6-2 and 4-1 in the Big Ten with Oregon coming to Columbus on Nov. 7. Paired with a 24-23 loss at Texas in September, a second defeat puts heavy pressure on a closing stretch that also includes Northwestern, a trip to Nebraska and Michigan. Ohio State is not out of the playoff picture, but the margin for error is gone.

For USC, the win moves the Trojans to 7-2 and 4-2 in the Big Ten and changes the conversation around a program that spent the week answering questions about its coach's future. USC had lost four straight home games against top-five opponents and had not beaten one at home since 2015. The Trojans have an off week before visiting Indiana on Nov. 14.

The Last Word

Matt Patricia's defense, which had allowed more than 20 points only once all season, gave up 30 and two plays of 69 and 70 yards, and the offense scored one touchdown. You can survive a first-time starter at quarterback if everything else is clean, and Ohio State was not clean enough. USC needed one week to go from a 24-7 embarrassment in Madison to a statement win under the Coliseum lights. Ohio State needs to find its answer even faster, because Oregon is next.

Sources: ESPN box score and play-by-play (opens in a new tab), Associated Press, Fox Sports, Sports Illustrated and Eleven Warriors. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: USC Athletics.